Anastasia at The Owl

Good evening. It’s Anastasia and I’m not going to stay long. I’m heading out to the casbah tonight and I just thought I’d pop by and say hi. I’m meeting a girlfriend over there and we’re planning on giving ourselves something to talk about next week.

Speaking of strange places to drink alcohol, have you ever been to The Owl? I believe the official name is The Owl Wine Bar & Home Goods Store, but that’s a lot of words, so I just usually call it The Owl. If you spell it out, though, make sure you use the ampersand; they’re kind of picky about those things.

Anyway, I just love to pop in there on Friday and Saturday evenings. Friday they have open mic and Saturday they have a musician or small band or something. I have so much fun going there, getting a bottle of wine and sitting with some friends to talk. I like to sit on one of the sofas or soft chairs. I’m not really one to sit on a barstool. Much. Any more. Much.

And they have a menu of munchies. I’ll never forget the time I offered my cousin Myrna a piece off of my plate. She had been trying to eat more healthy and I had a Mediterranean plate. It seemed nice and light and she said she’d been eating more vegetables and trying new dishes, so I gave her one the of dolmas, thinking she’d love it. The look on her face when she bit into it let me know I was oh-so-very wrong about that. I shouldn’t laugh because I love Cousin Myrna dearly, but her face hides nothing. The sour, desperate look on her face made me laugh and feel bad at the same time. I discreetly handed her a few napkins to relieve herself of that unsavory burden.

The lighting is nice because the ceilings are about a hundred and fifty feet high, so the lights don’t glare down on anybody. They have nice lamps and it makes a very nice atmosphere, with the original wooden floor and wooden ceiling. And one day I’ll tell you the story of how they got their name. Our little town has been famous a more than a few times.

It’s so fun to go there because they have the place laid out so nice, with little nooks and crannies everywhere and just wonderful things for a strange home. They have nice pillows for sofas and chairs, but they also have magnifying glasses that look like something Agatha Christie would have used. And I don’t know why you’d buy a candle anywhere else. They have the most darling candles in little metal bins, or glass jars. They’re not French Vanilla; these are scents I love having in my home. They even have one with tobacco and patchouli.

I found a very nice gift for my cousin Jackson a few weeks ago. Actually, it was for him and his wife; I just didn’t tell him that. They have these handsome kits for men; a Swiss army knife, or a shaving kit. I got him a very nice ‘manly’ manicure set. It came in a rugged-looking case and the typography was straight out of a hunting magazine ad. His wife told me that he loved it so much, he used it. So, that was my gift to her; he can keep his overgrown spiky toenails under control.

Well listen, I don’t want to keep you. I’m going to head out and meet up with my girlfriends. Check for us in next week’s Elgin Courier. I’ve never caused a big enough scandal to make it into our little newspaper, but it doesn’t keep me from trying.

We’ll see you.

I'm Gonna Sit Right Down...

Some of you may know me from seeing me at Luigi's eating their scrumptious bread and maybe tasting the tiniest little sip of wine from their collection. I may have just made myself hungry there. But anyway, let me tell you that contrary to popular opinion, I do more than sip wine and eat. Just yesterday I was trapping cats with the Elgin Alley Cats ladies and I happened to see one of the most darling little kittens I've ever come across. He was kind of gray and black, with white and with long fur and whiskers as long as my right arm. I swear I think there might have been some blue in that coloring. Unfortunately, that little booger is already a teenager and settled into his emo angst, so there's no threat of him coming home with me.

But, this cute little town is just brimming with things to see. I love just walking around looking at houses and yards and listening to dogs half-strangle themselves trying to get off their leashes when I walk by. I figure they either really want to say hi and love on me, or they want to kill me and tear me to shreds. So, while I do love doggies, I'm not one to get too close to pups that I don't know personally. You go ahead and walk on your side of the street; I’ll walk on mine.

Meanwhile, it's May and everybody is planting flowers and mowing their lawns. I just love seeing all those straight lines in the grass. It's like when I vacuum a carpet, except I didn't have to do the work. This time of year is kind of magic here in Central Texas. Our half-hearted excuse for a winter is past, there is finally no more danger of one last freeze to take out the trees that are putting leaves out, and summer's oppressive heat hasn't kicked in just yet. Everybody's walking around, just as happy as they can be, covered in yellow pollen and sneezing, but no matter because it's just too beautiful to not be outside. Today was especially nice because the temperature dropped into the 70's. When I woke up for lunch I couldn't wait to get outside and just be in it. I didn't have much of anywhere to go, so I thought I'd take a walk downtown.

So yes, you may have seen me at Luigi's enjoying some of their amazing chicken pomodoro. And it's very possible that if you happened to walk by The Owl Wine Bar & Home Good Store later on, you might have seen me looking at their merchandise, dreaming about how to incorporate it into my home. And yes, I most likely had a glass of wine in my hand, but honestly, you're being the tiniest bit judgmental right now.

Anyway, I thought to myself that I needed to stop by that cornerstone of the United States communications—the Post Office. It's so embarrassingly easy to do everything on computers these days that we forget that stamps and lovely people are waiting for us in that building that we've all taken for granted. But, they've been faithful to us. I get coupons and sales circulars every week and it's all thanks to them.

So, I decided to see if they had any interesting stamps. Just my luck they had some with pictures of murals that had been painted inside of post offices around the country in the 1930's and 40's. It just makes me so happy to see these little stamps. I remember when I was a little girl this was how we kept in touch. We'd send a letter off to our Granny and then soon enough a letter would come back to us in the mail. We didn't get chirps all the livelong day from the mobile phone alerting you about people sending you pictures that they had been sent, and that have been making the rounds on the world wide web for months and years without anybody ever even looking at them before sending them to every phone number they've ever come across. When you got a letter, it was something worth getting. You had to wait a good week to get a response, and sometimes it had a dollar bill in it. None of this wham, bam, thank-you-ma'am kind of communication. There was some anticipation built up that made life more interesting.

So, I think I'm going to sit myself down tonight with a glass of wine and some stationery and see if I can't make some friends and family happy by sending them an actual letter. I'll spray some of them with some perfume, that way they'll know it was from me before they even see the front of the envelope.

Okay, I have some letters to write, so I'll talk with you later. Take care of yourself now.

Studio and Storage

Now, I like to keep my nose in my own business, you know I do. And you know that I don't repeat gossip, so I need you to sit down and pay attention. Would you like some iced tea? What's that? Of course it's sweet; it's iced tea. I swear, it seems like some of you people were raised in a barn. Here you go.

You know that couple that lives over on Lexington Road? The ones with the studio that looks like a set storage of units? I think they call it Studio 621, named after their address. I personally  think they could have put more thought into it, but that's just me. The long building just to the side of it is for actual storage units.

Anyway, I was visiting them the other day. They have made the inside of the studio look amazing. It's still rustic-looking with a beautiful wood ceiling, but enough drywall on the walls to make it look cleaner. The two together, plus the storage unit doors that are still on the outside, just make my mind spin. I wanted to have a party there and I don't have anything in particular to celebrate until my birthday in 10 months. But, you know me; I'd never let a thing like that stop me from having a nice little get-together with some mint juleps and margaritas. And food; they have a full kitchen in there. I could get my cousin Myrna to cook for us and we'd have a great time. They have these two French window doors that open to a patio and a field beyond. They told me that it's all part of the property, up to the trees on all three sides. It's just beautiful, I'm telling you. I can just picture myself with friends sitting on that patio and maybe even in the grass, margaritas in hand (mint juleps for me) and just talk and laugh and enjoy it all. He even said he had a disco ball he'd set up out there once. I swear the possibilities make my mind reel.

There's one little corner inside, though, that is a little disturbing. It's before you get to the main room, in a little nook to the left. I can barely tell that it's a nook at all except for the top of the desk that sticks up. It's a fabulous large corner desk with cabinets above, like they used in the 90's. It's real wood. It just makes me want to get my polish out. But I'm telling you I wouldn't be able to get to it because the whole space is filled up. I enquired about it, real gently you know. Just like, "Oh, what is thing piece of furniture right in front here? It looks like a nice piece." Well, it turns out it's a fold-away bed. They bought it from Furniture in the Raw in town—Austin, I mean. I ask why on earth it was stuck back in that corner and he told me that they're getting the room in the back ready to be a guest room. That's all fine, well and good, but that bed wasn't even close to the only thing in there. I decided to let it go. No need pressing them about it and wearing out my welcome. I have parties to plan.

It did make me think about those storage units on the side, though. When I was walking out to my car he walked with me, of course, and I asked about the storage spaces. I said I had some things I could keep there for a while and how much did he charge. He told me that the only one that was available was already rented to a neighbor. Again, I left it alone, but there's something about not talking or asking questions that leads people to tell you everything they know anyway. He told me that two of the units housed the equipment for a ceramic tile business that he had bought once a few years ago. He said he still pulls it out a couple of times a year when he gets an order, but he doesn't actively pursue it. So, in my mind I used the power of math to figure out: that explained three of the six units, so therefore the other three are left unexplained, but apparently filled because they're not available.

I don't know about you, but there's almost nothing I love more in life than to have a few drinks and start digging through other people's stuff. I resisted the itch to demand entry into those three other units. It was all I could do not to ask, but I do want to have a party in there with those great big glass doors looking out over that beautiful mowed field. So, I got in my car and was on my way. But, you mark my words, I'm going to find out what's in those three storage units and it's going to be so much fun. We'll set up a blender and just all have a big ol' party with it. We could make it into a kind of drive-by yard sale. People will have to keep coming back by as we pull out more stuff and investigate it.

I may not be able to sleep tonight for thinking about it.

Chemn Cafe

I was over at the Chemn Cafe the other day. (The poor dear, I hate to tell her she spelled it wrong.) Anyway, so I'm sitting there minding my own business, enjoying the latte that the nice young man made for me, when I heard a loud noise. At first I thought somebody was breaking in, but that doesn't make sense because the establishment was open for business. I tried looking out the window, but I couldn't see anything on my side. The people on the other side of the cafe were laughing at something outside, and I can't stand to be left out of a joke, so I went over there to see what was going on. What I saw didn't make any more sense at first than the idea of somebody breaking in to an open door. This poor dog was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk tied to a bench. The bench was also in the middle of the sidewalk. A woman, presumably the dog's owner, was trying to untie the dog from the bench while the dog, and the bench, kept moving. Turns out the lady had tied the dog in the first place so she could stop in to the thrift store next door (they always have the nicest things) and the dog decided that he didn't want to deal with separation, so he just followed her along, dragging the cast iron bench behind him as if nothing were any different. I have to say that she looked pretty sheepish standing there with a bench that wasn't hers being dragged across the sidewalk by a dog that was hers. Fortunately, the nice man from behind the counter went outside to assist with the dog and move the bench back to its rightful place once the dog was untethered.

Like my Aunt Maudine used to say, you really never know what somebody is capable of. If a person (or dog) wants something bad enough, they'll find a way. Aunt Maudine herself is a good case in point. She really wanted a lake house on the other side of Austin. She thought about it; she hung pictures of the lake on her refrigerator so she'd see it every time she went to refill her wine glass. Sure enough, a nice man who happened to have a condominium in Austin, asked her to dinner and to make a long story short, Aunt Maudine and her now-husband live on his lakeside property. She gets to wake up every morning and look out at her dream come true. Now she just needs to figure out what to do with the husband. She says he doesn't match the furniture, which is rather disappointing, if you ask me. They just had the house remodeled; why didn't she think of that at the time?

Well, it was good to chat with you. I hope to see you on Main street again. Do stop by Martha's Market. It's a lot of fun to see what people have had lying around their homes for the last half century that they have finally decided to part with. You might even find some old Pyrex glass; I hear those old vintage bowls can be worth a lot of money these days. Have fun and we'll talk with you soon.

Introduction

How are you on this beautiful spring morning? I'm doing fine, thank you for asking. My name is Anastasia, by the way. I don't know if I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you formally. I've lived here just about all my life and I'll tell you something, this town is not the quiet cozy village that people seem to think it is. Why, just last week I saw my neighbor Rosa watering her garden and she was just singing away. You might wonder why I would think that was scandalous, but here's the deal. Rosa's husband ran away with another woman. Well, he didn't exactly run away, he just sort of moved in with her until other things could be arranged. And, she's not exactly a woman, if you ask me. She's barely 25. He's 50 if he's a day. So, why would Rosa be so happy watering her yard of plants. (Way too many plants, if you ask me, but she never does.) You're probably thinking what I'm thinking. Frank from up the street has been a widower far too long. I'm not going to say that I saw his car parked in her garage, but why would he do that anyway? He doesn't live but three blocks away. Who needs a car for a neighborhood tryst?

That's not to say that I'm overly critical of people who need to take care of themselves. There's nothing wrong with doing what you want to do, but I think that people could practice a little decorum. My sister, she works at the county office with a woman who lives in the Elm Creek subdivision—and that's something else I never understood. Here we have a lovely little town with beautiful houses and great big 'ol trees. Why would they chop down a lot of trees on the outskirts of town and then build roads, and then houses on those roads that were named after the aforementioned trees? Anyway, so this lady thinks that she can bring her lunch every day, which is fine as far as I'm concerned. Luigi's is always a little busy during lunch anyway. But, the fact that you are a vegetarian, or a plant based herbivore or whatever silly name they call themselves this year, does not give you the right to heat up yesterday's soggy broccoli in the community microwave oven. People have lost all sense of decency.

Well, anyway, it was nice to meet you. I'll be out and about during Sip, Shop and Stroll as soon as I learn how to pronounce it. I hope to see you there.