Let's Catch Up, Huh?

Uh oh, it's another Friday that finds me looking for anything -- anything -- to do besides working. So let's see, what kind of story can I tell?

How about more on Patrick? Yes! Last night we were at his house hanging out. That's rare. We are usually at my house because it's more comfortable but Patrick has a cold and it would have been cruel to do anything other than bring him some delicious vegetarian Thai food and snuggle with him on his own couch.

First, did you notice I said vegetarian food?

If you know me at all you would scoff at the thought of me combining the word "delicious" with the words "vegetarian food" but Patrick only eats organic range-fed meat or vegetarian food. You can't get the organic from a take-out place so we eat vegetarian unless I cook something and I'm really OK with that. I'm pretty sure I'm losing weight again. I've been running during the day.

Did I mention the fact that I have been in Lake Tahoe for almost two weeks now?

Second, Patrick has a solar oven. So sexy.

I found that out last night when he left me with reading material while he took a shower. For my reading pleasure he brought me a solar oven newspaper thingy, a copy of Love Shadows: An Intimate Interlude with the Holy Ghost (a novel that an author friend of his at church gave him), and some literature about the heart-breaking defeat of the Modoc Indian Tribe at Tule Lake.

Tule...too-lee...isn't that a pretty name for a baby? Patrick explained that tule grass grows in marshes all over California and that tule fog, low-lying fog in the central valley, is named for it. I like the way it sounds but it's not terribly pretty or inspirational given that its name means a marshland grass and fog that causes auto accidents. I just love that Patrick teaches me things about nature. He can look at the sky and tell what time it is within 5 minutes (it's true, we play that game all the time). He looks at the mountains and points out things about the tree line, the slope, the camber, the reason there are forests and bald spots. He reads the atlas in his spare time.

Patrick is planning a trip to Lava Beds National Monument and he is taking his solar oven along (he is going to make chili as his first dish) and among his other gear is a propane heater for his tent. He has a checklist he is methodically following to make sure his truck is properly maintained so there will be no surprises. He has been reading about the history of the area and making incredibly neat handwritten notes about things to see while he's there. I love this man.

But back to the novel. And church. I think the second time we went out, maybe the third time, Patrick was on the phone with me planning where we would go and he asked if I would go to church with him and I said no thanks. We went out for breakfast and when we were finished we got in his truck and it was literally 4 minutes before 11 (when church was due to start). Rather than make him late for church by having him drive me home, I said I would go to church with him.

It wasn't too bad. It was actually kind of nice, even if people raised their hands and waved to Jesus during the last hymn. They did a slide show and the high school kids rocked the hymns with a full band. Patrick introduced me to his friend Penny and her husband after church and they were nice people.

But since then Patrick and I have had a talk about religion and he's not happy about the fact that I'm not Christian. He said something like "I have always thought the woman I would end up with would have the same faith I do." Oh dear.

But once again, back to the novel. The synopsis on the back refers to the way one man convinces a non-believing woman to "join him in an unbelievable God-ordered destiny." Patrick hasn't read this book [yet? I don't know if he plans to read it] and I didn't ask him whether he was trying to give a subtle hint about my heathen soul. Thanks to an earlier post you know my views about religion and that I'm not opposed to attending church with him, but I can't cop to the Jesus-loving, Satan-fearing, Christian party line.

Changing topics. This just in -- I have just had a lovely long chat with Fergus who is as wonderful as ever and I'm so blessed that he stays in touch. He says he is coming to visit from England in November. I'm sceptical because he's been saying he's coming to visit for at least three years but maybe 2007 will be his year. Has it really been twelve years since I met Fergus? And how much did I love him? I still have his picture on my bureau in SF. I still love Fergus and likely always will but we've simply become such good friends. What a wonderful person.

And now, for the start of another phenomenal weekend...