This. Among other things.
Family music night tonight. The chili is already made, I just have to put something dessert-like together and maybe make a salad.
Category: Family
Laundry list
Spoke to Sandy, and how good to hear from her. She has a strapping German lad as a volunteer now.
Spoke to Lois; she and Paul will visit folks in these here parts for a while and then Friday we’ll have a get together here which will feature MUSIC. Lovely home made music, yippee! Jeff please copy. Don’t know if Katie, Daxus and the GLD will be here, but I will invite them formally and see.
Did laundry, which is good because I was plumb out of towels.
The sun came out! it was most delightful while it lasted.
I think I’m going to nuke a bowl of that beef stew.
Alexander’s First Thanksgiving.
Comments having nothing to do with Alexander:
Margot likes babies. She doesn’t even leave the room when they cry. Every time I think I know my cat she reveals unexplored depths of character and personality.
It was so good to feast the folks, including Mike and Casey. The meal consisted of (because mOm will want to know, not because I am a food porn type): Roast turkey stuffed with parsley, one head of garlic and a lemon, boiled and roasted yams, brussels sprouts parboiled in chicken stock and sauteed in butter, sauteed parsnips, iceberg lettuce salad, stuffing made in the crockpot (sadly lacking onions, but still damned good), boughten cranberry jelly, homemade gravy and possibly the worst – the most gluey and lumpy – smashed potatoes I ever made. Everybody else ate them so it’s not like they were inedible, they just weren’t choice. Absolutely no sweets, but white and red wine, plus beer, to go with the meal. I did promise Paul his mother’s lemon snow recipe for dessert but that will wait for our next meal together; he very kindly did veg prep and ran people ’round town and brought wine glasses and suchlike, for which I offer thanks and praise.
Keith got off work early; Katie turned up around 4, so we all sat down together around six.
The carcase, less the sandwich making leftovers, is in the stockpot; I made beef and bean burrito fillings yesterday as well, so I don’t think I’ll have to cook for a while, yay me! I mean apart from deboning the soup ingredients.
Around 8 Katie got toothpicks, and Casey was in the same boat, so Paul took them home. For another hour Mike, Jeff, Keith and I sat around downstairs and watched Archer, and then since the boys both work in the morning, off they went.
It was not a spectacular meal, but it wasn’t one that anybody else in our group would have WANTED to cook, so I’m glad I stepped up. After I could sit down, I had a lovely evening.
And Alexander was there.
Walk in the sun
The boys of Planet Bachelor were here yesterday; Keith watched some Archer with us and Paul took me for a walk in Oakalla and consumed cake (I made some more chocolate cake). The walk was simply lovely, and took place in the only block of fair weather we’re going to get for the next few days. Keith is considering getting a pufferfish.
THANKS TEXAS YOU RATFONDLERS. Ebola is in the news and you sent a man with a fever who had just returned from West Africa home. ZMapp is a long way from commercial production. A million dead by January 2015, and everybody from the WHO on down lying; the only people I really trust to report with any candour are Medecins Sans Frontieres.
2020 says ha ha fuck you
Haven’t heard from Katie, but I imagine the babymoon is continuing quite nicely without me. Keith will go see her and Alexander today and make the acquaintance of his new nephew.
Divine decadence
I love my friends. Mike took me out to dinner (lamb) and pummelled me until I felt a lot better. I had no idea I was sore! He told me about some of the stuff that’s happening at Schneider and I laughed quite immoderately.
Check out this example of divine decadence, being a chair shaped like a scorpion.
REALLY glad I mowed the lawn yesterday; the rain is going to last 5 days. So the place won’t look like an abandoned house when we have guests on Monday.
I have a big table for Thanksgiving. My immediate fam in town plus two orphans. (Neither of whom are technically orphans). This totals 9. We are going to eat like FOOLS. Really looking forward to it, even if I’ll be trapped in a tiled cell with a dead bird for a day. There will be parsnips. I found a crockpot recipe for stuffing that sounds nommerful.
The pull of November
November has long been my favourite month. Most years I get lovely runs of creativity, a spell of anxiety-free gold-spinning from straw in the form of song writing. Sometimes it emerges as prose or poetry. I can feel myself getting that way already, which is good. It keeps me mentally occupied rather than spending every minute worried about whether Katie (who says she doesn’t want more kids) has a relatively hassle free birth experience.
I wrote a thousand words on the novel (the name of which I must now change… Calamari Boy? Underlings: Part 1? Squid Surprise? Sixers? Who Let the Squids Out? Not Really Human? Something Something George?) in three blocks yesterday, practiced with the filk inflected chorus (and WORD OF GOD WILL SOUND SO AWESOME o yes it will). Jeff and Jeri-Lynn are two of my favourite filkers, even if Jeri-Lynn’s strong voice pulls me into the tenor line. It’s like a valence electron popping into a different shell.
I found out what my vocal range is yesterday!
A2 D5!
That A2 sort of depends on what time of day I’m singing, but the upshot is that I can sing tenor or alto, which is good ta know.
The Fountain of Exposition (hereinafter referred to as the FoE) was also at the choral practice yesterday. Little children are squirmy and screechy, but I was in a good mood and every time he screeched I thought, “ah me, this will be my lot in three years, chasing after a squirmy and screechy toddler!” instead of thinking about earplugs and how I really wanted to fold up like an armadillo, and then I thought about moving to Fort St. John again. And then of course I’d start worrying about the birth again. Worry and anxiety are so frikkin useless; the intelligent thing is to channel them into housework or mending or mowing the lawn, or blocking out the arrangement for Just Might Stick Around (which has glued itself, grr, to the inside of my earworm tunnel). One thing I’d forgotten – Keith was particularly notable for this – is that if you do manage to accomplish the impossible (note heavy sarcasm) and say something that amuses the child, you’re gonna get it repeated, at various volumes, for the next 15 minutes… and sometimes for years. I enjoy being able to understand the FoE when he talks. I like to think my auditory fluency is pretty good; small humans can be a challenge but not in this case, especially when it’s so powerful windy today (all kids are drawn like magnets to light switches, fans and power tools, it’s a law of nature.) Dreffle windy (fan blows). Powerful windy today thar, boys! (Infectious giggling).
Keith saw the car parked in front of Tom and Peggy’s on the way home and invited himself to dinner. (Think for a moment how an otherwise reticent individual feels that he is perfectly okay to do that, and it burnishes their reputation for unstinting hospitality yet again. He gave us a slow clap after we practiced Word of God, and I have to tell you, he never likes anything I sing so I guess being drowned out by other people is the way to go. Around 7:30 I felt a wave of nausea and exhaustion come over me and begged off. I had to sit in the car for a bit before I drove, but I was fine when I got home (??!!) and wrote some more.
MUST REMEMBER TO PUT COOKIE TIN IN CAR.
When the kids were little…
Paul and I took them to a rally at the Morgentaler Clinic after it was firebombed. Catherine had told me many times, as had John, that the cops LIE about how many people attend rallies. I stood on the base of a lamp post and did a square count to determine that there were at least a thousand people there; the papers the next day said gee whiz there were maybe 200 people.
I told the kids about it too. They lie. That’s what I told them. The cops and the papers lie.
Anyway, when you have your OWN FRIKKIN’ DRONE…. you can tell the papers and the MSM where to shove it.
Fall colours are currently perfect in Ontario. I wish I could see them.
More family visiting
Last night Leo and Linda feasted us at Balkan House; the server tried to get us to eat dessert and we’re all looking appalled and Linda said, “None of us finished dinner” and we got leftovers. Then Jeff walked home, not feeling too great, (we had all walked there, it being quite manageable) and Leo and Linda and I proceeded on foot to Planet Bachelor, where we caught up with Katie and Ayesha while waiting for the Bachelor Brothers to return home. Keith arrived first and Paul arrived quite late (late arrival AGAIN just like what happened for his birthday) and we had a nice visit. By ten pm I was so tired I was toothpicking and practically snoring against Katie’s shoulder, but Paul was giving Katie a ride home anyway, so I did not actually have to walk home. What a relief, I was pretty torpid at that point, but I did get in 2.8 k of walking.
Leo and Linda visited the motherhouse of the Daoist Tai Chi society yesterday, so not only did they have exercise in the morning, they walked for yonks down at the Quay and then walked that additional 2.8 k… so I think “Not Slowing Down Just Because First Grandchild, Thanks” pretty much describes it.
The folks had lots of fun at the Quay, which is an interesting place to spot boats and whatnot.
Now Leo is making Finn Pancakes and bacon, and coffee’s dripping. They will be heading out later this morning. I really really hope that their flight isn’t affected by the meshuggas in Chicago this morning, where a deliberately set fire in the ATC utility room is causing chaos across the US.
walkies
It’s always interesting to go for a walk in the neighbourhood with somebody who’s never been around the ‘hood. I look at gardens and cars mostly. Leo took a gorgeous cloud pic which you may be able to see here.
Tonight we’ll head over to Planet Bachelor to catch up with Paul and Keith and Katie, after supper. Keith and Paul don’t get home until late so we’ll have to eat first.
Jeff barbecued a salmon yesterday for us. I tried to set the veggies on fire but managed to extract them just before the moment the burning pot smell would have gotten into it (I forgot to turn it down from HI). Jeff mournfully noted that I was in the process of destroying all his kitchen equipment; all other things being equal I’ll buy him replacement items at Sears if and when we break up our household, because I kind of have.
It is so wonderful that the folks and kinder are enjoying this phase of their lives (well that granddaughter is so sweet…). They are off to Tai Chi this morning. Leo, aware that parking can be the pits, carefully plotted the route and determined where to park. You’d think it would be easy enough to just drive down the Kingsway, but no. Vancouver is not a fun place to drive around.
Linda and Leo are here!
They arrived yesterday evening. We had slideshows, conversation and pizza.
I hope to get some of Leo’s pics to post here, as some of them are quite stunning. They took a tour of Meares Island which sounds amazing and produced some memorable images. Definitely worth it.
Of course, they’ve had most clement weather so far; the instant they get here the skies open and the wind starts to blow.
Later today we will get some foodicles.
Listicle
1. Chocolate cake. Wish we could find Granny’s recipe. Sifting cake flour for the recipe I use makes verra nice results.
2. Sole, boiled corn on the cob and fresh steamed organic carrots for dinner.
3. Leo and Linda will be here today!
4. Paul took me for a walk in Oakalla yesterday. We heard green frogs call, and saw bush tits and flickers and a towhee.
5. Still feeling all the feels from our nice afternoon sitting on the deck with Mike.
6. Katie emailed me pics of her two latest paintings. Wow!
7. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have people get out of their cars to yell at you for giving them the wrong GPS coordinates, but that’s what Sandra has to deal with. There is something really fucked up about how GPS handles her location data; but I can assure you SHE knows where she is. She has made many fine and accurate comments about the map reading abilities of post smartphone people. At this point the swift death of the human race is the only fix.
8. The teacher’s strike is over. I dislike Christy Clark.
9. Not a single American TV network covered the climate change march even though hundreds of thousands of people attended in New York. Of course the real existential threat will probably come from another direction since fate is such a witty mofo, but even so.
10. I am thinking of putting together an Orphans’ Thanksgiving. I am putting it out there that Katie’s going to go long, but I don’t think I’ll tell her that because she’s ready for the balloon to go up ANY DAY NOW. Her tummy is itchy and the damned stretch marks. I remember feeling very put out by them, but it’s a family trait, both sides of the family….
Lighter hearts
Listen children and let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time there was a man who loved a woman but didn’t want to live with her. She was okay with that. She had to move and at the last minute the landlord said no and at the last minute she had to make arrangements to move in with the man who didn’t want to live with her. They lived together for years. Their love ended. Their living arrangement did not. Six months went by. The woman made arrangements to move into a shelter because she figured out that accusing a man of being abusive would move her up an intake list. She called movers. The day was set.
The elevator broke.
The man looked out across his life and wondered why despite all his rationality he believed that this event wasn’t random. Couldn’t be random.
Mike, Keith, Kate, Jeff and I got together yesterday. Keith put too much pressure on one part of the hammock and it split. We congratulated him on taking one for the team, because if it had broken when Katie was it in we all would have been very sadface, although an eight months’ pregnant woman would not get in a hammock. Keith was uninjured. Mike demonstrated yoga. Keith rode off in search of beer. I massaged Katie’s feet. We mostly stayed on the back deck, as brilliant afternoon turned into brilliant evening. Keith rode home after dusk; Mike drove home; I put Katie in a cab. We ordered pizza and talked and were together and laughed.
So blessed. I told Mike that we’re part of his tribe.
Chris O’Shea, filker, is responsible for this charming instafilk.
“I woke up ever so slightly later this morning …
… And I was feeling ever so slightly more blue.
Yes I woke up ever so slightly later this morning…
… and I was feeling ever so slightly more blue.
Hard to tell the difference from yesterday.
I’m sufferin’ from the Delta Blues.”
Milestones and mealtimes
Katie cooked dinner for me, Jeff, Keith and the Birthday Boy Hisself, Paul; it was roast beast, gravy, yorkshire pudding, asparagus, carrots and smashed potatoes.
It was very pleasant. Poor Paul was late for his own dinner by the best part of an hour. Planes don’t wait.
We were sitting in the dark in the back yard when a skunk wandered through (this years’). Ayesha maintained a goodly distance. She was all over Jeff, it was very cute.
Paul has NO PLANS to retire! He really doesn’t look his age.
Drew, Tre’s baby brother, has been born, congrats and all well.
Oh well some other time maybe
Yesterday it was church, during which I ran around like a fool after a toddler, and then Mike came over in the afternoon and we had a long talk about what’s going on with him, and then I went to Theology Pub. It was rotating discussion groups. I enjoyed myself but I don’t think I’ll be going back. I can’t explain why and keep my UU principles intact, so I’ll just backspace over about three hundred words worth of high pressure whining and put a good spin on it. The turnout was spectacular though, at least twenty people came and the gender balance was much better than normal. There were more people from South Fraser Fellowship.
Tonight Katie is cooking dinner for her dad’s birthday. Paul turns 65 today. He’s going to work until the last possible moment; he’s not retiring, or so he says, for at least another couple of years.
Unsettlement
There are a lot of people suffering from mental illness and I am lighting a candle for comfort, hugs and clarity for all of them.
I am waiting for a package from India. I have no interview clothes (the last two dresses now have teeny holes in them) so I ordered some. Had no idea it was going to be shipped from India. I hope nobody was oppressed in the manufacture but I likely the boat’s sailed on that.
Katie is only five weeks away from her due date. Exciting, eh wot? We spent the money the fOlks gave me on a really nice convertible stroller for her and Malachi, or whatever moniker the wee baby is given.
Church was delightful. There were so many new faces that the 25 or so of us (half the active church members) who went to the workshop on Saturday were going GUPPA GUPPA GUPPA and of course as much as I wanted to talk to newcomers that was a day I was assisting with coffee and potluck.
And now one more teeny church item and back to writing.