Hey! Is That ANOTHER Shoe?!

Here's a little recap of yesterday--(1) the electricity to the freezer tripped off, resulting in melted ice cream, and (2) the drip line to the new tree and two plants wasn't working correctly. Because bad luck comes in threes, I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Ha! Not long after I first published last night's post, it happened: I noticed the water pressure in the house was low, and I soon found the low pressure was due to some kind of break in the pipes in our front yard, which was flooded by the time I discovered it. At midnight. Yep, I had to wake up Hubby.

Okay, so this morning, I got up and ran water for my bath and guess what? When I stepped into the bath, the water was absolutely, positively COLD! Apparently bad luck runs in FOURS, and even Imelda Marcos doesn't have this many dropped shoes. ARGH!

Hubby was still sleeping, so I had to wake him (again), and before long, he noticed the hot water pressure was super low (deja vu, huh?), but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the hot water heater. It was a puzzle. The cold water was fine.

In the meantime, I had only 30 minutes or so before I had to leave the house to meet up with Gran, and I seriously needed to take a bath and wash my hair. Yep, in the end, I took a cold bath. DOUBLE ARGH! I was able to add a little bit of hot water, but it barely warmed the bath (imagine getting into a swimming pool in April--like that). But do you know what? I was SO seriously in need of spending time with a friend and getting out of this house of horrors, that I just kept thinking how really worth it it would be in the long run, and that helped me take the plunge.

So where did our adventures take Gran and me today? Benicia!

See, nobody really goes to Benicia. Nobody I know anyway. The areas bordering Benicia are pretty ugly with industrial and shipping views as well as an oil refinery. The "mothball fleet," made up of the Navy's retired and rusting WWII ships, is anchored in the nearby Carquinez Straight. Who'd want to go to Benicia?

Well, since the Camelia Tea Room is also in Benicia, Gran and I wanted to go there. And guess what? We found Benicia is a cute little town with all kinds of shops and restaurants, parks, and historic markers and monuments. Who knew? We had a lovely lunch, and then we spent an hour or two exploring the town. Let me show you what we saw.

The Camelia Tea Room. Our waitress (no photo) Beth was super nice and very helpful!

Gran had the traditional English tea.

I had a shrimp and avocado salad--yum! We also both had a cup of tomato bisque soup, but we were served the soup first, and because we were pretty hungry, it was gone before we remembered to take photos--it was awfully good soup though!

After lunch, Gran and I drove down to the water. Above is a photo of the view looking toward the north--you can seen one of the bridges off in the distance. Below is a photo of the view looking toward the south. This bridge and its surroundings looks a bit more industrial.

Then we saw THIS view and decided this is exactly what we need for our future excursions!

And because no trip is complete without visiting a quilt shop or two (and a Starbucks, for that matter), when we left Benicia we visited Thimblecreek Quilt Shop (in Concord) and the Cotton Patch (in Lafayette). On the drive home, we also detoured to the Vacaville Outlet Shops. All in all, a good day spent with a wonderful friend!

By the time I got home, the plumber had gone and we had hot water again. And Hubby had fixed the pipe fitting that broke and flooded the front yard. Unfortunately, the flood seems to have drowned the drip line controls, so the drip system isn't working, but Hubby thinks he can fix that tomorrow. Yay!

Best of all? I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and a couple errands to run, so I won't be home to listen to Hubby fuss while he's trying to do the last of the repairs. You guessed it: Priceless.