We’re nearly two weeks into September now and the wonderful summer is continuing. It’s still raining a lot. Mostly at night but we’ve actually had a few rainy day, too. It’s great! The lakes are high, the creek is roaring…I should get over to the falls. I haven’t been over there since July.
I’m not a very social person. I’m not anti-social, I have no animosity towards anyone. Really, I don’t even wish ill upon certain pathological liars currently running for president, I just hope she doesn’t win the election and is free to spend the rest of her long, healthy life enjoying her ill-gotten gains.
I’m asocial. I’m fine with everyone else doing their thing, I just want to be left alone to do mine. Even having fun events on my calendar is oppressive. So, I can go for months on end with no parties cluttering up my (a)social life but sure enough, when it rains, it pours.
I had things to do every day this weekend.
They were all really fun, I’m glad I did them but I’m equally glad that two of them popped up nearly spur of the moment so I had no time to get funky over them. Friday night, we had two of our favorite couples over for dinner. We used to see them all the time, back during the Great Basketball Era of MCTC. Now, we have to make an effort to get together. Jay suggested on Tuesday that we have them over on Friday, which is almost more lead time than I can stand.
Our favorite company dinner is Emeril’s piri piri chicken with jicama orange salad. It’s completely delicious and nearly fat free. The only down side to any of Emeril’s recipes is that they’re high maintenance. Piri piri sauce includes four different kinds of peppers, two must be fresh and there’s lots of chopping involved. Plus, it should be made ahead of time. Emeril says a wee but I’ve never been able to plan that far ahead. When I want PPC, I want it now, not next week.
The jicama orange salad is labor intensive, too. A two lb jicama needs a lot of peeling and chopping before one can eat it comfortably. Peeling a jicama is harder than skinning a pheasant. The root has a thick, hairy, woody hide. Inside, its sweet and delicious but that peel is daunting. And lets be honest; oranges aren’t the easiest thing in the world to peel and chop up, either. But the salad is so scrumptious its worth the two hours prep time.
Jay suggested guacamole before dinner. Again, Emeril’s recipe. It has close to a dozen ingredients including at least four that must be chopped into tiny bits. I make it so often that I’ve memorized the recipe but it takes a half hour, not matter how you slap chop it.
So after I made two trips to the grocery store and spent three hours of prep time, chopping mixing and boiling on two different days, Jay grilled the chicken breasts to perfection and set the table. We do make a good team.
And it was wonderful to have the old gang back together for a few hours. It had been a gloomy wet day but evening cleared up enough so we could have drinks and hors d’houevres on the deck before eating dinner on my newly refinished kitchen table.
Jay has class on Saturday and I had early plans too so no one stayed too late and we all agreed we have to do that more often. Every three years or so.
Just kidding. I’d love to do it more than once a year but they all go by so quickly these days.
Saturday I picked up my daughter Katie and we drove to the childhood home of her husband for a baby shower.
The girls’ other grandparents really do live over the river and through the woods but what a destination!
Every time I drive through Wisconsin I’m impressed by how beautiful it is. And that’s from the interstate, which is usually the ugliest part of the state. I’ve only seen Indiana from 35W and it looks like a hundred miles of dump. I’m sure it’s not but that’s what I’ve seen.
Not Wisconsin. Every single mile of it looks like a postcard staged to make you want to sell your house and buy a farm. Rolling vistas, wooded hills, barns perched photogenically atop a hill with green and golden fields foaming away in all directions like the promised land.
Katie’s in laws live outside of a picturesque little town. I don’t know how much acreage they own but the house, which is large and lovely, is surrounded by lawns, towering trees and a creek every bit as wide as the Minnehaha that winds around and through the property. The house takes advantage of the gorgeous setting by having huge windows everywhere. If I lived there, I’d never get anything done: I’d spend all day just staring out those windows.
And there are trout in the creek. So yes, Adam grew up fishing in his back yard.
Adam’s Dad happened to be on this side of the border, spending a fishing weekend with his son while Mom had all the ladies over for the baby shower.
Damn. My kids keep marrying into families that make it really hard to be the cool grandparents. On the one hand, I have to compete with Nemisis (soon to be renamed Nemesis 1) who has a farm filled with horses, dogs and cattle and now I have to share the twins with another grandma who lives in Snow White’s cottage in the woods. What do I have? Nothing but a park, the lakes and a million cousins for them to play with. I’m gonna have to step up my game. Fortunately, both the other grandmas are delightful ladies with whom it’ll be great to share the grand kids.
Katie got a lot of great baby swag at the shower. We had a lot of fun and every time I looked out one of the giant windows at the beautiful setting, the sky was doing something different. It must have poured rain on four different occasions throughout the afternoon but in between deluges, the sun came out and dappled the yard. Naturally in such a place, I can imagine rainbows streak the sky on a regular basis. I was sad to leave.
It was fun being trapped for so many hours in the car with Katie, though. We haven’t had a chance to talk about everything under the sun in years.
I dropped her off at home in the middle of a fish fry put on by her husband and father in law for a bunch of friends.
Sunday was 9/11 and while we did take a moment to remember the horrible events of 15 years ago, it’s also the birthday of the lovely Mr. Curry. So amidst the flags at half mast, we raised a glass of really good wine to the future and ate cake. When Mr. C. lived in the neighborhood, he used to drop by all the time. Sometimes for dinner, sometimes just for a chat in the afternoon. Casual Sundays have become something we have to plan, now that he and his bride live downtown. I do love visiting their loft, which has a grand view of the skyline but it sucks when the kids grow up and move away.
So my weekend was busy, fun and exhausting.
September is one of my favorite months of the year. The weather is perfect and the lakes get more intensely blue every day until they freeze. The trees are starting to show that bronzy golden undertone that presages the turn of the colors. A few have already sprung a branch or two of orange or red. I have a few weeks left of perfect refinishing weather and the nights are getting cold, so sleep is great.
This year, I’m really looking forward to winter. The Holidays are always fun and this time we’re capping them off with the birth of the twins. Its going to be the best winter ever.