Julia bought an old coin, a round pin and a scarf clip. Afterwards, we went to India House, and ate tasty food from the buffet. Since we got there early, the selection was good. Just as we finished, some friends of ours walked in, and we enjoyed chatting with them!

Sunday, January 8, 2006

"Cushy Choices"
3:21pm

Julia saw a new restaurant opening, 'Japanese Buffet', the sign beaconed. It is in the spot of an old place we used to frequent. This is two incarnations later. We never did try the short lived 'Bahama...', Bahama something. If you like sushi, you might like this restaurant. I don't like sushi. And they didn't have freshly brewed unsweetened tea. That's a big strike there. I know I'm spoiled. I don't expect Dazhang Mountain green tea, or Keemon Maofeng black tea. But a basic brewed tea is not too much to ask.

I didn't leave exactly happy. Oh, well, there are plenty of other restaurants which are in our favor.

But we were fed enough to go on our mission. Julia's been long unhappy with our sofa, dubbed the BSS (butt sucking sofa). I kind of ignored her complaints for a few years. After all, it wasn't like the one we had previously, which had a loose spring that had to be blocked with a piece of plywood. That one had sunken so low that in addition to the plywood, we had to prop it up with lots of pillows stuffed underneath the top seat cushion. It wasn't pretty.

It was 'ghetto', pure and simple. The BSS is a step up from that one. But time and heavy butts have worn hard on it. Not only that, Julia's chiropracter strongly suggested that an upgrade to a firm one would help her back. So off we went in search of such a thing. It is rare in sofa-land. Most of the sofas are overpillowed, loosely padded, with seats much too wide for my short thighs. I can't sit with my back next to its back in those. Some are even worse, overpillowed major butt suckers in hot, sticky leather. Yes, for those of you with animal concerns, some animal giving up its hide for your heinie. Or there's fake leather in PVC, even hotter and even stickier.

But the salesperson knew what we were looking for and directed us to the few firm models. Pricey, one was, and he showed us a cheaper model, different brand. Right away, I could tell something was wrong when we both sat down and Julia sunk way lower than I. The salesperson admitted a lot of people had sat on that sofa in the years it had been a floor model. That, and a weaker spring mechanism were to blame.

I was getting the idea that cheap sofas are about as comfortable as cheap shoes, no bargain in the long run. So after a search around, we came back to the original pricey sofa. We have to wait eight weeks for it to be manufactured, as there were no models in stock. But this meant we could choose the fabric covering it. I decided not to opt for the floral standard. Julia didn't have much of a preference, except that it be in darker tones, rust, burgundy or brown. So I chose a fabric called 'Navajoway'. Here's the picture copied and pasted from the website:

In eight weeks or so, it will be in our living room.

Monday, January 9, 2006

"Roses in the Sunlight"
10:01pm

There's a small rose garden at the convention center, where the antique show was held. After our adventure there, I grabbed a few pictures of them just before we walked back to the car:

And, yes, the air was cool, but not too cool, and a gentle breeze was in the air. And yes, the roses did give off a sweet fragrance.

(I put these pictures in my Rose Gallery, too!