Journal of a Sabbatical

November 21, 1998

mastery

Dropped the laundry off, parked in the 15 minute space next to the post office, met Tom just outside the post office so we went to Starbucks and drank coffee for 2 hours. He told me some woman who comes in there a lot told him yesterday that she'd seen me with him and asked wasn't I married to QI (well, she didn't name him, she described him). Tom found that hilarious. When he told me, I cracked up. There is no mistaking QI for a straight guy, there just isn't.

I picked up Nancy at the bus station, then we met Mark at House of Tibet Kitchen for dinner before the Natalie MacMaster concert at the Somerville Theater. I had the most amazing spinach dish, something called "spinach hot garlic". The spinach was cooked just right - not boiled down to mush - and seasoned with ginger, garlic, and red chili peppers. Mmm. Mmmm. Good. The "sweet tea" was excellent too: kind of like chai but with loads more cardamom.

Natalie MacMaster really rocked. She was great. At times it seemed like she just left this reality altogether. And she seemed to be related to a fair number of people in the theater. A lot of Cape Bretoners in diaspora seem to live in the greater Somerville area.

Despite my determination to go straight home and nurse my cold, I couldn't resist hanging out for a bit at the Someday Cafe before bidding adieu to Mark and heading home.