Robin stayed over last night, and by the time I wandered into the family room at 6:30 a.m., she was already there—bright-eyed, alert, and apparently ready to start solving the world’s problems before my first sip of coffee.
We shared a cup of coffee and discussed the latest circus acts happening at Boeing. I honestly didn’t think things could get any stranger after I retired, but Boeing looked at that challenge and said, “Hold my wrench.”
Robin headed out around 9:00 a.m. after we talked to Colleen for a while. The Colleen phone call is one of the highlights of our day—right up there with coffee, naps, and discovering we still have cookies in the house.
Then Mary and I got down to business. Mary’s daughter is coming for dinner on her way to Newport Beach to spend time with friends, which of course means the house must look like a magazine photo shoot, the food must be perfect, and Mary and I must work like unpaid seasonal employees at a five-star resort. We worked our tushies off getting everything ready. If there were Olympic medals for last-minute tidying, we’d be on the podium.
We also did some early picking in the garden and sent Robin home with two bags of veggies, because nothing says “thanks for visiting” like making someone leave with produce homework.
The tomatoes are doing well, and we just planted seven more tomato plants where the corn used to be. Apparently, the garden has decided it’s going full Italian restaurant this year.
We have given away boxes and bags of tomatoes everywhere we go!
We have several Mortgage Lifter tomato plants which are large, heirloom beefsteak tomatos known for its big size, meaty texture, and rich, sweet flavor.
It’s famous for producing huge pinkish-red tomatoes, often around 1–2 pounds each, and sometimes even larger. They’re great for:
• Slicing for sandwiches
• Burgers
• Caprese-style plates
• Fresh eating
• Tomato salads
The name comes from a man often credited with popularizing it, M.C. “Radiator Charlie” Byles of West Virginia, who supposedly sold the plants in the 1930s and used the proceeds to pay off his mortgage—hence “Mortgage Lifter.”
It’s an indeterminate tomato, meaning the plant keeps growing and producing until frost, so it usually needs strong staking or caging.
I see more tomato pie in the near future.
Robin’s husband Bob and I traded AI images all morning long. Bob is quite a talented photographer in his own right, and with AI, he is working magic!
Move over, Bonnie and Clyde, there are new bosses in town!
After working all morning, I felt like a hard-working cowboy who needed a drink. So, I dressed up and came to visit the Miss Kitty Côté who ranthe Short Branch Saloon. I ordered a bottle of the finest Sass-Pa-Rilla!
Sarsaparilla is a sweet, old-time soft drink originally flavored with the root of the sarsaparilla plant. It’s similar to root beer, often with a slightly herbal, vanilla-like, or licorice-like taste.
Would you like a Sass-Pa-Rilla little girl?
Becky arrived right on time, which was perfect because we had almost everything ready for a lovely dinner at home—and by “almost,” I mean we were only mildly panicking.
The menu featured several of Becky’s favorites, all made gluten-free, because nothing says “celebration” like carefully interrogating every ingredient. We started with a small tomato salad, followed by a baked potato and Mary’s famous spinach-cottage cheese delight—a dish so fancy it sounds like it should have its own theme music. Mary, as usual, proved she is quite an accomplished chef, and the rest of us proved we are quite accomplished eaters.
After dinner, we exchanged cards with Becky and got to open some birthday cards and presents a little early, which is always the best kind of early. I received a wonderful Father’s Day card with a very nice note inside—just sentimental enough to make me smile, but thankfully not enough to make me cry into the baked potato.
Laugh and giggle time.
The greeting card industry did well tonight.
In the U.S., greeting card companies generate roughly $6–8 billion per year in retail sales of physical greeting cards, depending on which categories are included.
A few useful benchmarks:
• Annual U.S. greeting card sales: about $6–8 billion
• Number of cards sold each year: roughly 5–6.5 billion cards
• Average card price: often around $4–6, with premium cards higher
• Largest card-buying occasions: birthdays, Christmas/holiday, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, sympathy, weddings, and graduations
• Major companies: Hallmark, American Greetings, Papyrus-style premium brands, plus many independent and online card companies
The industry has been under pressure from texting, social media, and e-cards. However, physical cards remain a multi-billion-dollar business in the U.S., especially for birthdays, holidays, sympathy, and emotionally important occasions.
Happy Birthday, Becky!
The phrase pièce de résistance (pronounced pee-ES-duh-ruh-ZEE-stahn(t)s) is a French loan expression used to describe the most outstanding, important, or impressive feature of an event, collection, or meal. Lime Jello cake!
Another smashing success brought to you from the kitchen of Chef Côté!
After dinner, we again walked the garden and bagged some goodies for Becky to take to her friends this weekend. We added a mess of table grapes from the vineyard.
It was a wonderful time for a photo-op!
Too bad they were all dressed up, I was going to put them to work!
It was getting to be 8:00 pm, and Becky had to head for Newport to stay with an old friend, so we departed the garden and headed to the car. She was off and running and we returned to the empty nest. MAry scurried off to get her jammies while the cleanup crew (me) did the heavy lifting. The dishwasher is full, the food is put away, and the last wine glass was carefully refilled so we could watch TV.
See you again soon!
Mary and I watched some TV before calling it a day!.
