Ponder Post: The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is a real page turner. Had I not begun it at 11:00 pm, I would have completed it in one sitting. As it was, I finished it the following day.

The novel is a crime thriller about a husband and wife, Ann and Marco Conti, whose six month old baby girl goes missing. Has she been kidnapped or is there some other sinister explanation? Police cannot rule out the role of the parents, yet, if the mother and father are innocent, questioning them when they are going through such a traumatic experience is touchy and almost barbaric. Detective Rasbach is a well developed character, intelligent yet sensitive, dedicated to his job to the extent he can hold his own personal feelings in check. Throw in a little animosity between the Ann and Marco and their neighbors Cynthia and Graham, add some friction between Marco and his in-laws, and season it with money problems, the green eyed monster of jealousy, and status inequalities and the book becomes a delightful recipe to savor. I definitely give The Couple Next Door five stars. After I finished it, I handed it to my husband and he too completed the 300+ page book in one day, unable to put it down either.

Sometimes in a mystery genre, clues are often repeated to keep the reader engaged and up to speed. Reiterating information was certainly an approach in this novel, but the repetition did not seem redundant since the facts and assumptions were dissected and digested from different vantage points. Some of the reviews on Amazon are not quite as glowing as mine, though overall the book was favored. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.

Happy Birthday, Happy Hollow, Happy Camper

Frank and I returned from Oklahoma on Wednesday May 23, shortly before Alex's and my shared birthday on Saturday May 26th. On the eve of his birthday, St. Denis Home threw a pre-birthday Friday night party for Alex and another client with a May birthday. Here is Alex waiting to start celebrating with his housemates.

Alex had birthday banners and a super sized extra frosted cupcake, a St. Denis tradition.

He blew out the candle on his cupcake. Blowing out candles is Alex's favorite part of his birthday.

The next day on his actual May 26th birthday, Frank and I took Alex to Happy Hollow, a small scale zoo with some amusement attractions as well. At the entrance are big rectangular rocks in a circular formation, fun for young visitors to leap from one to another. It was perfect for the young at heart, too as Frank demonstrated.

Alex followed suit with a modified step up and step down motion instead of leaps. Frank's were not really leaps either, rather large giant spanning stretches.

A menagerie of bronze sculptures were just outside the ticket entrance gates. Alex rode astride a sleek lioness.

He petted a monkey pandering for tips.

Isn't the little critter cute? He reminds me of Aboo from Disney's Aladdin.

Alex was not too much into the mama pig and piglets but they caught my fancy.

Another sculpture was of a "Cash Cow" who took in paper cash and output coins as change.

The pudgy sculptures are by Tom Otterness who per Wikipedia is "an American sculptor best known as one of America’s most prolific public artists. ... His style is often described as cartoonish and cheerful, but also political. His sculptures allude to sex, class, money and race." Coincidentally Frank and I recently returned from a day trip to Wichita, Kansas (post for June 7, 2018) and that is where Tom Otterness was born.

Once inside the park, on our way to the zoo portion, we rode a roller coaster. It was not  huge but it did make two loops that were sufficiently energetic that I was slightly nauseous upon disembarking. But Alex loved it.

  

Frank and Alex negotiated a maze.

It was intricate enough to be a challenge when you were in it, but easy enough to figure your way out.

We explored how Alex measured up to a giant panda.

When we visited the meerkats, one brazenly came up close to the glass to check us out. They are social creatures and, from a distance, look adorable clustered in a group called a "mob". If it weren't for that long fang and long nails this individual would seem much more cuddly and appealing. Meerkats eat termites. I am not sure whether this behavior makes me like them more or less.

The cheetah observed us from a distance, quite relaxed on a ledge. 

I could not resist this portrait of three gorgeous faces - a trifecta of facial perfection.

There is a small shallow pool central to the lower zoo. Here round flat-topped stepping stones are placed to provide adventurous souls an alternative, challenging method of crossing rather than circumventing the water.

Alex and I took a seat in the surrounding adirondack chairs to enjoy watching kids and their parents negotiate the mini-obstacle course. Some parents were quite relaxed and let their kids skip, hop, and jump across. Other parents were so up tight, fretting and hanging on to their kid's hand as if a wet shoe or sock would be the end of the world. Observing people is fun. Alex was content to chill.

We were separated from Frank and so I texted him where to find us. I used the speaking option with Siri on my iPhone. Siri does the best she can but is not a grade A speller with respect to voice recognition. Siri can be dense. I often have to spell things out for her. Here is my (blue) text exchange with Frank (gray). 

 He found us!

We planned where we would go next – to the upper zoo also know as "Zoo on the Hill".

We did indeed see a giant anteater – at least parts of him – but he was not as cooperative for photos as other animals had been.

 I asked Alex if he had had enough and was ready to go home. His grin and quick nod told us yes.

The parking lot is separated from the park and zoo by two suspension bridges. Frank and Alex are crossing the first one on our way out.

Angling off to the right in a second bridge that we all must cross to get to the car.

On the way home we stopped at Rigatoni's, an Italian restaurant, for dinner. We did the birthday candle blowing ritual again. Alex had his candle in a piece of bread.

I blew out the candle placed in my ravioli.

Monday the 28th was the Memorial Day holiday and Alex did not have school. Frank and I went to take him bowling and give him a birthday present from us to open.

See? Isn't Alex going to look snazzy wearing that meerkat shirt? He liked it.

The following Wednesday Alex was off to his annual summer camp, Via West in Los Altos. The theme for the week we chose for him was Euro Disney. The seven day camp had two field trips, one to a San Francisco Beach and one to the Walt Disney Family Museum. Per Wikipedia, The Walt Disney Family Museum is "an American museum that features the life and legacy of Walt Disney. The museum is located in The Presidio of San Francisco, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco". For the on site camp days Alex was given a camper award.

Alex's counselor was Moji – yes like Emoji without the E. 😀They enjoyed each other.

And so ends the tale of a Happy Birthday at Happy Hollow for a Happy Camper!

Ponder Post: Touch

I was cleaning out old notes in my iPhone and I saw a reference reminding me to read the novel Touch by Courtney Maum. I have no recollection who recommended it to me – nor when or why – but I reserved it at the library and just completed it. It was offbeat and weird, but pseudo-likable if you were willing to suspend disbelief.

The premise is that Sloane, the main character, has had a special talent since she was a little girl. She can forecast trends – what is going to be popular in the future. This is not to be confused with the gift of fortune telling for specific actions in some time yet to come, but rather a sensed knowledge of what the population in general will desire and seek in the future.  These predictions can encompass trends in lifestyle, global fashions, or technology features. For example she was famous for predicting "the swipe" as the next ubiquitous mobile device motion after the point, click, and finger spread. She consults with various companies to advise them on potential paths to take to increase future profits.

In this novel Sloane's generality capabilities to achieve "one-mindedness with the masses" are juxtaposed with a strained relationship with her family. Sloane used to have a close relationship with her family but become estranged when her father unexpectedly died while Sloane was living in France with her French boyfriend Roman. Roman thinks he is trend forecaster like Sloane, but these self-views are delusions of grandeur. He does not possess Sloane's talent, but rather rides her coat-tails to fame. He is a strange character, convinced that "touch" is a fetish of the past. He professes to be a "neo-sensualist" and parades around in a zentai suit in a variety of colors, so that his skin can make contact with the skin of others only across the barrier membrane of suit. Per Wikipedia "a zentai suit is a skin-tight garment that covers the entire body, (hands, feet and face). The word is a portmanteau of zenshin taitsu literally – full-body tights. The following photo shows people wearing zentai suits.

The story opens when Sloane and Roman return to the United States, to New York, where Sloane has accepted a full time a job with a huge technology company called Mammoth. At Mammoth, her job is to lead the company's groundbreaking annual conference revealing the development of technology that supports the childless; trending indicates that having children is an extravagant indulgence, due to rising food prices, unemployment, college costs, etc. Future technology, in order to maximize its profit, must focus on this predicted majority childless demographic. While employed at Mammoth, Sloane and Roman choose to continue their Parisian-influenced cohabitation in her childhood neighborhood, close to her widowed mother and her married sister's family of four-and-a-half. Sloane awkwardly tries to revive a close relationship with her mother and sister.

In O, The Oprah Magazine, the novel Touch is described as “[A] warm-hearted tale of a woman reconfiguring her priorities.” I do not quite agree with the warm-hearted adjective, but it is true that submersion in the company environment of millenials – with cell phones glued to an ear, or cell phones being constantly probed and swiped with their fingertips – does cause Sloane to rethink the desirability of a childless future. There is so little eye contact and interpersonal interaction in the work place that she finds it hard to believe that people do not crave human contact. She begins to realize her relationship with the touch-less Roman is definitely unsatisfying. She eyes her married sister's hectic lifestyle with two children and one on the way as having merit of a different sort.

I will admit that the first few chapters of Touch turned me off. They were filled with so much technological jargon and references to desired in-vogue merchandise or experiences that a lot of the content went over my head. But I hung in there with the book because the topic had a science fiction type flair, a genre I do not usual pursue but might appeal if I gave it a chance. In retrospect, I think developing a distaste for the stereotypical millennial lifestyle may have been the intent of these early chapters. I was glad I hung in there. The book got better. 

My favorite supporting character in the whole book was Anastasia, Sloane's company issued, self-driving car. Anastasia, having been programmed with a great deal of Sloane's biographical information, was a sympathetic (dare I even say empathic?) friend to Sloane. Sensors in the seat, measuring body temperature, heart rate, facial pallor, depth of breathing, level of fidgeting, etc. allowed Anastasia to ask probing questions as to how Sloane was feeling, enabling Anastasia be a true sounding board as any close friend should be. Anastasia played a beloved role comparable to R2-D2 or C-3PO. Who does not love those two endearing Star Wars robots?

A work of art or a song or a book can be criticized as being derivative, i.e., not original or creative enough. Touch clearly was not derivative. I found aspects of it thought provoking. There were nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout. One I remember is the assertion that people today sometimes mistake convenience for contentment. Hmmm. Convenience versus Contentment. I like to use the term effort-effective, which is the ratio of how much effort a task took to how well it got the job done. Was that drive-through really better than a sit-down meal? Even if those prepackaged salads or frozen meals are "effort effective" do they make me feel contented or just that I have checked a box?

I hesitate to recommend this book because it is so off the wall and may not have a wide audience appeal, i.e., four stars versus five. But if you are willing to take a chance and spare some of your precious reading time, Touch does give pause for thought; and that thought is worth pausing for. As the Oprah Magazine review intimated, “[A] warm-hearted tale of a woman reconfiguring her priorities” can be construed as having a happy ending. If you happen to like that sort of thing, Touch is a worthy read.

Returning Home – OKC Visit Part 5 of 5

Whew, writing those last four posts was a marathon! This final one should be brief, mainly keeping up my tradition on noticing trivia and oddities in the airports through which we travel. Wednesday morning May 25th we posed for our "photo on the couch before leaving".

We did get a photo with Robin in it but she is the only one looking at the camera. Everybody else (including Frank) have their eyes glued on the television.

We returned our rental car at the satellite facility and the shuttle bus took us back to the terminal where our driver pointed out the outdoor statue of Will Rogers who greets all travelers. I was going to insert some quip wondering about the timelessness of his quote "I never met a man I didn't like" as he surveyed the throngs passing through the airport. When I researched the exact wording, I learned this tidbit.

ONE THING WILL ROGERS DIDN'T SAY
“I never met a man I didn’t like.”
Ironically, for somebody who came up with so much Grade A material, most people associate Rogers with a long-lived misquote. In actuality, the full, unaltered line was: “I joked about every prominent man in my lifetime, but I never met one I didn’t like.” A few years before his death in 1935, Rogers proposed it as an epitaph for his tombstone. However, the shortened version does appear chiseled upon his final resting place in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Mentalfloss.com had a fun article on eighteen other timeless Will Rogers quotes.  I especially liked, "Eventually you reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it."

We had a mid afternoon flight out of Oklahoma's Will Rogers airport into Phoenix.

As we stood on the moving walkway in Phoenix I looked out the windows and watched the planes taxiing to their various assigned gates. I was surprised at how upturned the wingtips of the planes were. Was that true of all 737's? Apparently so, I just had never noticed. Once on board the plane I made a point to look out the window. Sure enough those tips were way upturned but since they were painted silver they were camouflaged against the sky once you were in the air among the clouds and had no background contrast. Those wings go out farther than you'd think. I learned that winglets, as these upturned ends are called, cut drag and boost fuel efficiency by up to 5%.

Winglets could bring other environmental benefits besides saving fuel. The altered air flow around the wingtips also reduces the formation of contrails, wispy streaks of cloud left behind when water vapour condenses around particles of pollution in engine exhaust fumes. How contrails could influence global climate is still debated, though some scientists say they promote the formation of long-lasting cirrus clouds, which help to trap heat at the Earth's surface.

Also seen out the windows along that moving walkway in Phoenix was this commemoratively painted plane for the state of Louisiana.

Dubbed the "Louisiana One," the plane is decorated with a giant pelican spreading its wings against a blue background. The engines of the plane feature baby pelicans chirping from a nest.

Other states have planes commemoratively painted by Southwest Airlines. They are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico and Tennessee. You can read the article at the link https://www.chron.com/life/travel/article/airplane-Lord-Rings-Pokemon-NBA-Orleans-12738676.php. Perhaps one day in my travels I will spot a few of them.

Well we have reached our gate and are waiting to board our second flight and journey back to Oakland, California.

The flight is on time, slightly under two hours in duration, and the Oakland weather in our destination is to be enjoyed – a trifecta of perfect travel. 

As Frank and I get on line to board, another bonus was that we had passes in the A boarding group. I happened to glance down at my feet as we filed forward. Did you think the carpet was just some random abstract design. No way! Look closely. Those are all little blue and white planes on a grey background! Cool, huh? (I am easily amused.)

Wichita – OKC Visit Part 4 of 5

Monday May 21st Frank and I drove up to Wichita Kansas. Why Wichita? I had been there with Robin to check out a bridal shop that carried a wedding dress she thought might be "the one". It was indeed "the one" and she ended up buying her gown from the shop in Wichita. While she and I had been there, I had noticed a large steam locomotive parked on a bridge over the city street. I knew Frank would love seeing that and had decided I had to come back there with him someday. Well that someday happened seven plus years later. This is that very train. We did locate it.

Frank and I made the 2½ hour drive north, would stay overnight and drive back on Tuesday. The first two-thirds of the trip is in Oklahoma and the final third is in Kansas.

We hit the road and not far into the journey we saw a house en route. I was reminded of Dorothy's words, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." We were not in Kansas yet.

Had we been in Kansas the house would have been swirling around in a the funnel of a tornado like in this scene from the Wizard of Oz. We definitely were still in Oklahoma.

We parked at a rest stop and saw this unique display of hot food for sale in preparation. The vertical black shields read "behind this sign still cooking".

I never knew about this snack food. I googled it and learned that Tornados are America's #1 Roller Grill Snack. Will my cultural enlightenment never cease? Frank and I refrained from indulging.

We eventually exited onto Route 135 for Wichita. We were headed for Old Town Wichita.

Our hotel was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. It had been converted from an old warehouse and was centrally located in the heart of Old Town Wichita.

The first thing I noticed when we entered our room was the old fashioned rotary phone. Nice touch! It seems a bit anachronistic that the TV remote and internet connection are nearby but still... nice touch.

The view from our window was of the Museum of World Treasures, a definite planned stop on our to do list of locations. 

Three stories below in the street, a trolly car trundled by along the brick roadways and past the black old fashioned lamp-posts. 

Lamp-posts like this always make me think of an old Herman's Hermits tune Leaning On A Lamp Post.  You can hear a version of it at this YouTube link where a senior (mature?) Peter Noone sings at the Alameda County Fair in my adjacent town. The song begins at time 1:44. After a brief intro the original song lyrics begin.

This was our view down into the lobby from the door of our third story room, fountain off to the left and tall mirrored wall on the right.

The tall array of mirrors reflected the indoor balconies of the rooms on the opposite wall.

 We did stay and enjoy the ambience of the lobby for a bit. 

We sat across from the gently flowing water feature below the balconied glass doors. 

The warehouse that was converted for this hotel was the Keen Kutter warehouse as evidenced by the name chiseled above the stone lintel.

A black plaque mounted on an outer brick wall contained other historical information and the fact that it had been renovated in 1996 for use as a hotel.

Also interesting was that the windows along the side had been converted from old loading docks where trucks would back up to take on their cargo.

The interior walls were equally fascinating, designed to be fire resistant as described in detail in the following posted sign. Walls were configured to be air tight and retard air currents and wooden beams were encased in brick to prevent burning. Reputed to be the strongest building in Wichita, the Keen Kutter warehouse was also stated to be the largest warehouse in the world. I could not verify that claim by google. Perhaps it was the largest warehouse for its time.

Exploring our hotel was a great diversion. At the elevator alcove for each floor there were corner curio boxes containing interesting trivia items and collectibles. Frank and I checked out each of them. These two were on the floor for our room. Frank is posed next to a collection of Simmon's paints and varnishes. I stand near some household items such as scales, grinders, radios, washboards.

The Keen Kutter brand of tools is a collection of products by the Simmons Hardware Company incorporated in 1874. The company motto was "The recollection of quality remains long after the price is forgotten." These are the corner cabinets for the other two floors, tools in one pair and sports equipment in another.

Stepping inside the fancy wood trimmed elevators was like a mini-trip back in time to a more elegant era with mirrors and brass and sculptured ceilings.

Granted it was only for one night, but the combination of the welcoming lobby, the historic significance of a converted warehouse, the inviting decor, the interesting curio boxes, and the elegant elevators sure did make for a pleasurable stay at The Hotel at Old Town Wichita. We had arrived mid-day and our first venture out was to grab some lunch. We set out to walk just about everywhere we went in Old Town but we cut through an adjacent parking garage where we'd left the car. The seat covers on a car near ours brought a quirky smile to my face. I could not but help thinking how Alex would have liked those bunnies! 

We found the street over which that train had been parked in the distance. In the foreground are some more rent-a-bikes similar to what we had seen on the Oklahoma University campus on the previous Friday.

I researched (i.e. googled) and learned the bikes are part of a health-focus sponsored transportation system for the downtown Wichita area.

WICHITA, Kan. (May 4, 2017) — The City of Wichita will have a new transportation system starting May 4. BikeShareICT, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and the Knight Foundation Fund through the Wichita Community Foundation, will make 100 cruiser bikes available for Wichitans to use for on-demand local trips from 19 stations throughout downtown Wichita. BikeShareICT leverages Zagster, a provider of city bike share programs around the country, to supply the bikes, bike stations, and the app that gives users access. Annual memberships are $30. College student annual memberships are $20. Riders can also borrow bikes for $3 per hour.

But back to that train in the distance. It is part of the Great Plains Transportation Museum, a mostly outdoor museum with a collection of railroad stock. We could not go into the indoor portion to see what was there because the museum is only open on weekends. The indoor portion seemed quite small taking up only the width of a store front. We could peer through the glass window from the sidewalk and realize that we were not overly disappointed to have missed that minority of the museum. The big ticket items were the rolling stock outdoors. Frank spied a fire escape from which he figured he could see into the rail yard. I told him to go for it. I was content to wait down below.

. 

A dedicated railroad buff, he made the climb so he could observe from a better vantage point. That tiny figure is Frank waving from four and a half stories up.

Safely (and lazily) ensconced at ground level, I zoomed in to take a photo of Frank taking a photo.

I also zoomed in to take a picture of that rusty sided box car. I doubt his pictures were much better for his altitude-challenged efforts, but then maybe he saw other items of interest. And after seven years and driving 320 miles round trip, he really did need to "go the distance" to capitalize on what I'd noticed with Robin long ago.

I enjoyed the sights below on the old brick buildings, like this artsy view of the original signage on a loading dock.

So now – drum roll please – we were about to embark on the highly praised (according to www.tripadvisor.com) and reputedly unique visit to the Museum of World Treasures!

I am sorry to say it was a total bust for me, a lot of hype over next to nothing. The building was way too dark inside and I was expecting much more variety. On the first floor, a room full of Buddha heads did not inspire me. And although a few dinosaur skeletons were strategically placed so as to be viewed from the glass elevator I found the fossil gallery to be limited and lack imagination in its display.

If you were a fan of military history and wars then perhaps you would be interested, but the entire second floor was war related with cases and cases of small scale artifacts like pieces of uniforms and gear issued to soldiers for camping or fighting. Frank liked the museum. If he were to write this post, I am sure the picture painted would be quite different.

The presidents' hall of photos on the wall did have a few bits of trivia about some of the presidents. I captured these for Barack Obama, John Quincy Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. But afterward, I just needed to chill until Frank had his fill.

In short, I was very underwhelmed. I speedily whipped through the displays due to my anal desire for completeness, but spent the bulk of my time relaxing on a bench in a children's playroom on the third floor while Frank browsed.

I much more enjoyed our stroll throughout Old Town with varied other sites to see. The colorful banners scattered throughout gave a cheerful feel with their whimsical design both when viewed in the brightest light of the morning or the more subtle lull of the evening light. We had perfect weather while we were there.

I liked the sign on the side of a building.

We popped in to browse a shop because I liked the door. We did not buy anything inside, but the curvy trimmed bright red door just made my mouth curve in a smile. Then we went back to the hotel in the warmest part of the afternoon to relax, read or nap.

On our way out to dinner later we passed a few quirky sculptures right outside our adjacent parking garage. Statuary scattered about Old Town to catch the eye was titled a Sculpture Walkabout. There were two pieces I noted by artist Marc Durfee. The first was called Tote 'em Travel. And I thought my luggage was beat up!

Frank checked and these did weigh more than mine.

A second sculpture was titled and Tote 'em Rocket. It gives a whole to new meaning to the term "payload".

 

I tend to have a penchant for red doors and the Italian restaurant where we had dinner had cute pizza door handles.

After dinner we walked around the area admiring the craftsmanship in the brickwork of some of the buildings.

On second glance I realized that this next building must have housed the business of three partners. But my initial thought was that it belonged to a man named Sullivan Higdon and that he must have had a very low opinion of his unproductive son. 

The next morning, Tuesday May 24th, we browsed in a few more shops as we had done the previous evening. I bought these purses so impressed was I with not only the theme but also the detailed stitching and fine craftsmanship. I found out they were made and imported by a company in London named Vendula. I think it is quite cosmopolitan of me that for never having been to Europe and pretty much having lived my entire adult life in Livermore California, I should have discovered these items in Wichita, Kansas during a trip to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

We left the Old Town Market place having one more intended stop before returning to Oklahoma City.

Remember when I first saw that train that I wanted Frank to see? It was when I was bridal gown shopping with Robin.  To make our Wichita trip complete Frank and I looked up the location of that bridal shop and learned it was only a six minutes away from our hotel.

This is the shop where Robin bought the gown for her May 14, 2011 wedding.

I took Frank in and showed him around. The shop had since expanded to about three times the size it had been back then. 

Robin found an old email and was able to recall the name of the saleswoman, April, who had helped her. April was there that day. I introduced myself and she remembered Robin and me. I guess she did not have many mother of the brides there in Wichita, Kansas from California for a gown to be worn at a wedding in Oklahoma. Frank and I enjoyed chatting briefly with her. Robin had sent her pictures after the wedding so I think she remembered the dress, too.

This photo of Robin and me had been taken at the shop when Robin decided on that gown seven plus years ago.

 I remember well that beautiful circular train...

... and all the intricate embroider on it as well as on the gown.

It does not seems like that much time has passed. But then again there are an almost three-year-old grandson and an almost six-year-old granddaughter in the picture now.

After leaving behind that bridal shop and the nostalgia it invoked, Frank and I headed back south to Oklahoma City to resume our visit there. We had enjoyed our low-key quaint outing with just the two of us. On our return drive I was touched by this road sign indicating Oklahoma's deep concern for the well being of its highway construction workers.