Saturday, July 27, 2013

REALLY UNEXPECTED ADVENTURES!!!

What a wonderful, busy and fulfilling day it has been!  Considering that last night when I went upstairs to enjoy my solitude by finishing the book I had started earlier that day, I found myself in need of making my bed.  I had forgotten about the basket of laundry, including the sheets and blanket until I almost tripped over it on the way upstairs.

Hands already full, I repositioned my load and prepared to fold two loads of laundry and remake a bed before I could crawl in and indulge in the story which had encompassed my brain earlier and which I was eager to finish.

It did not bother me that it was 2 a.m. before I closed the book, leaving a few pages to finish in the morning. I was not particularly tired, but I knew that I had to do a few things during the day which did not require me unable to do them due to a lack of sleep.

I wake early regardless, and at 8 a.m., I started to get up and remembered the end of the book, so I picked it up from the side of the bed and polished it off before getting up and starting my day with my usual cup of tea and computer fix.

I was soon interrupted by a knock at the door and my youngest son's Dad was there bright and early to have a cup of tea and discuss plans for his upcoming visit for a couple of weeks until his apartment becomes available.  Still a bit groggy from my lack of sleep and caffeine ingestion, I lit a cigarette and organized in my head what preparations would need to be made over the course of the next couple of days before his arrival.

Since it requires a slight shifting of my son's room I am not too concerned and we made plans to begin the task the following day.  It was getting late and I still hadn't gotten in my mandatory computer time to wake up my brain and check out what is going on in the world.

I did some of the basic morning stuff, putting aside a couple of things until later, returning unexpected emails which for a change were not junk or spam when I realized I needed to motivate to gravitate out the door to help break down the Farmer's Market at 1:00 ~ needing to stop at the store before I began my task.

I was greeted by the Acting Manager of the Day ~ Jen who said hello and handed me a token for an egg roll at On A Roll.  I had heard amazing things about this new food vendor, but had not yet indulged in their food. I am a huge fan of egg rolls in general but nothing prepared me for the mushroom, pea and risotto food explosion that hit my taste buds.

I cannot wait to try the other egg roll options as well.  It is one of my goals over the remainder of the summer to try them all, and when I make those Crab Rangoon's I think I will create something along the same lines, it has really got my brain (and my tummy) thinking.

The breakdown went well.  The others agreed that we did it in record time and the storage area looked much neater and more organized when we finished than when Jess and I picked up the tables the other night ~ Jim did an amazing job at that!

I came home with a basil plant and a cilantro plant and some squash and a couple of cukes.  I am happy to have some fresh herbs as I love cooking with them.  I unloaded my wares and headed back the way I came to do some shopping and I made plans to get together with a friend of mine who had been ill, if he was feeling better later in the day.

I hadn't heard from my son and having realized he forgot his key earlier in the day I headed back home to have a cup of tea and relax, having time for a forgotten cup of tea before calling my friend back to see if we were meeting or not.

As it turns out, with my desire to go to Susan Geller's Opening at Circa between 4 and 6, we made plans to meet later.  That gave me a little more time to relax before heading to the opening so I gladly took the time to stretch out and relax before running out the door yet again!

I had dropped in earlier in the day to Circa and checked out the display ~ just in case it was very packed.  Susan had three photographs I had not seen before.  I really liked the Heart Blue Moon and the View from Mt. Greylock was a sight I am very familiar with and it brought back many vivid memories of our weekly drives up and over the mountain since the fire road was around the corner from our home in New Ashford.

There was a nice group of people casually sitting around having conversations when I entered.  Susan and I greeted each other and she thanked me for coming.  I had previously thought I had missed it, happy to have not missed it I grabbed a water and a seat and struck up a conversation or two with some folks I had volunteered with for the Berkshire International Film Festival last year.

Rick Costello, and who was at Bisque, Beads, and Beyond for July for Artwalk, and when asked he confirmed he would continue to be up for August in the same venue with his paintings of the stars which I mentioned in a previous blog.  If you missed his paintings you will have the rest of July and August to view them.

My son had phoned me while I was walking up to the opening asking how the promised Shepherds Pie was doing.  Since it was the first I had spoken with him all day, I told him it was next on my list ~ after the opening and I would phone him when I was on my way home.  Which I did  ~ giving myself an hour to make it. No sooner had I hung up the phone with him did I run into his Dad who upon hearing about dinner gleaned a seat at the table as well.

I walked in the door, kicked off my shoes and set to work ~ adding clearing off the dining room table in addition to the meal prep since we all could not eat dinner at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.  The dining room is the official dump area but it wasn't too bad for a change.

I grabbed the pans I needed and the potatoes and set to work, deciding I needed to re oil my cast iron pain before I used it I turned on the oven and oiled it and put it in and set to work peeling and cutting the potatoes since they would take the longest.

The potatoes on, I chopped my onion and garlic and retrieved my pan from the oven wiping out the excess oil ~ happier overall with the outcome I added oil to preheat to saute the onions, and garlic before adding my ground beef and got a bit creative with the seasonings.

Thomas's Dad, arrived before the hour was up, as I was sending off an email link to my blog while the potatoes were finishing up.  We chatted and I put him to work holding the pain while I scooped the first layer into the bottom of the two pans of Pie I was preparing.

I drained the potatoes and added butter and looked for where I put the beaters for the mixer.  Since I did not put them where they should go it took a minute to lay my hands on them looking three different places before I remembered where I put them.  I whipped up the potatoes with some more garlic and milk and added the corn layer before topping off the dish with the potatoes.

I was starving by then.  The aroma coming out of the pan was enticing.  I placed them in the oven and set the timer and called my sons to let them know they had about 40 minutes before food would be ready.  It had already been a very full day but I was excited to have the boys over for dinner.

I set the table and joined Rick for tea in the living room to wait out the very long 40 minutes - long due to the fact I was starving and not by the company.  The beeper beeped on the stove and I phoned the boys to let them know it was ready.  And within 5 minutes they arrived and we sat down to eat.  With no complaints other than how hot it was ~ the seasonings not objectionable to their palates I was pleased.

It was cool listening to Tom's Dad relive memories on his Dad's Horse Farm and throwing Hay (and learning how to avoid it).  Tom was young when his grandpa died so he doesn't have many memories of him, so it was fun to hear his Dad's animated tales and memories with is father.

Dinner is over, everyone is gone and I have one plate and a cup left to wash tomorrow.  My son would be telling me to be quite by now ~ repeatedly and to breath between sentences.  I say that because I do have a tendency to get long winded and this day has brought that out on paper.

It has been a whirlwind of a day and I left out the very best part of the radical day I had ~ as I was walking home from North Street, taking a usual shortcut from North Street and walking over a street one of my friends lives on to cut through the park on my way home, I am walking by her house when I notice that there are five chickens walking in the driveway.

They have a hen house but I have never seen the chickens walking around loose ~ always in their coop.  I do not know whose chicken's they actually are but I did know my friend was not home and I knocked on some doors with no luck.  My worry was they were going to wander into the road and get hit by a car or frankly stolen.

After making two calls with no luck, I walked into the backyard where they were in a flower bed and began talking to them, as I do talk to animals.  I nudged them towards their home, and they went straight to the back door which was open ~ the mystery of how they got out solved.

The mystery of how to get them back in was soon solved as well when the first one hopped in followed by two and three.  Four and five on the other hand were not headed that way with clucking or anything so I walked behind the furthest one and he headed toward the coop.

Four finally went in and Five joined him so I closed the door and latched it securely and then I ran into my friend Cindy who tried to kidnap me.  This was all before I even hit the park and called my son and ran into his Dad and cooked dinner!!!!

Told you I was long winded tonight!!!  I almost forgot about the chickens!!!  On that note I am going to breath and say good night as it is nearer to Sunday than I would like it to be!

1 comment:

  1. great read ~ sometimes pans can be a pain so don't lose your breath ~

    ReplyDelete