Saturday, June 06, 2015

Summer arrives so suddenly

Last night, I heard a great loud noise, like a crash as if something had fallen. My immediate reaction was to call out, in a reprimanding tone of voice, "Sophie!" What, I wondered, was she doing now? She's been trying I think to develop a hot spot on her back--itching it on the underside of the coffee table or the front panel of my desk, scratching a lot. Benedryl has helped some but not a lot, so naturally I thought she'd found a new way to scratch her itch. Poor dog was sleeping peacefully until I yelled at her.
A few more great crashes of sound, and I realized it was fireworks from Concerts in the Garden, a beloved Fort Worth tradition. I always enjoy hearing the fireworks and wish the trees weren't so thick so that I could see them. Sophie isn't bothered, although I have had dogs who were terrified.
The debut of Concerts in the Garden marks the beginning of summer. This year it coincided with the last day of school. Jacob and I have both been ready for the day for three weeks or more. The atmosphere at the school was one of anticipation, letdown, less homework. We all slacked off.
Yesterday Jacob went home with a friend to spend the night, so I celebrated with a late nap. But I woke up feeling a little dismayed. The weekend and the whole long summer stretched endlessly before me. Now that's not exactly true. Last night I got involved in what I was doing and stayed up until midnight--late for me. This morning, after sleeping to a tardy 7:45, I have done computer work, filled out an information sheet on a forthcoming reprint (no small chore), and made a ham loaf. Tonight Jacob will be here, but I know he won't eat ham loaf, so I'll have to figure out what to feed him beside an ear of corn. He'll be tired, and he'll chill with his iPad.
The summer will be no less busy. I plan to focus on letting the world (and you) know about "The Gilded Cage," the historical novel set in Chicago's Golden Age that I plan to release this fall. And I have a draft of a third Blue Plate Novel to edit. Plus publicity to do for Texas is Chili Country, which will release in November. No doubt I'll be busy...and I can sleep late and take luxurious naps. No, summer will go by too quickly.
A few days ago I blogged about eating high on the hog. It came home to bite me yesterday when I really didn't feel myself--not sick, just lethargic. Taught me a lesson about that high hog.
Happy summer everyone!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

In regard to Jacob and his fussy palate, have you ever thought about making a batch of runzas, freezing then, then pulling one out of the freezer and microwaving it when the occasion arises? They are especially good when dipped in catsup. Years ago, my church was getting ready to have a booth at the town fair. For years, they had a moderate success with having ham sandwiches, etc. and my wife and I thought runzas would be a great alternative or addition. The Council of Ministries (I was chair) were skeptical but finally decided to let us make a batch and try to sell them. At first, people would frown and buy ham sandwiches then I talked one of the shop teachers at the local high school into trying one of them. He ended up eating four of them then walked around the fair raving about them. We sold out the first batch within two hours and my wife and two other ladies went to our house and made up another batch. That day, they had to make three trips to the house as we had a "run" on them at the booth. The upshot was that a lot of ham was taken home by parishioners and our church ended up with a high record of sales. The second day, we sold even more and had people line up to buy them. Very easy to make, too. This was in Iowa. In Nebraska, there is a chain of "quick food" places that sell them.

judyalter said...

Randy, I never heard of runzas, had to look up the recipe. Sounds good, and I may try. I recently recovered the recipe for Natchitoches meat pies and am anxious to try that too. Even if Jacob doesn't like them, I will.
And speaking of cabbage dishes, I came across a recipe for meat loaf with cabbage in it and a cabbage topping. I'd like to try it, but my son-in-law doesn't like cabbage and I can't eat a whole one. Besides, it sounds like a winter dish. Call Kalpudding. Are you still on that restricted diet?