SWMBO and I went out on A Date many years ago a few weeks after Spawns
debut into Real Life®. My in-laws made a generous offer to watch
Daughter-units Alpha and Beta, and the newly-arrived Spawn, so we
snapped it up. I made reservations at one of our favorite restaurants
a mere 40 miles distant from our home.

The evening started off like most of Real Life's® hopeful evenings:
One "disaster" after another but nothing a little patience (and two
800 mg Motrin[1]) couldn't fix.

We arrived at the restaurant to find we had it to ourselves! [Bonus!]
I'm one of THOSE patrons that enjoys a good pampering and an empty
restaurant means that the servers often hover like yellow jackets at a
picnic table. I like this. So, as we were seated, the staff converged
like we were magnetized and they were iron filings. We had bread,
water, drinks (a MIGHTY FINE SMS and cocktail), a running conversation
(not with ourselves) with the owner/proprietor, and immediately
started to relax. The previous disasters drifted away and were soon so
much minor smoke.

Ten minutes into this spa-like setting, a trio of silver foxes
arrived. They were greeted like long-lost family and seated at the
table next to us. At first, I felt the poison of Toddler Jealousy
coursing through my entire being. Here we had the ENTIRE restaurant --
staff and floor -- all to ourselves and now we had to share. During my
private grousing, the similarity between what I was thinking and
Spawn's philosophy as Center of the Known Universe surfaced. That
revelation and the relevant comparisons were unpleasant at best and
almost enough to spoil the remaining portion of my evening. SWMBO
recognized the sulk forming above my pointed cranium -- and being a
mom to multiples -- started to massage my smarting ego.

The owner-chef, Ibrahim, came out to tell us all about the food he was
preparing that night. Duck with port sauce, Pork Marsala, Beef
Wellington, Sautéed Salmon, and Pheasant were the specials. Stuffed
Portabello, crab cakes, creme d'asperagus soup, and a salad with
walnuts [(YEESH!) A more VILE-tasting nut there isn't! Yuck! Ick!
Phooey!] were described in their full pornographic detail. I,
unfortunately, was daydreaming about the whisky and didn't hear
anything after "Pork Marsala," though; I tuned out in ecstasy, sipping
my neat drink since I'd already made my choice. This made
"remembering" what I wanted with the rest of the meal sort of
difficult but SWMBO was a more-attentive listener and was able to
(more-or-less) recite the specials I missed. Our server came back and
we immediately placed our order for food and wine.

During this time, I happen to glance over at the trio. The lone male
looked down quickly and turned an interesting shade of crimson. I
didn't understand the reaction because all we'd done was talk about
food, the menu, the difficulty that She was having deciding between
Salmon, Beef, Pork, Duck, Pheasant, Pasta, wine, salad, soup,
appetizer, and the kids... The proverbial light bulb clicked bright.

I dropped my voice and Herself nodded. She'd witnessed a similar event
with one of the women. We dropped our voices conspiratorially.

It took a few minutes to get "back in the mood" but the restaurant's
ambiance worked its continuing magic; pretty soon we were back to
joking and talking about every topic that was verboten around the
daughter-units. As we talked, there were pauses between topics (normal
for us) which seemed to get filled by noises coming from the trio's
table. Our pauses lengthened -- usually in mid-thought... It was at
one such point where I was talking about writing Da Book and heard,
"...it was the largest kielbasa I'd ever seen! And it just kept
coming!" The two women of the trio were guffawing, SWMBO was shaking
with laughter, and I was burning from my ears to my toes because I was
definitely only half-listening when the punch line was delivered. The
male fox grinned that ear-splitting grin that showed a
pleased-with-myself "Gotchya!". He looked over at our table and asked,
"Have either of you been to Poland?"

I'm sure I looked very much like my Daughter-units, Alpha and Beta,
after I caught them team-filching Oreo's that afternoon. I didn't,
couldn't, answer.

"Well?" he continued good-naturedly, "Have you?"

SWMBO smiled, very sheepishly, and answered him, "No. Only Germany."

"Ah... Germany's beautiful, too, but Poland's stunningly beautiful!
You would both like it. By the way, I've been shamefully
eaves-dropping on your conversation, too. How'd you like to 'join' us,
since we're obviously wanting to hear each other's stories?"

The Ranger

[1] Better living through the US Pharmaceutical Industry!

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 20:44:38 -0800, The Ranger
> wrote:

A marvelous anecdote.

BRAVO!

Carol, an admirer
--
Wash away the gray to respond.

"The Ranger" > wrote in message
...
It was at
> one such point where I was talking about writing Da Book

That's been a while ago How is Da Book coming along?

"The Ranger" > wrote in message
...
> You would both like it. By the way, I've been shamefully
> eaves-dropping on your conversation, too. How'd you like to 'join' us,
> since we're obviously wanting to hear each other's stories?"

LOL thank you for sharing)

Ophelia

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:57:29 -0600, Damsel in dis Dress
> replied:
[snip]
>A marvelous anecdote.
>
>BRAVO!

/bows

Thank you, Madam Admirer.

The Ranger

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 08:11:25 GMT, "Knit Chic" >
asked:
[snip]
> > one such point where I was talking about writing Da Book
> >
>That's been a while ago How is Da Book coming along?

Every time I get a new set of editors, Real Life® and Murphy join in
to throw them a series of events that causes them to prioritize time
allotments. Since they are donating their time, you can guess which
gets punted.

As far as stories go... Spawn's continuing her ambitious attempt at
dominating the vignettes. Daughter-units Alpha and Beta have also come
to the realization that their father-unit is enjoying their trials and
tribulations and that there is a record being kept... They're just not
sure of who the audience is (or will be.)

The Ranger

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:00:06 GMT, "Ophelia" >
replied:
>
> "The Ranger" > wrote in message ...
> > You would both like it. By the way, I've been shamefully
> > eaves-dropping on your conversation, too. How'd you like to
> > 'join' us, since we're obviously wanting to hear each other's
> > stories?"
> >
>LOL thank you for sharing)

Anytime. The Thanksgiving meal and prep should provide some additional
material.

The Ranger

"The Ranger" > wrote in message
news
> On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:00:06 GMT, "Ophelia" >
> replied:
>>
>> "The Ranger" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > You would both like it. By the way, I've been shamefully
>> > eaves-dropping on your conversation, too. How'd you like to
>> > 'join' us, since we're obviously wanting to hear each other's
>> > stories?"
>> >
>>LOL thank you for sharing)
>
> Anytime. The Thanksgiving meal and prep should provide some additional
> material.

I await it with great interest

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 20:44:38 -0800, The Ranger
> wrote:

>"Ah... Germany's beautiful, too, but Poland's stunningly beautiful!
>You would both like it. By the way, I've been shamefully
>eaves-dropping on your conversation, too. How'd you like to 'join' us,
>since we're obviously wanting to hear each other's stories?"

So did you join 'em?

--
-denny-
"Do your thoughts call ahead or do they just arrive at your mouth unannounced?"

"It's come as you are, baby."

-over the hedge

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 14:09:42 -0800, Denny Wheeler
> replied:
>On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 20:44:38 -0800, The Ranger > wrote:
> > "Ah... Germany's beautiful, too, but Poland's stunningly beautiful!
> > You would both like it. By the way, I've been shamefully
> > eaves-dropping on your conversation, too. How'd you like to 'join' us,
> > since we're obviously wanting to hear each other's stories?"
> >
>So did you join 'em?

Closed out the restaurant and ended up having both owners join us in a
glass of port and pot of coffee. It was a spectacular evening. (We are
still meeting in restaurants, too.)

The Ranger