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Twosday Is Here Again, Week Two Of Mary’s Retirement!

Often when you are at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.

Hard to believe, my parents got their marriage license 94 years ago this July!

It is amazing what Colleen can find in her family research!

On the freeway, bright and early at 6:30 AM so I could join Mary for coffee before her Zoom Meeting at 7:00 AM.  The freeway had a lot of cars on it even this early.  Don’t people ever sleep? Upon arrival, my coffee was available, and Mary had just sat down at the computer to Zoom!

She is the Sargeant-Of-Arms for the Zoom meeting (she controls the time allowed for the speakers)

After Zooming, we had to go drop of Mary’s truck at the local auto maintenance store.  It needed standard stuff like new brakes.  Mary had the brakes redone three weeks ago, not that she drives fast or anything.

When I drive with Miss Mary, I try and stay brave!

We decided to try Rockwell’s in Villa Park for breakfast at Mary’s suggestion on our way home.

A new favorite!

An excellent suggestion as their breakfast was terrific.  Mary dined healthily while yours truly did biscuits and gravy with two rooster eggs!

Chicken and veggies, a perfect breakfast!

My southern roots clicked in. I could not finish it all, so they will still be there tomorrow morning.

Yummy yummy!

We were two blocks from our favorite person, so we brought her breakfast also.  Well, it was an interesting breakfast, a cinnamon roll and a case of wine!  Jan had a good laugh at our delivery!

Always with a smile!

Upon arriving at home, Scout (the Wonder Dog) said, “Barf Bark, Bow Wow, Woof Bark Art!” which, when translated, means, “Take me for a walk or I will bite you!!”  I speak fluent Scout these days!

As we walked, the neighborhood dog, Yukon, watched us from his garage.

We are lucky; he likes Scout, Miss Mary, and me. He is about 120 pounds of very strong doggie!

We returned to Mary’s to go to work.  She headed for the office, and I headed to the kitchen.  But first, we did some decorating on her Valentine’s Tree.  Mary keeps her Christmas tree up all year long and decorates it for the holidays.  I did not do a Christmas Tree this year, but I remembered I had a slew of “heart decorations” that I wanted to share with Miss Mary.  We put them on her tree this morning.

We lost count!

I have collected these for thirty years. It was nice to see them out and about!

Valentine’s Day is coming and my mind, or what’s left of it, wanders. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? But wait, there is more… What did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus? Can I hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand?

I thought about ordering out for dinner; then I remembered what happened the last time I did that. I ordered 2000 lbs. of Chinese soup. It was Won Ton.

To the kitchen, I was ordered with whips and chains.  I sliced, diced, cut, squished, measured, and one hundred other things.  The first half of the meal was in the pot by 12:40 AM. So at 5:40 PM, I will add noodles, ricotta cheese, spinach, and eye or neut plus vat wings, and all should be well!  To figure out how to best chop up the butternut squash, I turned to Alexa and YouTube, sure made it easy!  Then I had a thought, always a dangerous thing. Why do the French eat snails? They don’t like fast food!

Four hours in the slow cooker, and we will have a great dinner!

While I was slaving away in the kitchen, working my little fingers to the bone, suffering from the broken knee and developing dish-pan hands, Mary sat in the air-conditioned office (in her Snow White costume), sipping cranberry juice and reading the mail while whistling her rendition of the tune “High Ho.”

The phrase “Heigh-Ho” was first recorded in 1953 and is defined as an expression of “yawning, sighing, languor, weariness, disappointment” and is sung daily by a group of seven dwarfs as they come home from (and go to) work in a mine with diamonds and rubies, in Walt Disney’s first feature film.

Mary’s version is similar but involves a single poor old man, well into his seventies, being forced to do seven chores around the house while going from room to room.  The poor guy (me) was so tired and dehydrated that my whistler didn’t even work; I had to resort to using Mary’s Christmas present to make the necessary sounds (If you do not know, do NOT ask!)

Having five arms is sometimes a plus!

The soup turned out amazing!  I had a large bowl, and Mary had two small cups before we began watching TV.  We have plenty remaining, and it went into the freezer and will feed us a few more days.  Scout, the Wonder Dog, was not helping this evening; he fell asleep on his new bed.

Sawing logs!

Tummy full, time to rest and have one more small cup of soup!  Not so fast; a massage is required first.  We watched a Chuck Norris movie called “Top Dog,” and we laughed all the way through it.

Post message soup and time to rest.

Since we are both dog lovers, we found the movie quite entertaining. MAry darned near fell off the massage table she was laughing so hard!

By the end of the movie, the soup was ready to be put into the freezer, and we were full! I asked Mary if I was a good cook, and she said, “Well, dear, after dinner, I don’t brush my teeth, I count them.”  I should know about my cooking by now. Every time I go near the stove, Scout starts to howl!

There was a lot of soup this evening!

Scout, The Wonder Dog, also liked the movie and jumped up on the couch and watched it with us.

Scout should have been a movie star!!

It was late, and I still have a 25-minute drive home, so into The Silver Fox and start the countdown. I was home by 10:30 PM.

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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2 Responses to Twosday Is Here Again, Week Two Of Mary’s Retirement!

  1. iris feltenberg says:

    Thank you. Thank you. So humerous as usual. Sounds like your life with Mary is humming along.The Elkhorn says there is a Valentine dance in February. Hope it comes true and most of us can be there. Wil and I are cozy and happy but of course confined.

  2. neal and nita says:

    thanks, always good to know what our friends are doing. When you’re on your final count down, it’s nice to hear what others are up to. Who knows when we’ll be seeing everyone again.

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