NICE LUNCH

NICE LUNCH.
We had a nice lunch yesterday with our youngest daughter, Sue. She came down from Fairfield, and we went to our favorite café - The Galley - on the Glen Cove harbor. A very nice day, and a beautiful setting. We decided to eat outside. The harbor was filled with expensive yachts. I would guess that we were looking at investments totaling over ten million dollars! Looking beyond the yachts, I could see the Carquinez Straight, and the California and Hawaiian Sugar Company refinery lining the opposite shore. I spent seven years working there before transferring to the corporate office in San Francisco. So, I had a vested interest in the view! Steam was coming out of the plant. This meant that the plant was operating. Hopefully, my pension is still funded - after 24 years of retirement.
The small café is cozy and has a lot of atmosphere. The owner-operators are Liz and Butch. They know how to please their customers. They are friendly and always welcome us. Marie and I split an order. She took the half-tuna sandwich, while I martyred, and took the bowl of chili. I was telling Butch how good it was, and he claimed to be the creator. Sue got a tuna sandwich.
While we were waiting for our order, we were admiring all the beautiful boats. A fellow was washing off the stern of a very nice one moored nearby. We were guessing it’s size. So, Sue and I went over near the rear of the boat. I hollered to the “crewman”, asking him the size. No response to my question - he just kept hosing away. I shouted my question a couple more times each time increasing the volume. Fortunately, a couple of men came around the corner, and told me that if I wanted an answer I would have to ask him in Spanish. Then, he volunteered that it was 46 feet. Sue asked him if he was the owner and he said, “yes”. I don’t know anything about yachts, but if John Madden’s new bus cost $700,000, this baby must have cost that much, too. The reason the size came up is that Nick Gibbens (a friend of the family; and Sue and Nick used to work at the same company in San Francisco.) has a 27 foot sail boat that he races on San Francisco Bay - with a crew of five. I asked the owner how big a crew he needed. He said, “My wife and I, and a “six pack”. He had an accent and Sue thought that he might be Australian. I would have liked to have chatted longer with him, but Butch was bringing our order.
We hated to leave the harbor. Sue is always good company and we enjoy her visits . She is “bubbly” and upbeat, with a heck of a memory. We always enjoy being with her.