Sirens
Yesterday morning at 11 o’clock on the dot, sirens began to blow. I had a momentary start, but then realized that it was, well, 11 o’clock on the dot on Wednesday. You know, the time that the City and County of Denver blows the practice tornado whistle. I believe they will do it every Wednesday throughout the summer. It made me think about my little brother. When we lived in Columbus, they used to blow the same kind of siren every Thursday evening at 5 o’clock. My brother told me that when he was little, EVERY SINGLE TIME the whistle blew, he was convinced there was a tornado coming to bear down on Columbus. He would run to Mom, or one of his sisters, for protection. He told me it never occurred to him that the whistle blew at the same time on the same day. Oh, the angst!

Cravings
Every morning when I wake up, I try to think about what I will be hungry for 12 hours from then. I need to decide early, because I need to take the appropriate protein out of my freezer to thaw. Yesterday morning, I decided that I was hungry for sloppy joes. I use this recipe from Taste of Home, and it’s delicious. I serve them like we were served at our cafeteria K-12, splitting the bun and putting some meat on top of each bun. But what to serve along side? Hmmm. Maybe potato chips, but that’s kind of uncreative. And then, voila! I knew that I needed to make potato salad. My sister Bec made it last weekend, and I had been thinking about it since. I have a great recipe for potato salad for two people. I checked the ingredients, and discovered that I had all the ingredients save one: celery. Being designed for only two, I only needed half a stalk. I didn’t want to go to the grocery store to buy one stalk of celery. I texted Bec and asked if it would be heresy to serve potato salad without celery. She assured me that it could be done without repercussions. But in the meantime, I texted my next door neighbor and asked if she possessed a stalk of celery with which she would be willing to part. She responded in the affirmative, which she shared. I in turn shared some of my prepared potato salad with her. Kindness counts, and not just in a quarantine…..

Bloomin’
My sister Jen told me that she made the drastic mistake of going to the plant nursery the day after Mother’s Day. As one might expect, the cupboards were bare. She got most of what she needed, but was disappointed that they didn’t have dahlias. Monday when I was doing my big grocery shop, I noticed that King Soopers had dahlias. I picked up a couple of pots for my front yard, along with some daisy-looking flowers that I know aren’t daisies. I texted her the news about the dahlias. She was going to check her King Soopers. I haven’t heard the result. I got mine planted yesterday morning.

Cooking Extravaganza
In addition to making potato salad yesterday, I also made a pan of rice krispie treats that I will deliver to Kaiya, Mylee, and Cole later today. I hope the weather cooperates so that we can sit outside and be together for a bit. I also answered Bill’s plea for more chocolate chip cookie bars. I had a day of cooking and baking, and it felt good.

Ciao.