Yes, It was Lovely

   My mother wanted to live, to go places, to see things.  Her husband, my step-father, had been places, seen things, had lived through WWII on a tanker in the South Pacific, seen neighboring ships torpedoed.  He wanted to stay home.

   Mother wanted to go to Hawaii, but not alone.  So she took my daughter, her sixteen-year-old grand daughter, with her to tour Hawaii.

   They met people, and saw things, lots of things.  But no matter what they saw, there was always someone who had seen something else, that they liked better. 

   A conversation might go like this:

MOTHER AND GRAND DAUGHTER: We saw the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

OTHER TOURIST: But did you see the soaring Nene birds which never land?

MOTHER AND GRAND DAUGHTER: Well, no..but..

OTHER TOURIST: Oh, too bad, you have seen those.

MOTHER AND GRAND DAUGHTER: We saw the spouting blow hole shoot water fifty feet into the air.

OTHER TOURIST: Um-hmm, Did you see the Minihuni Trail? Wasn't that wonderful?

MOTHER AND GRAND DAUGHTER: Well, no, I guess we missed that.

OTHER TOURIST; Oh, what a shame.  It was lovely.

  Mother and my daughter soon learned what to say when asked if they had seen this or that sight, tasted this or that food at a luau, or sipped this ot that drink on the lanai.  They learned to answer all such questions with, "Yes.  It was lovely."  With that response they were spared the details of something they had missed.  They had a wonderful time, and they saw, tasted, sipped plenty.  They didn't feel they had missed anything.

   Today the old folks were invited to go on the bus to a fabulous restaurant in town, one that all the local folk used to gather at. It was a famed gathering spot, and "be sure to taste the cole slaw.  They are famous for their cole slaw." I went, and I was pretty hyped up about this local legend.

   We arrived.  The entrance was through the parking lot in the rear. To this out of towner it looked pretty ordinary. It looked to me like any non-chain burger joint.  It had a ranch theme and had some pictures of horses around the walls, and had a "saddle room" adjoining, whatever that is. The menu looked good, but...

   "Do you have ribs," I asked.  No, they didn't.  One sandwich sounded good -- Our Special Ranch Sandwich, with sauteed onions.  I ordered the special.

    "How do you want it cooked?"

   "Huh?"

   "It is a burger. How do you want it cooked?"  The so-called special was a hamburger.

   "Do you want fries or cole slaw with that?"

   "Cole slaw," I ordered immediately.  I wanted to try their famous cole slow.

   After a while the hamburger came.  It was served with a huge pile of cole slow.  Happily I dug into the cole slaw.  It was quite ordinary. Nothing special about it.  One bite was plenty.  The hamburger was okay, but t was just a hamburger.  I pushed the sauteed onions out of the way and ate the burger patty with A1 sauce.  At least they had genuine A1 sauce on the table. I rate the burger the same as the McDonalds and Carls Jr burgers I reported on in earlier entries here.  Four golden pickles out of five.

   The activity Director of the old folks home came bay and asked, "Did you try the cole slaw?"

   "Yes, It was lovely."

   "Did you have a sandwich?"

   "Yes, It was lovely"