There's a new tea shop on the way to town (new to me because I hadn't gone in - but it's been there for several months). Chocolate, scones, plants, antiques, flowers, handmade jewelry, books. There's no one way to describe it except the way they do: "delightful, divine, delicious". It's called
Lily's (in the Garden of San Jose) and it replaced the tea shop that so many of us mourned. This place is divine!
My friend and I drank creme Earl Grey tea with fresh-baked scones in a peaceful, pleasant atmosphere. We could hear the morning breezes sighing in the old trees outside, passing through the open screen door, into the shop, riffling the edge of a tablecloth....perfect! I walked around with my new iPhone and, with permission, snapped a few pics. They've added cafe tables outside in the nursery area and we'll try that out next time. Maybe later today.
This phone has an 8mp camera! A huge improvement over my last phone camera at about 2mps. It may be ho-hum to you techies out there, but it's definitely magic to me. So is the download of 100 books from my Kindle, and all the other stuff that's possible now. I'm still learning how to use it and occasionally I still miss a call because I forgot how to answer. I wasn't born with a cellphone in my hands like 21st century babes. I can remember... (omg! that's what geezers say) - I can remember a black party line telephone in our apartment in the Bronx (I was
very young). A few years later we were the first family in our neighborhood to have a television set (my father, an electronics maven, built it). It was mostly test patterns, but they seemed pretty advanced.
and now THE BEST!
I learned about this book through a fb connection, borrowed it and couldn't put it down. I read while cooking, walking, knitting. It's a well-written moving, interesting, informative, adventure. I experienced laughter, tears, sadness - and hope for the future of wild conservation - especially in Africa where wildlife and jungles are disappearing at a rapid rate. Lawrence Anthony died in early March of this year, and that's how I heard about the remarkable elephants he loved. He hadn't seen them for 15 months (he felt they should be left alone on the huge wild preserve) when they walked many miles to silently surrounded his home after his unexpected death (
chills).
There is a new book by Anthony coming out soon. He wrote about the six months he spent in Iraq at the Baghdad Zoo at the height of the war, saving the animals that were left amid the unfathomable destruction of the city and the zoo. Out of 600-700 animals (the largest zoo in the middle-east) only about 35 were left and they were in grave condition. Thanks to him, Americans and Iraqis worked together for the animals and the zoo. I look forward to reading it. Until then, I highly recommend
the elephant whisperer.
