Thursday, April 23, 2015

Spring Silliness



Did you read about the canoe trip on my other blog?  Not yet?  Go there and then come back here for the after party....

Did you read it?  OK.

I had to set up this story with the afternoon canoe post you just perused so you can see that I was not on Prozac...just some Tequila, too much sun, hungriness, and good spring weather.  Yes, it was a LARGE Margharita, but in my defense they only listed LARGE and EXTRA LARGE on the menu and in further defense I actually drank only 75% of it.

Well, as elderly people who are off schedule and eating dinner later than usual and who combine that dinner with a cocktail (only me), we easily slid into super relaxed mode after the end of an afternoon in the spring sunshine.  Hubby guessed that we had paddled about 3 miles, which is not a huge amount, but proves we did lots of poking about.

I was dressed in ratty old denim jeans and a denim shirt that had also seen better paddling days.  I had a royal blue Stephen Colbert duck bill cap on my head (in this very conservative county) which mashed my short hair cut and gave me a more boyish/mannish look than I ever wanted.  My face was sunburned and it was shiny from sun-tan lotion.  I just write this, because I am vane enough to state I rarely go out to dinner looking like this and I was self-conscious on top of being tired.  

We ordered our drinks and having been together all afternoon we became silent and began people watching from our window at the restaurant.

While waiting for the guacamole to arrive, I saw a sleek convertible pulling into the parking lot.  There were three people who emerged, an elderly man and woman and one younger woman.  Very conscious of how others were dressing on this beautiful spring evening, I realized I had even forgotten to bring a brush to fix my hair when I removed my baseball cap, so I must have looked like a very lost soul.  Hubby retreated to the restroom while I watched the two woman wearing long flowing skirts and looking so summery nice.  The younger woman was helping them carefully put up the convertible top and returning some new plastic cover to the trunk of the car.  As they shut the car trunk the younger woman reach up to loosen her hair from a tight bun which had held her hair neatly for the windy top down drive.  As she released the pins, silky hair flowed in a wave of the most beautiful brown and shiny sweep that fell across her bare shoulders.  Ummm!  I was feeling even mousier as I took another sip of my Margarita.

When hubby returned from the restroom I made note of the fancy convertible in navy blue and brown to him.  We think the car was an AUDI, but not sure.  I pointed out the lovely lady as they were seated at a table nearby.  Hubby nodded and then said there was a much nicer car catching his eye, but it was behind a more closely parked car and I could not see it from where I sat.  I saw just a bit of the bright yellow hood and silver hub cap.

We continued to people watch, as two young teenage girls with actual flower crowns in their hair entered with their parents.  Just before our entree arrived hubby commented several times again on the fancy yellow car.  I suggested as our meal ended that we go out that way and look at the car.  By then I was feeling a bit fuzzy from the drink and mentioned that we could give customers a laugh as they saw us walking around and around the building thinking we were looking for our car and forgotten where we parked our car---which was on the exact opposite side of the building from this yellow car.  Would they shake their heads at two old people walking in circles...or would they even notice?  Still hubby wanted me to be able to see the car so after we paid the bill we took a right instead of a left at the front door.

A woman in her late 40's with a man in his 60's followed closely behind us as we exited and I suddenly became self-conscious once again of not actually walking to our car.  Being in a silly mood as well, I turned as I held the door open for the woman and said that we were not parked on this side of the restaurant and we had not lost our car!  We KNEW that it was parked on the other side of this building, but wanted to check out a car parked on this side.  She smiled (patiently?) as she held the door for her companion.

"Oh, I get distracted by cars as well," she said and winked at her companion.

I went on to explain it was fancy yellow car.

She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "You know, yellow is my favorite color."

I laughed.

We turned the corner of the building and I pointed out the car at the end of the row.  She smiled again and said "That is my car.  I like to check it out every once in a while as well!"

"Your car?" hubby and I said together.

"Really." she smiled.

"Well, we were admiring it through the window during our dinner," Hubby replied.

"I like to look at it through the window when I eat dinner also!"  she laughed.

"What brand is it?" I asked stupidly.  I know nothing about cars and neither my husband nor I would ever crave such a status symbol, but we were both in a silly mood on this evening...obviously.

"It is mustang."  she smiled.  Her male companion could barely contain himself as he watched our surprise at her having such fun with us.  She had read us from the beginning, I guess, and knew exactly where we were headed at the outset.  Maybe this often happened to her?

Yes, it was their car as we saw them drive past us out onto the highway and we must have made their day.  (The only thing I regretted later is not having children or grandchildren around so that I could have embarrassed them.)

14 comments:

  1. What good is getting old, if you still have to worry about people judging you?

    It would have been more fun to have had a grandchild around to embarrass.

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  2. What fun....and no, you just looked Hollywoodish. :) Cars? Check out the Consumer Reports car guide once a year and you will know more than you ever wanted to know about cars...says the wife of a car guy.

    No thanks on the tissues. I'm using a roll of paper towels. :)

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  3. There have been a couple of times in my life where i've been caught by the owner of a vehicle standing and admiring it. Each time, i've stood at a respectufl distance so they knew i wasn't about to molest it in any way, and i've complimented them on how wonderful it is.

    The person or persons (it's been a married couple at least once), is always grateful to see the admiration from someone else, and one gentleman gave me a candy bar!

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  4. This reminds me of the time I was driving our son somewhere and we encountered a Delorean. "Back to the Future" was our son's favorite movie and he practically turned inside out drooling over that car.

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  5. It sounds like a fun exchange, and just think, without the cocktail you might not have had the courage for it!

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  6. That's not too bad at all, and certain Mustangs are worth some trouble. I am not tempted by cars, but the right Mustang would tempt me if I were filthy rich.

    Once, when we were travelling with our two young girls we stopped at a restaurant. It wasn't particularly swanky but we soon found ourselves surrounded by a well-dressed business crowd. I looked down at myself in white Tee and white shorts and opined to Sue that it like my worst dream except I did have some clothes on. Sue didn't feel any better in her orange shorts and halter top. We slinked out as inauspiciously as possible.

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  7. A fun time of silliness. Thanks for sharing your story.

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  8. Yes, children might have been embarrassed but adults who remember what fun it is to give in to your secret curiosities would understand you well.

    It all sounds the greatest fun, the canoe trip, the meal and the little extra excursion round the carpark.

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  9. I was passed by a Ferrari the other day (well, I am generally passed by every vehicle on the road) but it was making a mighty impressive roar.
    I so relate to that going for food after an outdoor excursion and feeling so disheveled and out of place.

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  10. Girls just want to have fun. What is good about growing older, is that we don't care as much anymore about what others think about us, but we still want to explain our actions.

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  11. So you're blaming it on the booze, are you? I think you provided that other couple with a great deal of fun too.

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  12. I certainly recognize situations like this. It was fun to read about your adventure. And about the canoeing, too. I'm so glad you post a lot.

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  13. 75% you say, oh sure!
    The running into people and having to explanation happens a lot when I have Dad with me.
    And though I'm not terribly vane, I do like to look presentable for what ever situation I'm in.

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  14. Mustangs ARE fantastic looking cars, aren't they? My best friend just drove up from Oklahoma to surprise me and she came in her Mustang. Needless to say the kids were impressed. Even more so when she gave them a ride in it. :)

    Would your kids be embarrassed by that conversation? They should have grown up with my mom and dad. They were CONSTANTLY striking up conversations with strangers and my dad also thought he was a comedian so he was always doing impersonations and all kinds of crazy stuff. You should have seen how they would behave when I brought friends over to the house. Though my friends thought they were hilarious. Anyway, I was pretty used to that kind of thing. I guess that is why I don't embarrass easily now. ;)

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