Monday, May 03, 2010

Porch weather,old friends, and good food

This is the new "bistro set" I purchased today for my front porch--at guess where? My local Albertson's  grocery store. They even delivered it for free. Gives me more table space and replaces two old scarred faded green plastic Aidirondack chairs. I think it's time to move beyond the green plastic I've had for years. John is going to put the old chairs down by a stock tank under a grove of  trees on his ranch--there's already a worn picnic table there, and it's a quiet, wonderful place to sit. This week it's supposed to hit 90--ouch! I hope that doesn't mean and early and hot summer. But Elizabeth and I are thinking we might hold our first Writing from Life class on the fronbt porch this Thursday.
I had lunch with a friend I talk to fairly frequently on the phone but don't often see today. We were supposed to take Charles ( he was Charles landlord before nursing care came into the picture) for barbecue, but Charles has taken yet another fall. This time he was in his wheelchair and apparently couldn't stop it before he got to some stairs. A friend caught him and avoided total catastrophe, but it was still a scary experience. I went to see Charles tonight, and he was obviously not feeling well. After a few minutes, he "dismissed" me. But back to Bill--our families have been friends since our kids,, now in their 30s and 40s, were infants. We used to be neighbors, and they remain among the people I consider my permanent and longtime friends. Sharon was at school--she's chair of drama at the University of North Texas--but Bill and I had a good visit and a good lunch at Carshon's.
And tonight--here I go on food again--I fixed myself a wonderful dinner. I'm not someone who orders French dip sandwiches often (if at all) but the recipe for the roast I cooked this weekend had a French dip recipe for using leftovers. I had found something called sandwich rounds by Nature's Own and bought some--whole wheat of course. Minimal bread, which I like, because I'm not addicted to bread as so many people are--unless it's slathered in butter and I've learned to avoid that. Anyway I toasted both pieces, piled the bottom one with thin slices of roast beef (not as much as the recipe suggested), sauteed onions, and a slice of provolone. Broiled it and then put the top on. The recipe  recommended dipping in au jus and I thought, "Oh, I just won't bother with that!" But I had the au jus and I dipped, and it made the sandwich. Really really good.
I'mn reading a mystery in which the method of murder is the one I had thought of using in my current work-on-progress--that's a joke. It hasn't been in progress for quite a while. But I'm going to do some research on digitalis/foxglove poisoning--and now I'm going to finish reading the mystery. If I didn't read so much, I might write more! But then, I'm happy and as Bill said today there are a lot worse things than being a "swinger of birches."

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