Dinner with Mom

Well I arrived home around six and had a glass of wine with Carolyn before we headed off to Costa Mesa to pick up my Mom for dinner.  Arriving precisely at 7:30, we found my mother standing on the sidewalk waiting for us.  Her friends, the Franklins, have a home fully "fenced" with a large hedge and only a small arched cutout that hides the gate so it probably helped for her to be outside or we may not have figured out where the house was.
 
As we seated Mom in the car, the Franklin's (the wife much younger) came out and began giving us other suggestions for dinner, but we settled on the nearby Mimi's off of 18th street.  Mom looked like she had lost some weight from the last time we saw her at Ashley's and Bryce's wedding although she walked a little more stooped over.
 
Quickly seated at a rear booth, we were asked if wanted anything to drink while we reviewed the menu.   Carolyn and I chose a chardonnay while Mom asked for coffee with no cream and water.  Minutes later the waiter appeared with our beverages and cream for the coffee.  Mom let him know that she didn't want cream, but Carolyn told him to just leave it as she'd use it for her coffee after dinner.  Then, we ordered: salmon for Carolyn; a Cobb salad for me (I know); and, lamb shanks for Mom, if they had mint jelly.  The waiter informed her that they didn't have mint jelly although others had asked for it, but that was a corporate decision.  Mother was discouraged but chose to have them anyway as they came with gravy.  My mom often doesn't treat the wait-staff with the kindness she would a friend, while my dad was  always flirting with the waitresses.
 
Mom asked about Ashley and we told her of their recent adventures in Ireland and Carolyn allowed as she and Wanda were going to visit them in "the Fall" - nothing too specific.  Evidently, Mom had been down in So. California about a week to see her dentist (who was cheaper than her dentist in Reno) and visit various friends.  She had spoken with Charlie who was tied up trying to rent out two apartments in the complex he manages, and she had had dinner with Jani and Doug at their home earlier in her trip.  She said that they are doing well and that their home is as neat as a pin with a lovely garden.
 
She inquired, again, about who I worked for and what my title was and was somewhat disappointed that I didn't have a business card on me that she could have.  But, as most of my contacts are internal, I don't often carry cards with me.  We showed her Carolyn's drawings and paintings of our trip to London and Scotland in December which she thought were quite good.  The rest of our conversation was mainly small talk. 
 
Mom seemed to be in reasonably good health with the exception that the mole on the left side of her nose has appeared to grow and become even more noticeable.  But even though she sees dentists and optometrists, the prospect of seeing a doctor or dermatologist doesn't fit into her Christian Science "theology". 
 
We left Mimi's and took her back to the Franklin's and spoke briefly to them when we found that Mom still had a storage unit in So. Cal. which costs her $200 a month and earlier she had complained about the drop in her social security of $500 when my dad died.  Both Judge Franklin and we were a bit perplexed that she would not close out that facility.  So, I think I will write her a letter to suggest that she follow through and do that.
 
All in all, as Bryce might say, an "interesting" evening for the bi-annual maternal visit.