I did get the next issue of colgaffneyis newsletter finished, printed, stuffed in envelopes, and addressed. Took a little longer than I had planned, but not excessively so. I can buy stamps and mail it tomorrow.

We went to Church at St. Luke’s. Lovely people, but 15 miles is a long way for Sunday morning worship. We need to make up our minds soon.

haddayr e-mailed me late yesterday, saying that there was a birthday party for J, one of our Gaeltacht Minnesota classmates at a restaurant in St. Paul. J is physically disabled, uses a motorized wheelchair and a speech keyboard. Nothing wrong with her mind though–think Stephen Hawking. She lives in a group home in Maplewood (western suburb of St. Paul). Her staff had organized this outing, and her housemates came, along with some of the staff. I was seated next to one of the housemates, who seemed to be a female version of one of Tom’s housemates. That was OK, I have a lot of relevant experience in similar situations. haddayr was seated across from me, and I was able to talk with her as well.

All in all, a very pleasant time. I am glad I went. In addition to it being J’s birthday, it felt good to support the event because Tom is in a group home. It really was quite pleasant. We had a very competent and understanding waitress, and I cheerfully contributed to her tip.

This restaurant is known for its large portions. haddayr and I split a small order of eggplant parmigiana. Good call: The large order must be the Eggplant that ate Chicago.

Having eaten at another restaurant in this particular chain, I was forewarned as to the arteriosclerotic nature of its cuisine. So I rode my bike there, and actually did not eat that much. The restaurant is in St. Paul, very close to the Mississippi River, about 12.5 miles from home, generally downhill.

However, this meant that the ride home was about 12.5 miles, generally uphill. About 1/2 mile into that ride I broke my bike. Faced with a particularly steep hill, I shifted into the wrong gear. Correcting myself too late, I bent the outer forward sprocket. Absolutely dead–the chain completely derailed. Eventually, I was able to use my Swiss Army knife to bend the sprocket back somewhat, after which I had one working gear. It was a long, slow ride home, but I think I got my exercise today.