Is There A Ralph's Around Here?...Post Lebowski Fest: Sunday

We slept late, but still got down to the Sunday brunch by 10 or so.

The hotel brunch was the same as their regular breakfast buffet, only $5 more per head for the opportunity to enjoy some less than fresh fruit salad and roast beef...

There were a few Lebowski stragglers in the crowd, but no one we recognized.

After checkout we didn't really have time for anything else, so we went bowling one last time. The bowling alley was deserted, save for one family of four a few lanes to our left. I actually bowled a couple of decent games, 169 and 160, before fading in my last game. Lee spent most of his time experimenting with throwing a spinner, and his scores reflected it.

Our United flight out of Louisville was delayed, but we still got into Chicago in time to make our connection. I read the Louisville newspaper on the way over...I wasn't impressed with it.

At O'Hare I grabbed a Tribune, and I think it was almost as thin as the Louisville paper. The sports section really sucked, and other than an interesting article about a new device for treating cardiac heart failure (some kind of netting like those used to hold a dozen oranges) there wasn't much there.

Listening Machine Syndrome: On the ride to Providence Lee had the window; I was in the middle, I had an elderly woman to my right. We did not converse until we were 15 minutes out of TF Green Airport. She accidently slammed her Dooney & Bourke (sp?) handbag into me, then quickly apologized. Before you could say "tell me your life story" she had told me her life story. Born and raised in Connecticut. Undergrad at Central CT. Master's at U. of Arizona - a free ride. Loved Tuscon. Loves the West. Has friends scattered all over: Portland, Oregon. California, Utah, Arizona. Lives in eastern CT. Retired 1st grade teacher; but still helps out a few hours per week while she still has her wits about her. Just returned from 2 weeks in Tahoe. Flew in and out of Sacramento. Met a female friend; they drove to Tahoe rental; friend's family rented same house for 30 years. Kayaked; loved it. Now wants an inflatable kayak. Has traveled all over the planet: Galapagos (flew to Guayaquil, Ecuador, first, then onto the islands), Amazon River, China, India, Europe; every year a big long trip with a friend. Thinking about New Zealand, or an Antarctic cruise. Taught overseas, in Spain, Asia. One grandchild, a boy named Alex. Daughter lives in Shelton, CT, and is a midwife; son-in-law is a pediatrician or ob-gyn, I forget. At a hospital in New Haven. St. Raphael's. Brother's a retired doctor. She owns Pfizer stock; bought it at 15, sorry to see it hovering around 17 now.

As you can tell, this was pretty much a monologue.

Then we landed, taxied to the gate. As soon as the lights in the cabin came on, she turned her back on me, and leaped out of her seat...and never looked back in my direction again. I've experienced this syndrome before...people who treat you as if you are a listening machine that turns off automatically as soon as the plane connects to the jetway. I think it is kind of rude. My wife's theory is that people like her are nervous about the landing, and just talk through it rather than face it alone. Still rude behavior, though...

Picked up the Rodeo and was back at home by 11 pm. Lee continued onto CT, but not before demonstrating the rotating marmot for everyone.

And that pretty much wraps 'er up. So to speak.