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Day #7; Going Out And About!

My dermatologist was studying new remedies for itching, but his lab burnt down…Now he has to start from scratch.

Attempt #2 was underway at 7:00 AM; off to see the dermatologist for a 7:15 AM appointment.  We made it.  Well, on the way home at 8:00 AM, we decided to do our chores.

Stop #1 was the gas station; we were running low.  Stop #2 was the market where we got supplies for the first John Wayne receipt, Chicken and Dumplings.  Stop #3 was the hair parlor, yet for me.  My curls were getting a little much.  I asked Mary, “Why is Satan’s barber always nervous?  Because last time he messed up, there was hell toupee.”

Now it was approaching lunchtime, so we decided a trip to Sherman Gardens was in order.  We took the coast route and saw about fifty large ships anchored out in the open water because the Port Of Long Beach and San Pedro was swamped!

Arriving at Sherman Gardens, we walked around for almost an hour. I did remind MAry of the Garden Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it; if it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

Mary wore the fur; she was NOT going to cold today!

They had a class going on, and we got the schedule for upcoming activities.  We would enjoy taking a class together.  The students had just departed, and we took a look at what they were up to; impressive!

At the end of the class!

Let us try a selfie, so here it is below.  That is Miss Mary and her pet Sharpee.Wrinkles: Something other people have… I have character lines.  Actually, I’ve only got one wrinkle, and I am generally sitting on it.

Just Little Old Us.

We walked the entire garden and enjoyed seeing the winter flowers; we especially enjoyed the hothouses where it was nice and warm.  We found out where they put the turtles in the wintertime.

The turtles were active!

We had a glass of vino and shared some French onion soup before leaving, but I did have to coax her out of the throne room.

I was in trouble as I had forgotten the Royal Scepter.

We headed for home, making a quick stop at Ralphs Market.  Tonight we are doing our first John Wayne recipe. “Jake’s Chicken and Dumplings.”

The first thing to do was to de-bone the chicken,  Mary sat right down, and bones began to fly off that poor chicken.

“Paul, can I throw the bones over my shoulder for good luck?”

I worked and prepped the fixin’s and Mary put it all together.  Actually, it was fun, and everything came together perfectly.

She should be wearing her witch’s hat!

We did our usual artichoke first. After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual “food” out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps.

Neither of us had ever made dumplings, so we were not sure how it would turn out; it was amazing!

Good groceries!

Attempting to show me as a first-class “man of the world,” I went to open a bottle of wine.  I struggled, said naughty things under my breath, changed opening devoices twice, and finally discovered I was using a corkscrew to open a screw-top cap, oopie!

Spotting the results of my attempt to be worldly, Mary nearly fell off the chair laughing!

We watched Two And A Half Men before crashing at 8:00 PM.  OMG, 8:00 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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