An Almost Perfect Day

Not too long ago, I was a guest on a blog where one of the questions asked me to describe my perfect day. I did, and today was almost that perfect day. It was cloudy but no rain, warm but not oppressive--the kind of day that makes me content to stay in. And that's what I did--fiddled with email, Facebook, etc., and then did my yoga. Completed a questionnaire for yet another guest blog, and began reading a book for review. Had an early lunch--half a BLT that was delicious. My mom taught me to be generous with mayonnaise and to pepper the tomato--no salt because the bacon is salty. It was so good I wished I'd made a whole sandwich, but I'm trying to watch my caloric intake.
An early and nice nap, and then I picked up Jacob. The only homework he had was to practice his spelling--not his best day but I hold out hope that tomorrow will be better.
This evening, I had supper with neighbors at the Old Neighborhood Grill. I always look forward to Tuesday night because the neighbors gather and it's meatloaf night. I meant to eat half the meatloaf and bring the other half home for a sandwich, but I ate the whole thing and bought a separate plain slice to bring home. Two sandwiches!
My day was marred by the hospitalization of my oldest son. He went in for a diagnostic procedure this morning and ended up with complications of that and his chronic disease that will probably keep him in the hospital for three days. He is not a happy camper, but he finally knows to take care of his health and follow doctor's orders--I think it took the first forty years of his life for him to learn that. Naturally I'm worried, and so are his siblings, but I'm assured he's in good hands--Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston--and his wife sounds upbeat, saying he's getting the best of care. This afternoon Jordan and I had worry hour instead of happy hour but we had some wine and kind of mulled things over. She said she wished we could go to Houston, an idea my brother nixed saying, "What would you do?" My reply, "Worry there instead of here." He said, "You got it, and you'd be more work for Lisa." So I'm at home worrying.
Otherwise though it was my perfect day--at home working and doing my yoga, early lunch, nap, afternoon with Jacob, and dinner out with friends. Who could ask for a better life?

Reading galleys and switching gears

Yesterday I determined to devote myself to finishing the galleys I started reading over the rather tumultous weekend. I cleared the desk of everything else, after doing homework with Jacob. He spent the rest of the afternoon like a lamb watching TV. So after I fed us--salads for me and a hot dog for him--I settled down to work, thinking he'd stay in front of the TV till his father came. No such luck.
He came cheerily into the office, told me to close what I was doing and go to ninjago.com (I checked later and it is a real site) because they were going to send him a package. As an afterthought, he added that they would be sending me diamond earrings with ninjas hanging from them--just my style! I explained I had to finish what I was doing. "Well, when you're finished." I explained he'd be home asleep when I finished, and he asked, "And you won't be asleep?" He chattered and chattered, and when I gently asked if he didn't want to go to the playroom and watch TV, he said, "No, I want  you to have company." Thank you, sweet Jacob. We compromised. He watched the Disney channel in my office, and I tuned it out.
Finished reading the galleys, compiled my corrections, and sent them off. About noon they came back. I had understood that the editor would correct in Word and the executive editor would create a new pdf. Besides, I couldn't tell page numbers on the pdf. I framed my corrections so that using the find button would be easy--I thought. No, they need corrections by page and line. I whined, I blamed, I behaved badly (okay, it's been a bad week or last week was bad ending with my family's weekend trauma.) I called Melinda at TCU Press to ask how to tell page numbers (after embarrasing myself with my editors) and before I even got the question out I saw the page numbers across the top. Worked out a system to translate the corrections I'd found so I didn't have to read the whole galley over--was actually pretty proud of myself about that. I'd use Word to search for context, and then find the passage in the pdf. By now I know the manuscript by heart. After a solid afternoon of work, with time out for Jacob and the dogs and a visit with Jacob's mother, I finished and have sent the new version off with great relief.
Now to start over with the manuscript I was revising before all this happened. I had gone through five chapters, but I've lost the thread. It is not part of the Kelly O'Connell series but a possible first entry in a new series--or a stand-alone. So I have to leave one fictional world and immerse myself in another. Not sure I'll tackle that tonight. Tomorrow looked like a long empty day where I could do that--until I speak to a book group in the evening--but a call from the audiology office reminded me of a nine o'clock appointment. Life gets in the way a lot. Thursday will be grocery shopping and Friday, haircut and a quick stop at Central Market to prepare for the arrival of part of my family this weekend. Trouble is I don't know which part and how many and what to buy. Yikes!
A note on yoga: I've been back at it, almost daily, since the first of the year and was pleased this morning at how much stronger I am. That means my muscles don't quiver as much during some poses, like down dog or warrior, and instead of ten, I did fifteen mini-push-ups today. My puzzlement: does a yoga workout do you as much good if you have to stop and answer the phone three times?
Off to dinner with neighbors at the Neighborhood Grill--it's meatloaf night. Hurray!

Haute cuisine and home cooking

George W. and Condi never did show up at lunch today, though I heard the restaurant was a favorite of theirs. Rise is a small restaurant in North Dallas, very French. They specialize in  individual souffles--for your main course such things as cheese, smoked salmon, lobster (cooked in the lobster shell) and several orthers, too many to remember. For dessert, chocolate, vanilla, pumpkin, strawberry, etc. Each comes out perfectly puffed and browned. How do they do that? You think just one would fall flat! Jeannie and Betty split the Salad Nicoise--no canned tuna here, it was seared ahi. I had a Parisian jambon sandwich--translates to a delicious ham sandwich on a baguette with Gruyere, cornichons, and butter--no mayo, no mustard. They both had pumpkin souffles for dessert, and I got a bite of each--delicious. My mom used to make a spinach souffle that I loved but that is still a bitter topic with my brother. Back to Rise, it's lovely  with old-world decor and yet a casual, comfortable place. I enjoyed it thoroughly. And it was fun to visit with Betty and Jeannie--I see Betty once a week but Jeannie has been so busy I haven't seen her in a while.
From the sublime to--well, maybe not ridiculous, but home cooking. I came home and started on food for my cocktail open house Friday night. While I cooked, PBS had a Christmas music special that was glorious. Featured Natalie Cole, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and David McCullough telling the story of the song, "I'll be Home for Christmas." That choir is simply magnificent.
Of course it was a good thing I started on the food--discovered I don't have enough veggies, and I don't have the can of canellini beans I need for one dip. Besides Jordan has  been calling me all day with items to add to my shopping list, particularly to feed little mouths. There will be ten or twelve children. When my kids were young I thought of this as strictly an adult party--the kids either disappeared into their bedrooms or slept through the whole thing. Must be the change that comes with being a grandmother--it is now definitely a kid-friendly party, although they won't like much of my menu (I'm afraid Jordan and Christian won't either--oh, dear!). I'd tell the menu, but I don't want to give it away. Read on Saturday. The desserts are all baked and in the freezer, ready to come out tomorrow.
And speaking of food, I'm watching Guy Fiery's show about diners, drive-ins, and dives. Somebody is baking three huge meatloaves. If there's a comfort food I love, that's it. This cook slices them (thick slices) and then browns quickly on the griddle, serves with gravy. Must find out where that place is! I keep thinking my friends at the Star Cafe should write to Fiery about their restaurant.

Food

Maybe I'm always a little bit hungry because of Weight Watchers, but my mind has sure been on food the last couple of days. Part of it is that I had this leftover meatloaf, which I adore. So yesterday went by in a blur (well, not really) because I was anticipating cold meatloaf (sob, no sandwich because the bread adds points) and marinated beets (no points). But I had a really great lunch at the Community Arts Center with Jean--what they call a salmontini. It was sort of a small soup bowl with lettuce in the bottom, four asparagus spears, a good-sized piece of poached salmon, and a cherry tomato decorating it. A good light refreshing lunch. Jean added ranch dressing to hers, but I forebore (is that a word?). Salmon, I found out, is not point-friendly, probably because it's a fatty fish. But as Jean said, "It's so good for you" and I would add, "It's so good!" So today, I had food on my mind again--specifically a tongue sandwich at Carshon's, which I had when I went to lunch with my friend Dick Hoban.
Tonight I had a meeting at the house, getting together a poet and the illustrator (my neighbor Susan) who's doing his book--she had pencil sketches and wanted input before she started on the irreversible color. Melinda was here with her superb technical knowledge of what would reproduce, etc. Because I'm on that great "cook with what you have" kick, I made a dip out of three cubes of pesto, a bit of yogurt, juice of half a lemon, sour cream,and salt and pepper. Pretty good, if I do say so. Then I made fromage fort, Jacques Pepin's recipe which he says came from his father who would use leftover bits of cheese, any kind, this way. Take about 8 oz. cheese, and blend with a garlic clove, 1/4 c. white wine, and a good grind of black pepper. I had a little blue cheese in mine, which of course dominates. But in retrospect, I think it would be best to grate cheddar, etc. I finally had to fish some lumps out--and I used a bit too much wine, so that it was more a dip than a spread, but still good with crackers and fresh vegetables--carrots, grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, and broccoli. I'll cook the leftover broccoli for Jacob on Saturday.
Even so, while we were drinking wine and nibbling, my mind was on the leftovers still in my fridge--a tiny tiny bit of meatloaf, a tiny bit of the pasta I fixed the other night, more marinated beets--I finally had a great dinner about 8:00. Now I have to go to wash the wine glasses, etc. To his credit, when I thanked the poet for carrying the wine glasses to the sink, he said, "I'll even wash them if you want," but I assured him that wasn't necessary."
Today was a good retirement day--got up fairly early but did my free writing, read the paper, did my yoga, showered and washed my hair and got ready for the day, made the dips, started on my email--and Dick was here for lunch. So I haven't accomplished a lot, but did start on a friend's memoir that he has brought me to edit. Now, I think it's time for a mystery after I do dishes, put the laundry in the dryer, scrub my face, and bring the dog in. Nice day.