Dodging Showers, Staying Cool, Eating Well

May 27, 2010
Albertville, AL

It's been another quiet week, as we're nearing the end of our stay here in Alabama. The weather's been alternately hot and sticky or threatening. We've tackled several simple projects but managed to get a lot of relaxation in as well.

After last Friday's graduation, Saturday was "party day". Erik had a group of friends over in the afternoon to complement the family on hand, mass quantities of burgers, hot dogs, and cake were consumed, and a good time was had by all. We played some push-pull rummy on Saturday night, but concluded that it's not a "drinking game" when you have eight people at the table. By Sunday, Alyson and Henry were headed back to Hattiesburg, Annette's sisters were headed back to Charlotte and Orlando, and things became very quiet. There's nothing like a house full of people to keep things hopping!

All week, it's been warmer and more humid (although nothing like the heat wave they're apparently having in the Northeast!) all week. In this part of the country, that's a recipe for pop-up thunderstorms and, the more they "pop", the more severe they can be. We haven't had any really severe storms roll through here (like with damaging hail), although we've had showers just about every day and some thunderstorms have passed by within several miles.

All in all, it's been a week for mostly "inside projects". I've paid bills, puttered around with the widgets on the Blog, played around with a couple of things on the coach (generally in the morning before it gets too hot), finished washing the outside of the coach, signed up to have my remains donated to medical science when I kick the bucket, updated my iPod - just lots of "stuff" that fills up the days. The pups went for grooming and Geri went to the Salon so they're all looking pretty. Geri and Annette went outlet shopping, so I had some cabinet rearranging to do. Rick and I played a few hands of cribbage and we spent too much time watching reality TV, second-guessing the scoring (DWTS, Idol).

We've eaten pretty well this week, working our way through the leftovers from last week and Erik's party mostly at lunch. We made a plan for the week on Sunday and Rick did the shopping. Put it on the list and it magically appears in the pantry; I could get used to that! I made a pot of sauce (aka "gravy") and we had pasta on Sunday. Geri made a great meatloaf on Monday, and we finished off the lobster ravioli and mushroom ravioli that we had in the freezer (Rick passing since he doesn't like either). Yesterday, Rick made "4-Way Skyline Chili", an Ohio favorite (Annette's originally from Ohio) that we'd never had before, serving the chili over pasta with cheese and onions on top (hence "4-way").

Tuesday was Rick and Annette's 25th anniversary (Congratulations for "25 on the 25th"!), but we decided to have a celebration dinner tonight since neither of them has to work tomorrow. We'll be making Chateaubriand with pan-roasted baby potatoes, haricots verts, and a Béarnaise sauce. With a couple of "better than everyday" wines and a "sweetie" dessert wine to go with Geri's pear parfait, I'm starting to get hungry already. Guess I'd better get started with the main course!