and so we meet again

That ride home after work is when the day's decompression begins. Tonight consisted of cruising home to 50s and 60s musical stylings on my AM dial, dropping in at my Peet's on Larchmont for a warm cup o' latte (hit me with whole milk...why not), chit chatting with my gal, Nicole, then sitting down with Emma and Otilia to talk about their current reads and reminisce about the old soda shops, Thrifty's ice cream and the good old days. (My old soul fits right in)

Propped up on Emma's little book stand is Jason Goodwin's The Janissary Tree. While her sister, Otilia's, previous book by Goodwin (The Bellini Card) primarily took place in Venice, The Janissary Tree is set in Istanbul, Turkey. "When we like an author we find ourselves reading all their works. We have friends who can't do that. They think it would get boring." Emma is enjoying this book especially because it follows the same characters.

A copy of Michael A. Kahn's The Canaan Legacy (Book 1 in the Rachel Gold series) is wide open in front of Otilia. She begins to tell me a bit about it. It involves an execution lottery. Pick someone's name out of one box, pick their death sentence from another. (Oh dear)

Earlier today they treated themselves to a banana split and an ice cream sundae at the Denny's on Sunset and Van Ness. They were reading there, too. "The manager sees us there all the time. He always comes up to us and asks, 'What are you reading today?' Oftentimes we're approached by people who think we're teachers because we're always reading! What? Only teachers read?' I would think they'd ask if we were librarians. That makes more sense.'" The sister's also tell me that people usually think that Emma is reading the Bible. "It's because her books are always on that stand. People think it's the Bible because we Catholics usually read them on little stands like this."

As I got up to leave they wished me luck on the Super Bowl. I had told them that I was working on Super Bowl/NFL related campaigns so they promised to look out for any Monster.com or KIA commercials for me. "But we do enjoy commercials with clydesdale horses. Those are always funny." The sisters are absolutely darling! Can't wait to run into them again.