We hadn't planned anything for the day. In an effort to un-stress our lives, we're trying to have more mentally free weekends and less long discussions about the pressures about October. I suppose this wasn't a conscious effort, as it just so happens that the last two weekends have been low-stress and really enjoyable (what weekends are supposed to be) and I suppose it's do in a large part because of the car. I don't want to put to much pressure on Debbie, as the more we blame our good times on the car the more apt it is to remove itself from the picture.

I think we learned that with Gretta the scooter. I keep blaming myself for her demise and the fact that I suggested we park it over by the library. The pee wasn't my fault, but I daresay the fact that someone could pee inside her tank down a small alley, well that was my idea.

We actually ended up puttering around the house a bit before heading out for a very brief bike-ride to the park by us where the city of Antwerp (neighborhood) was having a party to celebrate the returning of a very old landmark. We had hoped they'd have hotdogs. Its not in my diet actually, but it was Eva's suggestion (the hotdog, not the diet) and so if she wants to give a somewhat dieting girl a chance at a hotdog, well I'll take it.

They didn't have hotdogs. They only had De Koninck beer, tables, a folk-music band, and compared to the weather we had a few weeks ago, today might as well have been freezing. We had brought our baseball gloves along as well and decided that it was just too cold to throw the ball around. Besides, it's a small park with quite a few people and throwing a baseball around isn't so common. We decided to bike on a bit and had coffee in a cafe I've been meaning to have coffee in for quite some time.

We sat there for 10 minutes before anyone waited on us. Eva was sure they were doing this to us because we're young. I was sure they were doing this because the place was packed (granted, packed with slightly older people) and there was only 1 server and 1 lady behind the bar.

We had originally wanted to get drinks and two soups, as most soup prices wouldn't break the bank. But as I have mentioned, this was no ordinary cafe, and the servings were huge along with salad and bread, so we stuck to our coffee and milkshake.

Behind Eva there was a group of 3 old ladies. (old because they were typically old, all wearing dress-up skirt and jacket suits, and had the blue-gray-white hair older people in the modern western world all seem have.) I was very intrigued by them and was thankful I wasn't sitting where Eva was sitting because she couldn't see them at all. The were gossiping and huddling close together to talk about the latest news. One lady appeared to be a bit hard of hearing and the table was so far apart she practically laid on the table trying to catch every word.

One lady was having a coffee, another a tea, and the last a big beer. I don't know that I've ever seen an older lady in the states drinking a beer. Two were non-smoking and one was smoking a cigarette. (not the one drinking the beer.) It seemed so out-of-the-ordinary to me. It was like the ladies on the bus-route my dad does to pick up ladies for church, only these were just as church-dressed only sitting in a cafe drinking beer and smoking cigarettes.

I suppose it was yet another one of my realizations where just like Dorthy, in The Wizard of Oz says, "I'm not in Kansas anymore." Well I'm not in Missouri anymore, that's for sure. And I don't think I'm in San Francisco either.

IN THE NEWS:
The U.S. military said today it had not yet found any weapons of mass destruction and it believed there was a diminishing threat that Iraq might use them as U.S.-led troops take over more territory.