The only things I know about trifle are things I learned from reading the Redwall books

        Well, this weekend was pretty boring. It consisted of napping and training at my new job. Yeah, I got a new job as a caretaker for a lady with cerebral palsy and an autoimmune disease. She needs help with mobility, getting nutrients through a PEG tube, and getting to bed. I trained Friday from 9-130am, Saturday from 9-1130pm, and Sunday from 430-830. So there wasn't much room for much else besides catching up on sleep (IN OUR OWN SEPARATE BEDS). But here are some interesting things that happened: 

1. So I put a back rack and baskets on my bike, so now it has the added ability to carry all of my junk, which is great, because I used to have to put it all on my back, and that was uncomfortable and sweaty. Unfortunately, it now weighs just as much as the cast-iron bike owned by the Worker, making it pretty impossible to cart up and down BART stairs. So I take the escalator, something that is technically not legal, but everyone does it and no one cares. UNTIL FRIDAY. I got off BART at Downtown Berkeley and wheeled my bike over to the escalator and noticed a small knot of bicyclists at the foot of the 2-story escalator to the street. Nothing unusual. They typically wait until the bulk of people have gone up before they crowd the stairs. As I got closer, however, I noticed a lady standing directly in front of the entrance to the escalator, talking to a bicyclist. Closer, and I realized she was actually telling him off for using the escalator. The confrontation quickly escalated (haha) until he was trying to push past her with his bike and she was actually throwing herself in front of the bike and screaming at him like a harpy to take the elevator or stairs. It was like Gandalf on the Bridge of Khazad-dum, in the face of the Balrog, or something.  YOUUUUU...... SHALL NOT....... PAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!  I'm sure she felt self-righteously justified to make our lives miserable.  In her pursuit to zealously follow the law, she was making a complete and utter fool of herself. I stood there for about 7 minutes while they and everyone else in the station duked it out. It appeared that no one thought the lady was in the right except for herself. Eventually the bicyclists disbanded, shouting that she'd better camp out at the foot of the escalator every day, because they were still going to use it. So I had to lug my bike up 3 flights of stairs thanks to her.
2. I found some brownish-orange 100% silk for $8/yd at the fabric store. It was half off, so I took advantage of that. Plans are in the works for a drapey shirt. Also bought batting for my quilt.
3. Went to a nearby park for awhile on Saturday while Ben skyped with his parents. I was going to be productive, but was distracted by a hummingbird. Every 30 seconds or so, he'd be like “squeaker-squeaker-squeaker” like a rusty hinge. After awhile, I started hearing a “BIRRP” from another bird, followed immediately by the little squeaker. That continued for awhile. Then he started ZOOMING from perch to perch in a very precise triangular formation, hitting the exact same branches every time, and squeaker-ing at each one. Like “squeaker-squeaker-squeaker” ZOOM!!!! “squeaker-squeaker-squeaker” ZOOM!!!! “squeaker-squeaker-squeaker” ZOOM!!!! Evidently he was trying to help the lady bird triangulate his location, because after 15 minutes or so, suddenly there were two, dive-bombing and chasing each other. It was very exciting, probably because most people wouldn't have noticed at all, but I did. And it all happened in the middle of a city. According to a later Google search, I believe the hummingbird is an Anna's hummingbird, due to it's bright pink head and green back. Here are a couple very poor photos to illustrate.
   

   

   Bright pink head (click to enlarge)

   

   Green back

   

   Can you spot the little squeaker?

4. Went to a Turkish restaurant and had doeners. Delicious. Definitely a place to return to. They had great murals on the walls.

   

   Yum yum doener sandwich

   

   Been there!

   

   ceiling map

   
   
   
5. Went to church as usual. The VSers planned the service, so there were a lot of great hymns, including the Patty Shelly original - “The Lord Lift You Up.” All of you Bethel folk will know exactly what I mean when I say that when Alyssa and I sang it, we couldn't help but remember how it was sung in chapel. I also extracted TWO invitations to supper in the coming weeks.
6. There was a boy with a sousophone on the BART this afternoon. Weird.