Jane Eyre & Chocolate Tacos
Monday, March 28, 2011
In which an outing is made to the other side of the river and to the Plaza Frontenac.
It was a day to visit Illinois while the kids were in class.
“Are we taking the boat?” Puck wanted to know, remembering his last tour to another state.
But first, a jaunt by McDonald’s for McGriddles and such…
“Would you like a sausage biscuit?” Collette asked Puck.
“Yes,” he replied. “And a cherry on top.”
Soon they were on their way through a traffic jam, wherein Linnea was struck with a thought.
“If you drove a Smart Car through a cornfield, would it knock down the stalks?” she asked.
“Sure it would,” Francis replied. “Why?”
“I just thought it would be a funny Top Gear challenge, because they’re coming to St. Louis.”
Once arrived at the church, the kids took off to their classes, while Mom, Collette, and Puck ran errands.
Garden Ridge. Thousands of brightly colored silk blooms.
At the book display, Mom purchased a $1.99 book for Puck about cultural questions around the world. And then in the shelves of Mrs. Field’s cookies, bridge mix, and chocolates, etc., they chose an assortment of a pretzel-cayenne pepper mix, natural cashews with sea salt, and chocolate-covered raisins, or ‘chocolate beans’, as Puck began to call them.
Back at the church…
Just in time for lunch, Linnea and her class were busy dissecting a dark blue cow’s eye. Followed by a pig’s heart. There was an acceptable level of accompanying groans.
Out again.
Francis was finished shortly after noon, and there was a subsequent stop for burgers and fish sandwiches.
“Mondays I eat anything I want,” Francis explained away the indulgence.
Followed by forty minutes at the library.
And then soccer back at the church gym for the two boys.
The original purpose of joining the crew in Illinois that day was for the purpose of Collette accompanying Mom and Linnea-Irish to the movie theater at Plaza Frontenac, later joined by Grandma Combs, and Rose (who was helping with church friends in the city again) for a viewing of the new Jane Eyre.
First, Collette and Linnea visited the Rosetta Stone shop to check into the Mandarin Chinese with Pinyin option program for Linnea.
The Plaza was very quiet, accompanied by a few women here and there with coffee at little tables, carefully pruned greenery, and the echoes of piano from some corner…
To the small theater where only a handful of observers had come for two hours of dark and cold 19th century Britain.
It was a good film, as all agreed. Very quiet. Wild lands.
This was followed with dinner at the popular Canyon Cafe, which began with a basket of blue, orange, and yellow corn chips, and crunchy sweet potato chips. Then large plates of quesadillas, bacon cheeseburgers, etc., followed with a ‘chocolate taco’ for Collette and Linnea to split: white flour tortilla dipped in chocolate, and quite stuffed with mint chocolate chip ice cream, drizzled in chocolate sauce. Collette’s exception of the week, as instructed… although, despite her wishes, she allowed Linnea to eat the better half.
Before leaving for the night, shortly before nine o’clock, Grandma had some last gifts: a sea-blue leather file folder for Collette, and for Puck: two birds nests she had found down by the river, and two plastic military swords from Nagle’s so that Puck could practice his Scottish sword dance.