Rock To Wind A String Around

It’s been so long since I’ve offered a post of any merit, I thought I’d post a laundry list of current happenings and we can pretend that you gleaned all of this information from several thoughtful, witty posts.

A.  fencing camp:  Elliott finished his two weeks of fencing camp with a strong measure of enthusiasm.  We were warned that 3 weeks of 9-5 fencing camp would be too much for the lad, so we opted for two, but Elliott had energy to spare at the end of the day and daily reports suggested that he worked hard–so I should start saving my pennies now to fund the third week next year.  At the end of week 1 we received the unhappy news that Astrid Meklit’s main squeeze aka Elliott’s fencing coach would be leaving the gym for a new job in Texas.  We are happy for him, but sad for us–Sergey is an amazing coach–he knew exactly what Elliott needed to push him without frustrating him.  The gym is closed for classes until labor day (although private lessons now with Sasha will continue)–I may take up a foreign language or a new hobby in all of the extra time I will have each week.

Oh wait, instead I will attend to my volunteer duties!  Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year) is just two months away (celebration on September 18th here in Cowtown)–lots to do for that and The Dead of Winter Gala is being planned in earnest.  So many fabulous items are rolling in for the silent auction, now the team needs to work their magic and help me find sponsors and libation donations.

In addition to these delightful events, I am also co-planning 2! baby showers for the month of August both to be held here at Mary Poppins.  MP’s spacious living area makes her a popular gal at parties.  I tag along for the ride–Mary doesn’t seem to mind.

With fencing camp is over and my mom  still visiting, we’ve opted to make this last week together ‘Vacation Week.”  Fencing camp ended Saturday at noon and Elliott was immediately whisked to a 3D showing of ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ at the Drexel, and then off to the splash pad/playground with the rest of us to kick off the week.

Sunday was filled with all of the best sorts of 4th of July activities:  a parade, water ice, a cookout with friends, and fireworks hours after bedtime. 

That should be enough joy for anyone, but wait!  there’s more…

Monday was my dad’s birthday.  I wisely planned a day-long outing to The Wilds which proved an excellent distraction.  It really is beautiful there and we got several terrific photos (as well as loads of bad ones) of animals out in the open. 

By the end of the day we were very hot, and tired and blissfully distracted.  My mom and I agreed that my dad’s birthday, while sad, was much easier than Father’s Day.

On Tuesday we hopped over to Chuck E Cheese (AM wants you to know that she loved it as much as she thought she would) and then my mom and Elliott went to the movies while the little gal took a much-needed nap.  Which is good, because today we toddled off to Holmes County to see all things Amish, which was fun, and involved horses and buggies but there was no nap to be seen and we didn’t make it home until almost 9.

Tomorrow’s vacation week activity will be much lower key.  Certain girls will nap.  Certain mothers (mine) will probably join certain girls in this activity.

Rounding out the rest of the affairs:  Albert was scheduled to work in town this week, but is in, yep, you guessed it, 103 degree DC instead.  We are hosting an Art Party on Saturday  to gather submissions for EOR’s art contest. And, there is BIG news, but you’ll need to tune in tomorrow to find out all about it.

And that’s the state of the state…

3 in a row, it’s like a Christmas miracle or something…

So, my mom has been steadily replacing furniture since my dad died on the 8th.  She bought an entertainment center on the day she made funeral arrangements and saw chairs  she liked while she was there, so the day after I arrived, we went out to buy those too, and we added the end tables she liked as well.  A couch and additional end tables soon followed (and there is talk of a new area rug and new lampshades).  This is all shopping she and my dad have been talking about, but the time is NOW, which is good.   Couch shopping is apparently suggested for the bereaved and really, anything that removes my dad’s empty chair from the living room is an excellent idea.  As a disabled person, my dad spent a great deal of time in his recliner and it is so. incredibly. empty. right now.

Anyway, I’ve distracted myself from the recipe portion of today’s entertainment.  The current end tables all sport wide drawers or other storage, the new tables do not, so we’ve been working to find new storage space.  My dad inherited his mother’s secretary after she died in1985.  It is a beautiful piece of furniture, but it’s been more or less a shrine–my parent’s have added a bit to the things it holds, but nothing was removed.  Tonight I suggested we sort Nellie’s things, box the remainder and use the secretary as replacement storage.  We’re still negotiating this, but in the meantime have begun to declutter the secretary’s drawers.  My mother often claims that I am a good deal like Nellie (ok, maybe she complains).  We are both fairly meticulous, we like to iron, and apparently, we shared a mutual love of office supplies and kitschy cookbooks.  How ducky of us both!  The recipe I share is from a book called  “Unusual Old World and American recipes.”  It was produced by Nordic Ware, you know, the pots and pans company?

Anyway, this is a gem, and so worth sharing.  I present to you,  “Sausage Cake!”

• 1 pound pork sausage
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup cold, strong, brewed coffee
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Tell me that doesn’t sound tasty and direct from the Old World?

Bon Apetit!

I’ll be MIA for a few more days it seems.  My dad died while Albert and I were in Portland for the EOR event.  We couldn’t make arrangements to leave yesterday so we attended to our duties at the amazing Lights of Hope event (and by the end of the evening I was feeling considerably more hopeful…such generous people–it was an amazing evening) and flew standby this morning so that we could come home to collect the kids. We’ll start the drive to Florida tomorrow, as soon as we can track down  socks and bathing suits, and return library books and make arrangements for the lawn in our absence.
Too sad to chat much more. I’ll check in after the drive, I think.

jumping into the Subaru for our 8 hour journey of joy back to Cowtown.  I hate being out of touch for the day, but I’m sure when I emerge from this cross-country cocoon there will be all sorts of referral news to delight me.

Fingers crossed, applesauce!

Glad I didn’t plan to blog everyday when I made my resolutions.  Seriously, between my stupid arm and January ennui, I can’t seem to find much to blog about these days.  There are some potentially big changes on the wind, but for now, we trudge on.  I’m feeling Albert’s absence more acutely than I normally do.  It happens every time he’s been home for an extended period.  Rather than being pleased with our lovely 2 weeks together, I linger over how much we miss by being apart each week.  A small part of my brain is pleased that after 17 years of lurve we like each other so much, but it was small comfort when he left at 6am.

A few updates:

Elliott’s birthday and the party 2 days later were both terrific.  We managed to enthrall 10 rowdy kids with extended rounds of ‘pass the present’  ‘freeze dance’ and ‘jump the river’ (which was the favorite by far). They didn’t really care about prizes, pizza, or birthday cake if we could just fit in “one more jumping game, please!”

Fencing continues to chip away at our available hours–Elliott practices 2x a week (for 2 ish hours each time) and we throw in a private lesson every 2 weeks.  Fencing both delights and motivates.  Much schoolwork is completed before I am willing to drive to fencing–I hope the trend continues.

The small girl is firm in her resolve not to remove her seatbelt, although more than 2 months after this all started, there are occasional lapses.  A driving trip to Florida is scheduled for February.  I’d be lying if I said this causes no anxiety.

The small girl has many crushes these days.  She loves Sergey (Elliott’s fencing coach) best, but she also adores my physical therapist.  Today, she demonstrated all sorts of physical skills (either mimicking me, or improving upon my task by jumping or doing pushups–she loves those) all the while yelling, “Look at me Eric, I am exercising too–I’m building my core.” Because you know, between pt for me, and fencing workouts, there is a great deal of chat about core building around these parts.

Tomorrow kicks off the start of the Enkutatash planning season.  The meeting is here over dinner.  There is always plenty to do, but it’s so much fun with the tribe.  It is the bright spot this week.

Still thinking about project 365, but I’d keep it here, rather than start a second blog. Hmmm…

Another quiet day in ManateeLand–just the way I like it.  Lots of hanging out, playing games, leisurely breakfast with a thorough discussion of the Plimoth Colony and Mayflower Compact, and then a dinner out with GiGi and Other Paul.   Watching Astrid Meklit’s crush on my uncle, is a fun trip back to yesterday.  Paul is my mother’s younger brother.  Perpetually single, witty and quick, he oozes charisma.  My cousin Tara and I both adored him when we were little.  He was the uncle who didn’t care for children particularly, but was often entertained by and entertaining for us when we visited my grandmother.I remember once when Tara was 2, maybe three, so I was a year older,we were at my grandparents’ house and Tara ate some dog food out of the bowl.  Horrified by all that I knew to be very wrong, I turned to Uncle Paul to  tell him of Tara’s misdeed.  Instead of being properly disgusted and angry about this, Paul reached in to the bowl to eat a few pieces instead.  So yeah, he’s that kind of uncle, and we loved him all the more for it.  Astrid M has the same sort of devotion for Other Paul that Tara and I did, although in this case, the adoration seems to be a two way street.  The minute he walked in tonight, she forgot all about GiGi, was annoyed by my grooming attempts and couldn’t wait to get into the car to sit with him!

At dinner, I was sent downstream so that AM could sit between daddy and OP.  I was so sad delighted to eat my meal with the grownups for company–no prattle, no food cutting, no bib-tying–I could get used to this.  As happy as I am to live in our corner of not Florida (where 4 seasons abound and November isn’t hot), it would be awfully nice to live closer to family–I have a feeling AM would like some more Other Paul time.  I know I always did.

but it is the day we finally celebrated upon. Almost 3 weeks after the official day, it was time to have a shindig.

There were:  balloons, and good friends

We had:  pumpkin cheesecake and Ethiopian food, including mama-made tibs

Astrid Meklit enjoyed:  loads of presents  and dancing, dancing, dancing

We are:  lucky enough to share our lovely girl with so many people

It was a wonderful 3 yr old party–the perfect mix of friends, food and music.  We can’t wait to do it all again….next year!

Tomorrow, entirely too B&E, Elliott and I will set up shop at Macy’s #1.  We’ll be selling Shop for a Cause coupons from 9-11 in Easton, and then, after a quick run home to drop off A LOT of cash (I hope, I hope) and to check on Pops and the girl, I’ll pop over to Macy’s #2 (Polaris) to hang out with this lovely lady from 1:15 to 4:15.  It’s so awesome to have local volunteers.  Emily definitely made  selling at two stores possible.  Can’t wait to share the total with you–I have big hopes!

We leave for Florida in three days, and I have so much left to do.  The weekend flew by in a blur of lawn-mowing, weeding, and oh yeah, Season 1 of Breaking Bad.  We also squeezed in dinner with the ethiohio group at Abyssinia, a trip to the farmer’s market, blood donation for both of us, an outdoor concert, and water ice with Amy & Joel.   I see a lot of laundry and frantic packing over the next 2 days and then we’re off to rendez-vous with Albert in Atlanta on Thursday night.   My life simply drips romance, no?

Elliott arrives at my parents’ house on Wednesday, after a few days of cousin fun and Busch Gardens.  We’ll arrive to surprise him on Friday afternoon,  and then terrific Pops will pick him up on Sunday or Monday, in time to escape the dreaded garage cleaning.  He and Pops set sail on their long voyage after that.   They tried to go earlier, but bad weather and a faulty insect management program (Elliott is very allergic to mosquito bites, the central AC can’t run on the generator so the hatches were open and Elliott was bitten to ribbons) caused the delay.  They’ve installed a smaller AC unit for the trip and the weather has cleared, so they’re eager to get the trip started.

As soon as I figure out how to use that new-fangled contraption, the scanner, I’ll deliver additional red shirt photos.  I thought I missed the boy before, but nothing makes the heart ache as much as a walk through 10 years of pictures–my boy, he is so very, very big.  And so very, very far away.  As much as I hate packing and trip preparation, I can’t wait until Friday.

4 weeks gluten free.  I’m reluctant to admit it, but I feel much better.   This gluten free state wll probably become permanent, which is mostly fine, unless it’s one of those days when I really, really want a Snyder’s hard pretzel.  Popcorn with curry powder is a delicious but not always suitable substitute.  Eating while migraine-free does make popcorn seem more palatable though.    I’m also enjoying the search for new and exciting gluten free dishes–there are dozens of beautiful gluten free blogs out there–several are vegetarian friendly, so it’s fun to peruse.  As a side benefit, Astrid Meklit, always a lover of a varied and healthful diet, is really enjoying the number of meals we share, and she’’s trying all sorts of new dishes too.  Saturday night’s sopes with black bean salsa fresca, and the accompanying grilled arugula salad were inhaled by all three of us.  It was all so delicious, I wouldn’t hesitate to serve the same meal to guests, especially if I followed up with the pomegranate lime semi fredo I made last week for Father’s Day.   Maybe I’ll bring our bag of masa harina on the road, and make sopes  in Florida?

Boy sighting soon!  Boy pictured in red shirt, sooner.

Sorry I’ve been away for so long.  Who knew that all of this thawing and vacationing would leave me with so little time for blogging?

Some bullet points about the last week:

*  Hanging out with cousins in Atlanta is super-fun, especially when there is a piano to play and a Barbie car to sit in  right in the living room.

* Handball is a fabulous sport played by fabulous athletes (why yes, he is a cousin!)

*  The trip from Cowtown to Florida is much too long, but listening to Jim Dale read Harry Potter makes it easier.

*  It’s fun to swim in December–the St Augustine cousins have a pool.  Tuesday was a beautiful day for a dip.

* A London New Year’s Eve party in Florida is a festive way to ring in the New Year with lots of tots.  A 7pm ball drop, British food (not to worry, we brought curry) and fireworks over the ocean make magic for all.   Th kids had a great time and so did we, celebrating with the friends of Albert’s brother and sister-in-law.  A private countdown at midnight was fun too…

*  Days of game-playing, playground trips, puzzles and movies are awfully pleasant.  Watching my daughter fall head over heels in love with my dad is more so.

* A week of ripstik enjoyment leads to mastery–the boy is a whiz.

* A trip to a certain Orlando theme park is a great birthday present for almost double-digit man–tomorrow is the big day–pictures will follow.

*  Florida really is a lovely place in winter.