Donna rode her bicycle to her sister’s house on Saturday. Sheila was out of town skiing in Park City, Utah and left her car keys for us. Donna and I mapped out a route for her to ride that would keep her mostly on bike paths or roads with bike lanes. She planned to ride the old Sea World Drive path to the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard bridge, then follow Nimitz to Chatsworth (map).

She ended up crossing on the wrong bridge – she took the West Mission Bay bridge to the intersection of Midway and Sports Arena Boulevard. It was a good thing we looked at the map together before she went. Once she realized her mistake, she knew what to do to get to Sheila’s house. We had already discussed a few alternatives before deciding on what we thought would be the safest route. She rode to Rosecrans Street and then cut through a neighborhood on Evergreen. This worked out fine and she made it to Sheila’s house in about 45 minutes.

When she came back to Mission Bay RV Resort with the car – she left her bike in Sheila’s garage – we went shopping. We drove over to CVS in Pacific Beach to pick up a few things. While I was there, Donna walked one block west to Trader Joe’s. When I was done at CVS, I drove over and parked in front of Trader Joe’s and walked to Petsmart to pick up cat food for Ozark. After I dropped it off in the car, I went into Trader Joe’s and found Donna at the checkout counter. Very efficient.

We were considering going over to Sardina’s for happy hour – also my last chance to hand in my football picks for the week –  but when we got into the car and I began driving home, I realized that I had overworked my hand. It was sore and I wasn’t feeling too good. After unloading our groceries, I hung out at the coach while Donna went up to the La Jolla Village Square to shop for shoes. She also went to Cost Plus World Market and bought tomolives and blue cheese stuffed olives for me – my favorite martini garnishes. Then she picked up some sushi to go.

On Sunday morning my hand was stiff and sore. I think I was trying to do too much with it. After I removed the bandages on Friday, I did passive range-of-motion stretches. I did more on Saturday plus carried bags of groceries. I decided to rest it as much as possible on Sunday. It was a good excuse for me to hang out and watch football.

The RV park was full of motion Sunday morning as all of the holiday weekend crowd packed up. There was a steady stream of RVs exiting the park. By noon, the park went from nearly full occupancy to maybe 30% occupied. It was a beautiful day out with the temperature in the upper 60s and clear blue skies. I managed to get out and walk a few laps of the park to take in some fresh air and get a little exercise. Donna went for long walk-run in the direction of Mission Beach.

Beautiful afternoon at Mission Bay looking west from the RV park

There were good football games on TV all day. The Chargers ended their losing streak by knocking off Jacksonville in the morning. Then I watched a thrilling game in Seattle where they prevailed against Pittsburgh. I also toggled back and forth to the game in San Francisco where the Arizona Cardinals won. There were so many controversial calls in all of the games – I think the NFL needs to take a look at simplifying their rule book. Before the final game of the day in Denver where the New England Patriots lost their undefeated status, I opened a special brew to celebrate the Chargers win.

While we were in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Donna and I visited the Duel Belgian Style Brewery and Taproom. They had outstanding Belgian inspired beers there. I bought a bottle of their Cezanne Magnifique which they describe as a barrel-aged imperial saison. Barrel-aged implies hints of whiskey while imperial always means high gravity – high alcohol content. Saison is a style of ale that is sometimes called farmhouse ale and is usually pale in color and spiced with coriander or zest.

Duel Cezanne Magnifique

The forward whiskey flavor of this ale dominated the palate. I wondered why they called it a saison, other than the color. At 10.5% ABV, it was certainly “imperial.” As it warmed slightly, I began to taste more of the spice flavors that lingered. This is a complex and tasty brew with low carbonation. I think it may  be the most expensive ale I’ve ever bought at nine dollars for a 12-ounce bottle.

Today Donna plans to go to Ocean Beach for pickleball at the recreation center. I’ll pass and rest my hand. I have a follow-up with Dr. Leek a week from Wednesday. Once he removes the stitches, I’m hoping to get back to pickleball. Meanwhile we’re making plans to have guests next Saturday for a barbeque. Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road) will visit us here at Mission Bay RV Resort Saturday afternoon. They are currently at the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve and will be there for a few more weeks.