Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Colleen was up because she is still three hours ahead. Colleen wanted to go to Dunkin’ Donuts for her caffeine fix, so, being rather brilliant, I sent Colleen in The Silver Fox with instructions to get lattes for Mary and me. Now, the car will be warm when we go to the gym!Me: “How heavy is it?” Trainer: “Light?” The ball: built like a small refrigerator with anger issues.
We’re ready for the rack! Bring it on, Peak Performance—we can handle it (without crying).OK, maybe just a light misting when we hear our tendons pop like bubble wrap and the coaches casually yeet* a 100-pound medicine ball at us, instantly compressing our lungs into the size of a small green pea.
* “Yeet” is slang that means to throw something, often with wild, energetic abandon, forcefully.
After an hour of torture, we headed home hat in hand and defeat on our faces. We went to the office, where I found my email inbox was full, so I quickly went through the mailbox, keeping only the emails I wanted to read. Of course, when Thomas Sewell sends out a message, I read it twice because he is so smart. He defines the government under liberals quite well!
I love this man! He is very wise and a great American!!
Back home, we put Mary in her La-Z-Boy and said, “Sit, Stay!” She was expecting her masseuse at 11:00 am. Colleen and I went joyriding, doing necessary errands. We dropped off the wheelchair, thus making room in the car for cases of wine! Next on the assul list was Trader Joe’s, where we arranged for four cases of “Three-Buck’Chuck” to be placedin the trunk of the car along with several other necessities of life.
We had to make a “quick stop” at Ralph’s for our favorite variety of milk… and somehow that turned into a full-blown mission for milk plus “a few” additional goodies (you know, essentials… like snacks and other snacks).
Colleen and I had a great time shopping—then it got serious: we started planning how to sneak our treasures into the house without Mary noticing.
When we got home, we were acting like we’d robbed a bank:
• “You take the milk. I’ll distract her with normal conversation.”
• “If she hears the bags, abort. ABORT””
• “Worst case, we claim Ralph’s employees accidentally put the treats in our cart.”
All this over groceries… like we’re not two adults doing a snack heist in broad daylight.
But first, we needed to do an In-An-Out flyby! I practiced Mary’s order twice before I blurted it out to the young man taking orders: “Cheeseburger protein style, no onions, light spread, extra pickles, trim the lettuce, etc.” He ran out of room to write the order. Colleen and I did cheeseburgers and fries.
The poor order-taker did not know what hit him!
Upon our arrival, a strange man was leaving the house via the front door as we pulled into the garage. I ceased to worry when I remembered the masseuse was scheduled to depart around noon! We had a great lunch and made sure we sent photos of our In-N-Out tip to Mark!
Then the magic began. I stepped up to the stove, raised my baton, and began to cook to the tune of Disney’s Fantasia! I donned my Sorcerer’s hat, waved the baton, and ordered the broom to assist me!
Browning the 1″ cube of meat was my starting point, and then allowing the meat to simmer for an hour in Paul’s Secret Beef Stock while I prepared the veggies.
After an hour, the veggies were ready to go into the mix.
Carrots, small potatoes, and celery were ready!
One additional hour of simmering with the veggies, and we were ready for dinner. I decided toast was in order, plus some sliced peaches, topped off by a glass of our finest wine (Three-Buck-Check)! Dinner was served!
The meal was actually quite good! I think Colleen was amazed to see “pops” conducting the kitchen and coming up with something edible (other than a TV dinner from the microwave!)
We sat down, I lit the candles on the table, and lowered the lights (so they could NOT see what they were eating). A quick look in the kitchen revealed that my cooking skills were improving, as there was no mess. Then it dawned on me: Colleen was my wingman, performing cleanup behind me, as I do for Mary! We all had a good laugh and an excellent meal!
Cleanup was easy because before I knew what was happening, Collen had the table and kitchen spotless! Then came the first yawn! Colleen is still running on East Coast time, so it was 9:30 pm and her bedtime. Off she went down the hallway, candle and bell book in hand, to settle in for a long winter’s nap!
Mary and I went to the Living/TV Room and watched five episodes of “Suits” ending at Season 3, Episode 9. While Mary got ready for bed, I checked my email and found a picture of Vicky and Jim, who decided to take a walk on the beach by the Seal Beach pier. It was a sunny day, but they did not realize how cold the water was.
It was a sunny day in California, and you can almost see Catalina in the background!
I buzzed through my email and ran across a great video about the place where I grew up. I lived three long blocks from the Helms Bakery on Venice Blvd and walked by there every day while going to High School! This video brought back memories. It is 2 minutes and 20 seconds long. Enjoy!
Nostalgia hit me, and even today, sixty-five years later, I can smell the bakery in action when I see the images!
Good night,t all!
