Alleluia

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

Well, the Lord is risen, so I baked a ham.

I always kind of wonder how certain foods become synonymous with certain holidays. I understand how lamb became traditional food at this time of year – you know, Passover and all. But ham? I guess I should just thank my lucky stars that we don’t have the Easter Pig visit us each year.

It’s bad enough that there’s an Easter bunny. As my niece Maggie put it the other day, Easter is kind of a silly holiday unless you are a church-goer, or at least a believer. Oh, I know, I know, Easter is based on pagan rituals. But there really is no way around it. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

So really, the Easter Bunny is just another way to get consumers to buy more stuff for our kids – stuff they almost never need.

When I was a kid, we didn’t get Easter presents. We got Easter eggs and chocolate candy. Period. At our house the bunny came during the night and hid our entire basket full of the eggs we had dyed the day before. Not the individual eggs; the whole basket. It took some creative thinking on mom’s – oops, I mean the Easter bunny’s — part. One year my basket was in the clothes dryer downstairs. It took quite some time to find it.

But back to ham for a minute. I like ham, but I don’t love ham. I would never, for example, order a ham sandwich if I went out for lunch. Oh, capicola and provolone sandwich, for sure. Bacon, lettuce, and tomato, you betcha. Italian sausage sub, no brainer. But not a ham sandwich.

And yet, the one time a year that I bake a ham, it tastes so good to me. And then, of course, there are the leftover meals. Ham and navy bean soup. Green beans with ham. But don’t even suggest HAM SALAD. Yuck. Ham should not be a salad. Tuna should be a salad. Eggs should be a salad. Not ham.

To celebrate the risen Lord, Bill and I went to the sunrise Mass at our church – 6 a.m., necessitating a 5 o’clock wake-up call. The church was surprisingly full.

And then we came home and I began my preparation for our Easter celebration, featuring the ham. Each year I make the ham and, some kind of breakfast sausage casserole.

This year I added a bonus. We stopped earlier this week and got tamales – some green chile and some pork – from Old El Paso Tamale Shop in west Mesa. They make some of the best tamales in the East Valley.

We had a houseful as we do each Easter. They come in waves. The early birds were my niece Maggie, her husband Mark, and Austin and Lilly, DECKED OUT for Easter…

Bec showed up soon after with her offerings of coffee cake and chocolate cake. We all toasted the Easter bunny with mimosas! Nothing says alleluia quite like orange juice and champagne. And, by the way, this was no simple chocolate cake…..

Next my brother rolled in, bearing gifts of freshly made donuts and Parker rolls so fresh they were still warm. Nothing says alleluia quite like freshly baked bread. He was followed shortly after by his daughter Brooke.

Later that afternoon, Bec’s son Erik, his wife Josey, and kids Mackenzie and Carter arrived, their second fete of the day. And finally, Dave’s daughter Kacy and her three daughters completed the group.

We set up the little splash pool and the kids had as much fun as if it was a regular Olympic-sized swimming pool. Lots of splashing going on….

We had a wonderful day, and what was left over of the ham went home in many takeaway bags. There will be lots of soup cooking this week in Arizona. Ham and green beans is on my menu.

26Mar2016

Saturday Smile: The High Life

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

From the time she was a toddler, our 9-year-old granddaughter Dagny has liked to climb. In fact, one time when she was under our watch, she was up in what eventually Bill made into the playhouse high above the sandbox in our back yard in Denver. She was reaching to grab the fireman’s pole and missed. Suddenly, down she went, landing hard on her back. Thankfully, she only got the wind knocked out of her and sustained no injuries, serious or otherwise. She has a busy guardian angel.

Her favorite past time is any climbing wall any where. She is fearless….

But here’s what made me smile. This past week, this is where her mother found her doing her homework……

Love that girl!

Have a great weekend.

24Mar2016

Thursday Thoughts

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

What Would Wilma Do?
One time, not too long ago, a friend of mine posted something on Facebook that made me laugh and nod. It said I went to Target and only bought the one thing that was on my list, said no one, ever. And isn’t that the truth? Any time I go into Target, I come out with a multitude of things that I wasn’t aware I couldn’t live without prior to going in. My most recent example? I went to Target to buy a potato peeler and came out with a 6 qt. crock pot. What the heck? Well, my old one was, um, dirty. Seriously, the old one had been purchased back in the mid-70s. It worked perfectly fine, but it was the wrong shape. I guess back in those days the only thing crock pots were used for was stews or soups. I wanted to fit my corned beef into the pot and I would have had to fold it over. Which, of course, would have worked, as it has worked for every St. Patrick’s Day since I purchased it in the late 70s. But now I have a shiny new one, and my old one is going to join its crowd of lookalikes at Goodwill.

M is for the Million Things She Gave Me
The other day, Bill was working on the blasted acacia tree in the front yard. You know, the tree with which he is in a constant battle? If it isn’t pods, it’s beebleberries. If it isn’t beebleberries, the pods are back. Anyway, he was trimming the tree (no easy task because in addition to pods and beebleberries, it has thorns). He told me later that he was about to cut back a branch when he noticed some eyes peering at him. There was a mother mockingbird sitting on a nest on that very branch. She didn’t say a word to him, but she didn’t move either. She was going to go down with her baby, no matter the consequences. She’s a mother, after all. I took a photo, but you have to really search to see the bird. Find the nest and then imagine the bird. She’s there, I promise. My photography also didn’t alarm her…..

Midget Model
You all might remember that I have a shop on Etsy in which I sell handmade items. If you don’t remember, it is Nanas Whimsies Shop. Check it out! Anyway, I recently have been making sun hats for toddlers. I asked my niece Kacy if her youngest daughter Kelsie would model one for my shop. Now if this doesn’t sell a hat or two, then I don’t know what the world is coming to….

A Little Something Different
The restaurant at which Bec and Bill and I dined Tuesday night at the Desert Botanical Garden (Gertrude’s) has kind of a unique spin on their food and beverages. Locally-made tequilas. Locally-grown produce and nuts. Interesting flavor combinations using spicy peppers. So I was excited to try their Cactus Cosmo, which used prickly-pear-infused vodka. Not only was it lovely, but it had a unique and absolutely delicious flavor. Well done Gertrude. Or whomever….

Our granddaughter Kaiya is studying the desert in her second grade class right now. In a text I got from her yesterday morning she said, “Nana, I learned that in Arizona they have stick trees. Have you ever seen one?” Of course, I need more information than that, but I suspect she is referring to the ocotillo tree. It is one of my favorite Arizona plants. When dormant, they look absolutely DEAD. And then in the spring, they start sprouting little green leaves. Their big hurrah is right about now when they sprout beautiful orange blossoms. I would love to have an ocotillo tree, but our co-owner (my sister Jen), who doesn’t put her foot down about much, has put her food down about planting an ocotillo tree. “They look like something from out of space.” What do you think?….

Ciao.

23Mar2016

Lighten Up

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

The desert is ablaze in beautiful colors.

March is perhaps the nicest month here in the Arizona desert. It won’t be long, and the temperatures will be hot enough to keep even the heartiest nature lover inside enjoying the cool of air conditioning and television. By that time, we’re back in Denver enjoying the spring and early summer weather.

But in March, the daytime temperatures in the East Valley of Phoenix are warm, yet the nighttime temperatures still cool down to the 50s. The cacti, which to this point seemed dormant, prickly, and somewhat grouchy, start bursting into blooms of bright yellows, pinks, purples and corals. The desert is coming alive!

Because of the blooming blossoms, Bill and I decided to visit the Desert Botanical Garden yesterday. I have mentioned that my sister Bec volunteers as a docent at the Garden, and so she agreed to give us a personal tour. She and I have gone several times in the past, but not since she studied all of the plants the Garden offers. This time she gave us information and interesting tidbits about all of the plants. It pays to have friends in high places.

In addition to wanting to see the flowers in bloom, Bill and I were eager to see a special show being offered until May at the Desert Botanical Garden – Bruce Munro: Sonoran Light. Munro is a British artist who primarily uses light as his artistic medium. The Desert Botanical Garden was bedecked in amazingly beautiful colored light – a sight to behold. Since we had an early dinner, we were able to see the lights go on as the evening got dark.

And speaking of dinner, we had a delicious meal at Gertrude’s, the restaurant at the Garden…..

Bill, Bec, and I enjoyed a yummy dinner on the patio.

Afterwards, we walked around and saw some of the pretty desert flowers…..

We saw Munro’s interesting displays before the sun went down and the lights came on……

This display (and several of the others) is made out of empty two-liter soda bottles. Inside, the artist puts fiber optic lights.

And then, when the lights went on, it was a sight to behold…..

It was interesting to see what can be done with lights and fiber optics. We, by the way, weren’t the only ones to have this idea. The Botanical Gardens was very busy, especially later when it got dark.

There is, of course, no way a photo can be as beautiful as the real thing. One of the most majestic parts of the light show was something quite unexpected. The Desert Botanic Garden is bordered by some of the red-rocky hills plentiful in the valley. One of the hills is filled with lights that twinkled and shone as the day transitioned into night…..

It was a pleasant afternoon and evening. By the way, the light show runs through May 8. Bec’s tours run longer than that!

22Mar2016

Shiplap

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

Today is a good day for a good day…..

People are always talking about binge watching television series. I am not really a binge TV watcher. I watch many series on Netflix in the correct order – Season 1 to the last or most recent season, for example. But it would drive me crazy to sit and watch one program, show after show, season after season, all in a row. I know many people do just that. Not me.

I will watch one, maybe two, in a series, and then move on to something else. I will come back to the next in the series a few days later. For example, right now I’m watching Gilmore Girls, Longmire, Doc Martin, Call the Midwife, and Blue Bloods, but not all in a row.

But I will tell you what program would give me cause to make an exception – Fixer Upper. Unfortunately, there is only one season on Netflix despite the fact that in real time they are on Season 3.

You’re killing me here people at Netflix. I can’t get enough of Chip and Joanna Gaines.

I am not particularly a huge fan of HGTV. Once in a while, if I can find absolutely nothing on cable despite the fact that I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 channels, I will tune in to a House Hunters or House Hunters International as background while I crochet. That, in fact, is how I first stumbled on to Fixer Upper. It just happened to be on as I searched desperately for a program that wasn’t Law and Order: SVU or Criminal Minds, both of which you can find any time of the day or night on some channel somewhere.

For those of you who, like me, are unaware of what’s popular with people who live exciting lives, I will fill you in on Fixer Upper.

The program takes place in, of all places, Waco, Texas. In Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna help a family buy a home they can afford (generally something that is in terrible shape) and then help them fix it up to be something perfectly splendid. It’s an interesting concept, but not everyone could make this idea be show-worthy. The Gaines do it because they have what it takes to be interesting. They are funny and charismatic and clever and seemingly so very fond of one another. I could watch the program 12 hours a day, every day of the week.

Now here’s a surprise. Bill really enjoys the show as well. Chip Gaines is so goofy and funny and talented that one can’t help but love him. Joanna plays the straight role perfectly and their chemistry is amazing.

By the end of the show, they have turned a terrible house into something beautiful, and made it look easy.

Don’t get me wrong. Quite frankly, all of the homes end up looking basically the same. That’s because they do the same thing to every home. They tear down all of the walls, making the first floor one big room. They lay hardwood. They put in French doors. They put in a kitchen island. They install crown molding.

And, whenever possible, they use shiplap.

By the way, last spring when my brother Dave and sister-in-law Sami came to Denver to visit us, I talked with Sami about wanting to remodel our kitchen and family room. Any ideas, I asked her.

Her response? Shiplap.

Whatlap?

So Sami attempted to explain shiplap to me. Being entirely uncreative, I simply couldn’t understand what she was talking about. Now I understand because, well, Fixer Upper.

So Bill and I have varying ideas on what we want to do to our Denver home this spring when we return. And I’m pretty sure, now that I understand what it is, it will involve shiplap. In a perfect world, it would also include knocking down some walls, but the world, my friends, is not perfect.

By the way, another thing that Joanna loves are sayings stenciled onto the walls of the home. The quotation that leads off this post was one of my favorites.

Oh, and shiplap.

21Mar2016

Teen Angel

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

What is it about grandkids?

This isn’t, by the way, one of those questions I’m going to pose and then spend the rest of the blog giving you the answer. The reality is that I really don’t understand why grandkids are as special as they are to the grandparents of the world. I just know they are. Special, that is. Special in a way that’s totally different than our kids.

Saturday, our eldest granddaughter – eldest grandchild – turned 13. A teenager. That just seems impossible. Because she was the first grandchild – and perhaps because Dave and Jll didn’t realize that if you give birth, they will come – we were there en masse at her birth. Seriously, there were a total of five grandparents, one uncle, and one aunt all there and ready to greet the newest McLain.

March 19, 2003, was significant for a couple of reasons besides the birth of Adelaide Grace.

First, it was the date of the heaviest snowstorm to hit Denver since 1913. A total of 31.8 inches of snow fell overnight, beginning the afternoon of March 18. Here is a picture we took from our front yard…..

Dave called us around 10 o’clock in the morning to tell us that Jll was in labor and they were heading for the hospital. We immediately began digging out our car. Or trying to dig it out. It turned out to be an impossible task to get out of our driveway, even with four-wheel drive. We learned later that, perhaps due to the change in the barometric pressure, laboring women were arriving at the hospital in droves. Because of the snow, some were literally being brought in on toboggans. But Dave was able to get Jll to the hospital without either a toboggan or a fire truck. His Land Rover successfully made the trip.

And meanwhile, back at the ranch, we were trying to dig out. Finally, Allen – driving that self-same Land Rover – came back to pick us up and take us to the hospital. All of us.

We were actually in the room with the parents-to-be all day long, until Jll was ready to give birth. At that point, the most important people – the parents-to-be and the medical staff – asked us to retire to the waiting room. There we were, seven people pacing as one. Finally, we got the word. Addie was born! Ten fingers, ten toes.

Here’s the other significant event that transpired on March 19, 2003. As we were racing out of the waiting room to head to see Addie, I glanced up at the television screen. President George W. Bush was announcing to the world that the United States had dropped the first bombs on Baghdad and the War in Iraq had begun. President Barack Obama began pulling troops from Iraq when Addie was 8.

Addie was a pretty baby, and is still spectacularly beautiful as you can see (and has better hair)…..

All of our grandkids are special, but when you only have one, he or she is liable to get a bit of extra attention. I remember one particular day when she was still a baby. I was shopping for clothes at Macy’s. In fact, I was in the dressing room nearly nekked when my cell phone rang. It was Bill.

“Jll is here with Addie,” he told me.

“Don’t let her leave,” I shouted, already putting on my pants. I finished dressing in record time and raced home in time to see our little grandbaby. It’s funny when I think about it, because they lived not far from us at the time and I probably could have stopped over any time of any day. But I wasn’t going to miss a visit with our special little girl.

And she is special. She was and is loved by many. Here she is with her granddads….

Papa Tim plays with baby Addie. Papa Bill and Addie relax together. Last summer, Addie played catch with Papa.

She is – and always has been – a great student….

Very first day of school, left. First day of 7th grade, right.

She stays busy with activities outside of school. While, as you see, it began on her tricycle, soft ball is now among her sports….

And swimming…..

And much to Nana’s delight, she has always liked food and cooking….

So happy birthday to our eldest grandchild. She is one in a million.

19Mar2016

Saturday Smile: O Canada

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

The silliest things make me tear up. I saw this YouTube video on Facebook and it seriously brought tears to my eyes. There was a hockey game being played in Canada, the the Toronto Maple Leafs v. the Nashville Preditors. They play both nation’s national anthems, and during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, the sound system failed. Then, this happened…..

I’ll bet there aren’t many US citizens who would know the words to O Canada. Well played, Canada. Thank you to our friends to the north.

Have a great weekend.

18Mar2016

Friday Book Whimsy: All the Stars in Heaven

Posted in Book Reviews, Whimsies by kzmclain

I think it’s fun to imagine the way Hollywood was in its glory days of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s – the days of rolled hair and perfectly drawn bowed lips lush with red lipstick. The days when stars were loyal to their movie studios and cognizant of being role models to their fans. When movies almost always had happy endings.

That’s what I liked best about All the Stars in Heaven by Adriana Trigiani. Her novel painted a picture of Hollywood as it once was, which is very different from the way Hollywood is today.

Trigiani’s books sort of run the gamut. Her Stone Gap novels take place in the mountains of Virginia. Some of her books take place mostly in Italy. She writes of family and food and romance. She has written books aimed at teens. She has written nonfiction books about eating and cooking with her large Italian family.

But as far as I know All the Stars in Heaven is the first time she’s tackled a novel about real-life people.

All the Stars in Heaven tells the story of Loretta Young and her relationship with Clark Gable. It is fact that Young had an affair with Gable while they were filming The Call of the Wild in 1935. It is also fact that Young had a child from this relationship. Since studios would have nothing to do with stars who committed adultery (or at least stars whose fan’s found out about the adultery), Young had to keep the baby a secret. She had the baby quietly, placed her in an orphanage until the baby was a year-and-a-half, and then brought the baby home, telling the world that she was adopted.

All the Stars in Heaven follows her story quite accurately, if Wikipedia is to be believed (though apparently in real life Young later said she had been date-raped by Gable and the novel makes no mention of that allegation). What the novel DOES make mention of are wonderful stories about some of the movie stars of old. It’s kind of like reading a movie magazine that was published in 1950.

I knew very little about Loretta Young, though I remember her from her television show that ran in the late 1950s and early 1960s. And I remember that she was lovely. Spectacularly beautiful, in fact. I didn’t know, for example, that she was a devout Roman Catholic her entire life. And if the novel accurately portrays Young, she also had a long-time friendship with Spencer Tracy.

See what I mean? Lots of juicy move star facts. Myrna Loy. David Niven. Carole Lombard.

Trigiani presents a fictional character – Young’s longtime secretary and friend Alda – who, in my opinion, really adds nothing to the story. I don’t quite understand why the author felt the need for this character.

All things considered, I enjoyed the book very much. It is perhaps not the best thing Trigiani has written, but it was sort of like standing in line at the grocery store and quietly paging through OK Magazine.

It was a fun read.

Here is a link to the book.

17Mar2016

Thursday Thoughts

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

One Dollah
About a year ago or so, the Family Dollar store near us became a Dollar Tree. I think this change transpired because Dollar Tree bought out Family Dollar. Doesn’t matter. I have talked before on this blog about how much I love Dollar Tree stores for certain things. If I’m taking food to a potluck, for example. You can get a large clear plastic bowl which looks fancy if you have macular degeneration and cataracts. But you don’t need to worry about getting that bowl back. Throw it away because how much did it cost? One dollah. Anyway, we went to our friendly neighborhood pizza place the other night which is right next door to Dollar Tree. I was amused to see that The Dollar Tree had a great big sign on the store that said GRAND OPENING. I found it funny and peculiar for two reasons. First, why, a full year later, did they decide to have the grand opening? Second, just what can a Dollar Tree offer as part of their grand opening celebration. Everything is 99 cents?

Pull Up a Trough
As I mentioned, we went to our neighborhood pizza joint and there was nobody working who was older than 20. All kids. This is particularly funny because the clientele is all people 80 or over. Seriously, Bill and I look like the youngins’.The seniors look at us like they are suspicious we just came from a rave. But the pizza is good, I promise. Anyway, the young man took our order. A large pizza (because Bill had a coupon for a free large pizza) and two drinks. At the last minute, I told him, “We will also have the Italian salad.” “Great,” he cheerfully said. “Would you like silverware with that?”

Risen
I sometimes consider doing movie reviews on my blog, perhaps in place of my Friday book review. Then I remember that we almost never go to the movies, which inhibits the ability to write reviews. But we recently DID go to the movies. We saw Risen, starring Joseph Fiennes, who I would guess might hold the record for the number of movies in which he’s starred in which he hasn’t cracked a smile. My, that man is somber. I believe the last time he smiled in a movie was in Shakespeare in Love, but that might have been gas. (Maybe this is why I don’t do movie reviews.) Anyway, the movie tells the story of a Roman tribune to whom Pontius Pilate assigns the task of finding the body of Jesus Christ following the resurrection in order to forestall a rebellion. To try to locate Christ’s body, Clavius must connect with Jesus’ followers, who make him think, hmmmm, perhaps there is something to this story. While traveling a bit with the disciples, Clavius finally meets Jesus in person (and he had seen Jesus die on the cross with his own two eyes), sees him heal a leper, and witnesses Jesus’ ascension into heaven. I loved the portrayal of Jesus’ followers (though Bartholomew came across as somewhat demented but Peter made up for him). I also liked actor Cliff Curtis’ portrayal of Jesus (Yeshua), a more realistic portrayal than the hotty actor who played Jesus in A.D. The Bible Continues. When the disciples – along with Clavius – are in the boat unsuccessfully fishing and the stranger on the shore tells them to cast the net again and they realize it is Jesus, I started to cry. The disciples were so filled with joy and love and it was well-portrayed. I recommend the movie as a good Easter outing.

I Know it Will Fit; I Saw it in a Cartoon Once
So, you know how you get stuck in the grocery line behind those people who are rooting around for their checkbook, or who insist that the Bounty paper towels are on sale and want a price check or are paying in cash down to the penny, but the penny is at the bottom of the purse? Well, yesterday afternoon, Bill and I were THOSE PEOPLE. Bill had seen in the grocery ad that the beer he likes was on sale for some great price at Basha’s. As I mentioned before, we have a Basha’s Grocery Store a block from our house, and I nearly always walk. In fact, the only time I drive is if I am buying something that would be too heavy to carry. I have a two-wheeled grocery cart that I take over with me. I call it my Nonnie Cart because it is similar to the carts that the old ladies all over Italy use to do their daily marketing. I was going over to get the ingredients to make soup, and asked Bill if he wanted to go. Yes, he said. He was positive the beer would fit into the Nonnie Cart. Unfortunately, after all of the groceries were rung up, we began loading – or at least trying to load – the groceries into the cart. It made the most sense to put the beer in first, but we couldn’t get it to fit. And it was a 30-pack, so it was heavy. It had to go on the bottom. Bill worked and worked at trying to get it to fit. The clerk, for her pessimistic part, was insisting that there was no way it would fit. Bill kept trying. (He is nothing if not tenacious.) People are starting to speak to each other under their breaths. I think I overheard someone say where he would like to see that case of beer be placed. After much ado, Bill got it to fit. It wasn’t nice of the clerk to say, “Have a good day, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

The Tooth of the Matter
Bill had dental work done again this week – on Tuesday. He is getting the caps replaced on his front teeth. The dentist removed the old caps, took impressions, and put in temporary caps until he can get the permanent caps put on. So, remember he is unable to chew on one whole side of his mouth for four months from his previous oral surgery. Now he is unable to bite anything with his front teeth. In other words, he has about a half an inch of teeth that he can actually use. We will be eating a lot of soup and smoothies.

Ciao.

16Mar2016

If You Knew Sushi

Posted in Whimsies by kzmclain

Bill and my brother Dave go twice a year to Phoenix International Speedway and watch cars go around in circles very fast and very noisily. In other words, NASCAR. Bill took me once. I bought a Danika Patrick cap, people-watched, and even watched the cars for a bit. I had a blast, but once was enough. My ears couldn’t take it.

Last Sunday, instead of going to NASCAR, I enjoyed my own quiet day.

Usually when they go to the track, I spend the day with my sister Bec. Last time, she and I went out to lunch and then watched the Broncos at her house until it was clear the NASCAR race was going to be rained out and the Broncos were going to lose. I headed home and beat Bill by mere minutes.

I assumed I would do the same thing this time (sans the rain), but as Sunday crept closer, I realized that what I really wanted to do was, well, nothing. That’s a funny thing to want to do considering I’m retired and so I mostly spend my days doing exactly that. But I do exactly that with Bill.

What I wanted was a day to do nothing by myself.

I’m not a tried and true introvert by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, when Bill and I did our food tour of Old Scottsdale last week, I sort of became BFFs with a couple from North Carolina taking the same tour. After one stop, Bill said to me, “Kris, you’re really a pleasant, outgoing person.”

That’s not altogether true. Put me in a room of strangers at a cocktail party, and I’m a mess. I walk in, see that groups have formed, assume that no one could possibly want to include me in their group, and fidget until someone takes pity on me. But put me in a one-on-one situation (the grocery store clerk, a movie line, a tour group), and I can strike up any number of conversations. I’m not, as Bill thinks, particularly pleasant. Instead, I am particularly nosy. So having spent 15 minutes with my short-lived BFF from North Carolina, I know all about the city of Charlotte, I know what she does for a living, I know where she was born and grew up. I was just getting to her shoe and bra size when the tour ended.

But while I’m not a true introvert, I’m also not one of those never-met-a-stranger extraverts. What I am, however, is someone who needs a break from people. I need time to myself once in awhile to reenergize.

In Denver, I actually have a fair amount of time to myself. Bill is often gone, either out to lunch with friends, hanging out at his favorite cigar shop, or building God-only-knows what in our back yard. Besides, our Denver house, while not a mansion, is big enough that we can avoid seeing each other for stretches of time. It’s got an upstairs.

Here in our 1,250 square foot house in the desert, it is hard to not spend time with each other. And that’s mostly a good thing. But a break is nice.

Sunday, I did very little, but one thing I did give great thought to is what I would have for lunch. Bill almost always goes along with whatever I’d like to eat. There are, however, certain things he simply would never choose to eat. So as I gave thought to my lunch, I kept that in mind.

Mexican food always – ALWAYS – sounds good to me. But Bill likes Mexican food and we eat it often. He also likes hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, even fish and chips. What he will eat –but never choose — is anything Asian.

So what’s for lunch? Sushi, of course.

I got there just after the restaurant opened. While others might complain, I rarely feel like I am ignored if I am by myself. And, in fact, I was seated very quickly and in a nice location. The waiter took my sushi order very quickly. Sushi, of course, takes a bit of time, but I got my eight delicious pieces of sushi nigari in a timely manner.

And then I apparently became invisible. That was fine as long as I was eating my delicious sushi. However, when I wanted a refill on my drink, or was finished and was awaiting my bill, I would have liked to have been visible. But the waiter, who earlier gave me such good attention, simply kept walking as I would say, “Excuse me, Sir?” to his back. I eventually gave up on him and tried to attract the attention of another server. But, see above. I was invisible.

Anyway, eventually I paid my bill (you generally can get even the most stubborn server’s attention if you start heading toward the door), came home, and did what I would never do if Bill had been home. I binge watched Gilmore Girls.

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Nana's Whimsies

Musings of a Baby Boomer….

Category Archives: Whimsies

Alleluia

Saturday Smile: The High Life

Thursday Thoughts

Lighten Up

Shiplap

Teen Angel

Saturday Smile: O Canada

Friday Book Whimsy: All the Stars in Heaven

Thursday Thoughts

If You Knew Sushi