Lunching with Helene at Rydal Park

Helene doesn't like the food, but I sure do.

The dishes are all brightly colored.

Had a bowl of beef orzo soup. Orzo? What's that?

Orzo also risoni is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. Orzo can be served alone; as a soup accompaniment; as part of a salad, pilaf, ...

       Love the lengthy pasta.

I also ate a hot dog with heaps of sauerkraut and mustard, a cold glass of water and a cup of excellent coffee - they switched brands once again - made by Farmer's.

The cost of Rydal Park is going up.

The cost of everything is going up.

Here's a poem I wrote this morning before leaving for lunch.

NOVEMBER

November, with your slowly
falling leaves, your
left-over Halloween
candy. Melting in my
mouth now is a tiny
Hershey Bar, a foreign
object, really, as I'm
too old to eat candy

Fifty trick or treaters perhaps?
A favorite candy, they said,
was a regular-sized Hershey Bar
The kids couldn't remember who
gave it out, they were in the middle
of our labyrinthine neighborhood

In their marvelous costumes
One was the Edvard Munch "Scream,"
"Can you breathe in that?" I asked.
Another, in her dad's arms, was
Little Red Riding Hood

It was dad I asked to open my jar
of spaghetti sauce. I sat with my
door open wide, heat off, and ate
my spaghetti while watching "Bitter Rice"
subtitled, with Silvana Mangano.

I sent out my first postcard
in November, to Nancy Joy,
then sat down to eat a
breakfast fit for a Queen
which I suppose I am,
since I have no rivals
for her majesty of Cowbell Road.

***
Sitting next to Helene in the dining room was a woman named Betty. Helene told me she was a poet.

After our meal, we went upstairs to the sixth floor. I went into Helene's book-filled apartment.

"Haven't been here in ages," I told HAR, who walks with a cane at a fast pace. She showed me a photo of her hirsute grandson Haim who will be married next year. His family moved to Israel years ago. His lovely fianceeee stood next to him.

Probly not touching, as they're Orthodox, like my Gramma Green was. Back in the day. 

Oh, this reminds me. If you have Netflix, there's an interesting film called One of Us, about the difficulty of getting a divorce, even if your husband is violent, and then transforming your life from the rule-bound Hasidics to the mainstream. Read this review.



Oy veh! Such hats.

Thirst consumes me from my lunch. Hot dogs always have too much salt.

This morning, I walked down the street to give Kimberly a sculpture her son Zeke had made.

He and I painted two Styrofoam containers on the screened-in back porch and left them to dry, which took a long time.

As I walked, I saw not a single candy bar left over from last night.

Helene had told me to bring her a treat.

I scooped up some of the candy I had left over from last night.

Kit-Kats

Mini-Hershey Bars.

She chose a Mr. Goodbar.

Good bye!

Good bye!