what i think about when i think about murakami (156/365b)

Brian and I decided to BOTH take over kindergarten drop off this morning so that we could go for a walk and do some shopping before his work day started. When we got there it seemed the kindergarten has to get rid of the beautiful old grand piano in their new indoor space (the city requires an indoor space, which has been the subject of a few years of fighting) which has adequate floor space for all the kids, UNLESS you count the floor that the piano stands on as negative floor space. I guess the kids can't technically sit there, but they also can't sit on the tables, or the bookshelves. I don't get how bureaucracy can say with a straight face that a piano is not worth the floor it is on.

Anyways, since they have to remove the thing, they wanted somebody to play on it for the kids and since i happened to be walking in the door that moment with brian, they chose me. so our walk was cut short to 20 minutes, which is how long i had before they wanted to start their kids circle. in that time we collected a bag full of mushrooms and bushwhacked a path that started out very nice and very quickly fizzled out. Then I played that piano, and the kids liked it quite much, although barely a song did i get through without forgetting something.

The hardware store we stopped at next  was typical hardware store frustration. They have always close to what you want, but not exactly. They don't know how to help or answer questions. This time I was told they couldn't cut lumber to specifications, only "in half" .. I thought they might mean widthwise not lengthwise, but they meant only exactly in half.

At home I pressed the coffee button with brand new home-roasted beans and it wasn't bad! Good crema, and nice flavor. A tiny bit of bitter aftertaste, but not as bad as some upscale coffees i have had.

Henry didn't want to go alone to his first singschule at the opera, so I took him there with felix. We went for a nice walk to a playground where I fell asleep reading in the sun, only to have a very judgmental mom explaining to her kid that people weren't supposed to sleep on benches, they were supposed to sleep at home. I continued my classy chic appeal when I stole a plastic produce basket from a trash can on felix's request and carried it all the way home.

I changed my reading material to a murakami memoir about running, which inspired me to get out and run instead of sit inside and read a book. i got back and everyone was clean and bathed, and we played gypsy music with centa and read the hobbit. what a wonderful evening!

it was not over yet though! as soon as the kids slept, i remembered our bag of mushrooms. i cleaned them, cut them up and fried them. then brian and i stood near the hot stove and burned our mouths eating mushrooms right out of the pan.

steaming hot: fette henne, steinpilze, eierschwammerln