Sunday Started Way Too Early

Awake at 5 am, reluctantly out of bed at 5:50.  My insomnia program has its lapses.

Here's a book I recommend for early risers, because it's fascinating and readable.  The author is an experienced journalist, a knowledgeable Catholic who gives an unflinching portrayal of the mysterious city-state.

We were in Rome for four days in 2011, coincidentally at Easter, not the best time because of crowds and because the basilica was closed so that it could be readied for Easter services, a big disappointment. This book makes me want to go back and see more than the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. 

The really interesting stuff, though, is what tourists never see but Thavis writes about.

* * * * *

Yesterday I tried on the skirt to an expensive suit I haven't worn since 2005.  I was so far from being able to zip it up that it was laughable.  At least a two-inch gap, even when I held my breath as fiercely as I could.   Sigh.  I read last week in the New York Times that women tend to gain 10 pounds in their fifties, and there it all is: around my waist. Hell.

The suit skirt compared with waist of jeans I wear now  (stretch, of course).

But then I really don't need a black suit.  I wore that one to the opera a few times, once when we took martinis in a thermos to a bench near the Opera House in San Francisco and had a picnic dinner before the curtain.  That was more fun than the opera was (Don Giovanni).

Now that suit and a bunch of Jerry's clothes are off to the West Marin Thrift Store:

Mostly clothes Jerry had forgotten he owned, some dating from the 1970's.

* * * * *

 

Conversation over lunch a few days ago:

 

Me (lamenting sleep-flattened hair):  Do you think I should blow-dry my hair before we go out?

 

Jerry (thoughtfully, not looking up from a magazine):  Well, it doesn't cost anything.

 

It doesn't cost anything? 

 

We're talking morale here, guy, not cost effectiveness.

 

* * * * **

 

Breakfast now, or back to bed?  Breakfast, I think.  And the New York Times, starting with the real estate pages in the business section.  A house near us just sold within two weeks, cash (no "pending sign"), for probably $2 million.  The listing price was $1.65, but everything around here goes over the asking price.

 

Who out there is able to do this, and why do I feel vaguely hostile that I couldn't afford to buy a house in my own neighborhood?