We got a call from Leah, our friend and travel agent, and we made our reservations to spend Christmas and New Year’s at the South Pole! Almost a month away from home, wow! The things you do when you get old!
We will be ready for an unforgettable New Year’s Eve as we sail the Drake Passage! It’s the only place where the waves are high enough to make you reconsider your life choices while you’re trying to toast with champagne. Forget about fireworks! We’ll have the natural light show of the ocean splashing all around us—just don’t lose your balance or you might end up in a penguin’s New Year’s party!
B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r
I was so nervous after making the reservations that I started a load of wash complete with my wallet in the back of the dirty jeans. Money laundering at its finest!
First things first: We walked the garden today, and there was no sign of that crazy wabbit we had yesterday! Perhaps things are returning to normal (or it has changed disguises and is now holding a coffee cup?)
At 9:30 am, we headed to Mary’s appointment, and I went to the Orange County Farmer’s Supply to get two bags of acid compost for the berry patch! While there, I got some cantaloupes and will plant them this afternoon!
We have had some fantastic melons in the past!!
Its cantelope’s past is mysterious. No one seems able to pinpoint precisely where cantaloupe first showed up. Some historians trace the origins of the muskmelon to Biblical times in Egypt and Greece. Others point to Persia. According to the University of Illinois, the oldest illustrated reference to a cantaloupe dates back to 2400 B.C. in Egypt. Ancient records from Greece also mention the cantaloupe. We can thank Christopher Columbus for bringing along some muskmelon seeds on his voyage to the Americas and spreading cantaloupe cultivation to our side of the pond.
I loaded The Silver Fox with the bags at Orange County Farmers Supply before picking up Dr. Mary. The poor luxury car now has a complex; it thinks it is a pickup truck!
Into the pickup, they go!
I picked up my bride at noon, and we decided to continue our freezer-emptying activities, so I had more Indian food. Today was Tiki-Marsala Day, the spicy kind! Why do Indians love New York? A: Because there’s a Delhi on every block. Mary says if I have any more Indian food, she is going to change my name to “Bindair Dundat.”
Mary made a container of her famous borscht soup. We are making a dent in the freezer now; we can see the back of the unit.
Mary worked inside, and I headed to the garden to deliver their last bit of acid potting soil for the berries! At a quart a pound, I hustled around 80 pounds per bag; I was glad I only bought two bags!
Mary calls me Superman! I am a little worried about the shorts!
Well, I do NOT look that bad yet! The two bags leveled out the garden, and I dug the new soil in about four inches. Digging in and around berries is a blood-curdling experience; those thorns work!
Two bags did the trick!
Before I transported the bags 200 feet from the car to the garden, I replaced Mary’s garden cart wheels with solid tires. After two years, her cart would slowly leak, resulting in trying to move 200 pounds with a flat tire—not an easy job!!
Mary got new SOLID tires for the Mary Cart!
It’s 1:30 p.m., and it’s time to jump in the Silver Fox and go to the local hospital to see my phlebotomist for a blood test. I had time last night to study for the test, so I was not worried. Oops, I should explain: A person who takes blood is called a phlebotomist, and MY phlebotomist is a jewel; she is painless.
Of course, as I got up from the massive withdrawal of blood, I yelled “OUCH!!!”, then faked a faint and grabbed the walls, moaned a little, and staggered down the hall, putting the dear soul into a total panic. When I stood up, smiled, and giggled, she promised that next time, I would get a much larger needle!
On the way home, we went via the market. I will never figure out how we can stop at the market fora carton of milk and come back with seven bags of groceries and a $250 bill!! Our fatal mistake was going with an empty tummy; we should have stopped and downed a burger before our visit.
While Mary put away groceries, I was sent on a dangerous and death-defying mission: to pick loquats from our neighbor’s tree. They are in Japan, so leaning over the fence was easy; I didn’t need my usual partner in crime! I needed a ladder and my trusty sidekick found one for me from the “Rickety Ladder Company”.
Mary brought the high ladder for me to use, and for some reason, asked if my insurance was paid up?
Why did she mention she was 911 on “speed dial”?
The tree was loaded, so getting the twelve cups was easy; getting up and down the ladder was difficult. It took twenty minutes to dig the splinters out of my hands!
We picked twelve cups.
Then, it took almost an hour to de-seed the loquats and remove the fibrous seed wrapper. I cut the loquats in half, and then, using my thumbnail, I developed a rhythm. The loquats were getting gutted quite easily, and seeds were flying all over the kitchen!
I am watching them like a hawk!
They went into the pan for a thirty-minute softening and juice-producing activity. Once the juices began to run, we added brown sugar and wheat flour to the mixture.
Loquats are being boiled down.
After a good mixing, it was ready for the 300-degree oven, where the brown sugar topping melted, and the loquats settled into a magnificent dessert.
While we both worked on dessert, Mary made two muffin pans of variously flavored “egg bites.” Who needs store-bought egg bites when you can have Dr. Mary’s Special Egg Bites?
Needless to say, we did some severe damage to the dessert.
Tomorrow, we will take some to Jeff as he loves the dessert.
We then watched TV as it was almost 9:00 pm. By 11:00 pm, Mary had crashed, and I was still awake watching the latest series; I remember turning off the TV at 12:45 am. Oh my! Then Scout and I had to go outside and get ready for bed.
