Wendell's back

 Ken called me last night about an hour before I expected him and said he's not coming over.  I said my headache was kicking my ass (truth) anyway. 

My headache actually got better a bit after the call and after I got some things together to list, headache or not. I got 10 things together, but then was just plain tired even if my headache had gone, and went to bed. 

I woke up around noon, with my headache right back. Last night I'd also gone through my books and had two shopping bags full of them ready to go. I left here around 1:30 and went right over to the used book store. It was busy. It seemed a lot of other people wanted to sell books, too. 

I actually got $25.75 cash for my books, so that went rather well. I rode over to the little free pantry on 7th and put the books on the top shelf, went to Lee's for some day-old stuff and two pork egg rolls, and went over to the college to eat. The squirrels were hilarious, flipping their fluffy tails around, and after I tossed them some flakes of the eggs rolls, which they didn't like, still hanging around in case I had something else. 

I went over to Dai Thanh for some vegetables, and decided to take a ride around Christmas In The Park to see what vendors had shown up this year. 

I heard a flute and ... there was Wendall from New Orleans! I asked him what kind of flute he's playing and it's a Yamaha student model which he's sure was made in Japan but was actually made in China. I asked him if he wanted me to buy him a jug of wine (there's a hole in the wall liquor store that sells them) and he said No, and we both discussed how "the romance is gone" regarding drinking. 

He'd been here last Christmas season too, but we'd missed each other. And he's been here for weeks, but again I wasn't around at the right time and place to see him. He'll leave for San Francisco the day after Christmas. I told him about my learning the flute and how I'm following the lessons in the Trevor Wye book and don't want to fall into bad habits and I'm not far along enough to play any carols yet. He said, "Check this out!" and played a jazzed up version of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow". 

I told him about playing at Whole Foods, since I might as well share my "gold mine" if I'm not out there playing. While he didn't seem to be making a lot of money where he was, it might be a gold mine there once it gets dark and more people are around. He hustled me for a tip when I got ready to leave, and I put a dollar in his tip box. 

I took a little loop through the vendor area and the caricaturists aren't there this year. The people selling hats and scarves and T-shirts and such are there, and there's a big face-painting setup. Two old standbys, the "Sleigh Ride" photo place, and the guy making wooden signs with a router, are there. As well as the rest - decorations that haven't changed in decades, aging and slightly unsettling animatronics, little kids staring at the wonder of it all, as their parents did when they were little. 

I found 9 books on the way back, stopped at Nijiya for a "holiday chicken leg" and 2 beers, and got back here. It got cold pretty fast once the sun was going down. At least the sunset was really beautiful.