The Red Raincoat

...Continued from yesterday:

    Saturday morning we had a brunch date with Romaine’s sweet friend,  Atsu,

…after which we planned to catch an outdoor art show downtown.

     We drove a couple of blocks from Romaine’s house to Atsu’s, then walked a couple more blocks to the Ankeny Tap & Table,

…a rehabbed garage from where we could watch the rain pouring down, which began, happily,  just a few minutes after we got there.

     The food was really good.

     Romaine’s Virgin Mary could have been a meal in itself, served up with olives, asparagus, and a square of crave-inducing bacon.

     We all ordered the scramble of the day,  which was eggs mixed with arugula and havarti cheese and topped with pea sprouts.  The scramble was delicious, as were the seasoned potatoes and the generously buttered sour dough toast. 

       As it turned out the Portland rain gods were with us, as by the time we were done eating the rain had stopped and the sun was breaking through.

     Mayhaps it was our spirit of gemultlichkeit that morning that invoked the sunny weather to match our mood.

       So we drove downtown to the art show,

…where we saw lots of art.

    We were all particularly enchanted by an item we saw among a display of arty rain gear,

...a beautiful,  eye-catching, bright red rain coat.

     And it was so Portland:   - I mean, what could be more Portland than a funky raincoat? 
     But I could even see rocking it around Columbus.
     Except that upon closer inspection it looked to be kind of small, more Atsu's  size than mine or Romaine's, and we all agreed that it would look really cute on her. 
      Then we looked at the price tag.  $349. 
       Oh well, we guessed it was supposed to be art, after all.
       We wondered who would buy that $349 raincoat?  In fact who would buy up all those racks of $349 raincoats?
      It started to rain again so we went home to ponder the question,

 ...while we watched  "Breaking Bad".