The fact that my partner is from California means that under normal circumstances, I get to visit that lovely state at least once a year, usually at a time when winter in the east is at its worst. A few days before New Year's Day this winter, my partner, his mother and I took a trip to San Juan Capistrano. There we had an unexpected encounter with, well, I suppose you might call them ghosts...
More over the doodley-thingie
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So, one day in very late December of last year (i. e. about a month ago), my partner, his mother and I decided to visit San Juan Capistrano (SJC) by train, from San Diego, thus avoiding a long drive and the frustration of California freeway traffic. Our goal was to visit the famous Mission in SJC, which in years past, when I actually lived in California, I had driven past but never actually visited myself. SJC lies on the California coast in Orange County, between Los Angeles and San Diego, for those who are unfamiliar with California geography.
When we got to SJC, we decided to have lunch before going to the mission, so we strolled down the main street eying the various restaurants to see what kind of fare was available. Because of the mission, downtown SJC is something of a tourist trap, so most of the restaurants were very toney and more expensive than we would have liked. (This is Orange County, after all.)
We finally settled on an establishment called El Adobe Diner, thinking that as a diner, it might have less attitude and more reasonable prices. No such luck. As you've probably guessed, the fare was Mexican. As we settled down and looked at our menus, we noticed something odd about the table next to ours...well, not so much the table as its two chairs. At all the other tables, the chairs were old-style wood-backed chairs of the sort you would find in a dining room set. The chairs at the table next to ours, on the other hand, were '60s mod swivel chairs upholstered in a garish shade of orange. They seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the furniture or decor in the restaurant.
A short time later, my partner noticed the glint of a small bronze plate on the back of the chair closest to our table, which was directly behind me. I turned around to read it. It said (and I am paraphrasing, as I don't recall exactly what it said) "On March 22, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon sat here while dining at El Adobe." So naturally, we had to look at the back of the other one to see if it also had a plate. It did, this one stating that "Mrs. Richard M. Nixon" had sat there on the same date. All I could think on reading that was how poor Pat Nixon had lost her name due to the dying etiquette of the previous generation. We'd never do that now.
Needless to say, it was a mite creepy to be eating lunch back-to-back with the chair where the only President of the U. S. to resign in disgrace had sat to eat a mere 42 years previous, but we managed to get over it. When we finally made it to the mission, there was a plaque there also commemorating the visit made by the same President and First Lady on the same date.
So, no, we did not encounter any of the sort of ghosts described in horror stories or scary movies. But for me, the visit to SJC dredged up the old memories of the Nixon Presidency and its scandals, as well as the mood and the styles of the times (including mod swivel chairs upholstered in garish shades of orange).
Now, to the comments!
From princesspat:
The thoughtful comment by Wisdumb is a clear reminder of the importance of working to elect Democratic candidates. From JanF's post Why I Vote For Democrats: To Win Elections.
From your humble diarist:
ecostar makes an excellent point regarding not just the accuracy of PolitiFact's fact check, but the relevancy of the fact they chose to check in Hunter's front page post PolitiFact devolves into absurdity
techiechick tells the story of how her 82 year old grandmother abandoned the Republican Party in 2008 in kmoros' recommended post This is not your Father's GOP.
GenXangster made a righteous comment in Crashing Vor's recommended post Flat Out Lying.
Top Mojo for January 27, 2012 excluding tip jars and first comments (all thanks to mik):
1) By using the word threatening... by BarackStarObama — 216
2) They did exactly the same thing to me by Dallasdoc — 142
3) Lots of companies try tactics like this by ontheleftcoast — 126
4) Different era, same 1% n/t by sfbob — 111
5) No disagreement here by thenekkidtruth — 91
6) Your congressman delivered in 30 minutes. by Crashing Vor — 90
7) That's BS by coquiero — 90
8) ROFLMAO by Youffraita — 88
9) I had a similar thing happen with Sprint by ontheleftcoast — 89
10) Can we get a by luvsathoroughbred — 87
11) We need to change the framing... by RuralRoute — 86
12) I just want to be clear. by badscience — 84
13) She keeps saying that 'she's not backing down' by JohnB47 — 81
14) Happy Friday! :-) Hugs all around! by Common Sense Mainer — 81
15) They have to keep it up. by HappyinNM — 77
16) Those kids at the end by Red Bean — 75
17) He's either crooked or incompetent by litho — 71
18) already published :-) by Hopeful Skeptic — 70
19) There is so much I want to say about this! by Chico David RN — 69
20) Who's getting free health care for life? by CFAmick — 69
21) It's so Republican of them by Puddytat — 68
22) Pay it in pennies during rush hour by crystal eyes — 66
23) Bring in a big jar of pennies... by David Kroning II — 65
24) paperwork as revenue stream... by a gilas girl — 65
25) And give them one less penny ... by howd — 63
26) Outstanding diary - send to ur newspaper by absdoggy — 63
27) She's projecting and rather inartfully at that... by Superskepticalman — 63
28) Mojo Friday Wants Your IQ by TexDem — 62
29) heh. maybe they can bring this guy back by bubbanomics — 62
30) The Lounge Is Open by TexDem — 62
Top Photos Picture Quilt for January 27, 2012 (many thanks to jotter, and a few to smileycreek as well).