I kinda wanna say something like thank god but it’s all good fun to be oot and aboot (as the Canuckians say) in the dark and dead of winter.

Today was a birthday of porterization, JP’s to be accurate. We met at the Earle. They took an Uber to the restaurant (good choice) and we drove them home. I have never taken an Uber but I have taken a Lyft. It was right before the covid shutdown and Little Cat Z ordered one to show me how they worked (at my request). We were downtown and wanted to be dropped off at the Plum Market and we were able to show the Lyft driver (a woman, as we requested) the “shortcut” to the Plum. (Dexter instead of Huron.)

The Earle has a wide-ranging menu and I don’t remember what everyone else ordered but I definitely ordered a duck breast dish. I sampled some small bits of appetizers and took a bite or two of dessert. I ordered two ‘hattans, I swear I ordered the second one no fewer than THREE times. Other than that, the service was fine, as always.

It turned out that one of the beach urchins was at the Grotto, a block or so away. I figured out where it was PDQ. Nevertheless, a long conversation about the Grotto vs. the Zal Gaz Grotto ensued. Nope, not the same thing. The Zal Gaz has been there since before I even lived on The Planet Ann Arbor. It is (if I get it right) a Masonic organization providing support for various good causes.

My grandparents were involved in Masonic organizations but not my parents. I was in Job’s Daughters for a while but only because it was a “cool” thing to do in my little town and my much admired older female cousins were in it. I quit after having my stupid white shoes stolen and being forced to shame another girl (a pregnant girl before Roe vs. Wade). That is all a (weird) story for another day. I think two of my cousins did a turn as Honored Queen. Not me. I don’t really have the “right stuff” for that kind of position anyway. Same with Homecoming Queen.

Anaway (as the British say), HB to JP. Another trip around the sun for all of us frozen ice January babies.

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