Game Day with Awesome Food

 

Voila, mes amis oiseaux. The Towhees get into the feeder and kick out the seeds, so many of my tiny beautiful friends feed off the ground. I watch them every day. I adore my life here.

Prawn risotto for lunch, quesadillas from Shelly and Kevin for dinner and fresh-baked Plumb cake for dessert. Plus, nuts soaked in lime juice, baked and sprinkled with nice big coarse grains of salt for snacks whilst we played games. And then, a nice slow cozy evening ending with Prime Suspect.

Last night: Clear skies and bright moonlight. I fell asleep looking forward to a day outdoors today, but arose to rain, rain, rain. The reservoir in Rollo Park is almost full to overflowing, the trails are lakes and rivers, but as I keep saying here: It is mighty warm for Winter.

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I’m reading a great book as I wait for the ones I ordered a month ago to arrive. When All Is Said is delighting me on every page. Anne Griffin has a gift with words and beautiful simple language. It’s a delight to have a book like this during a deluge that is unending. Such imaginative storytelling thrills me. 

I earned myself a good living from technical writing and I felt slightly more than competent at doing it, but I have no imagination. I have a skill; Griffin has a monstrous talent, and I can feel the difference inside me. I envy her, and so many others, who can make such magic.

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Just before nine, this morning, the sky suddenly cleared. I saw blue and white cotton, so I donned a light coat so as not to overheat, and Sheba and I headed to the dry trail. It’s a five-minute drive to the trailhead, and five minutes into the long uplifting walk I envisioned, down it came. A torrential downpour, like the Monsoons I experienced in India, soaked us to the skin. Never, have I felt so happy to be home, out of my clothes and into dry ones, and by the fire. 

Will it ever end, this Biblical Winter of water?

Total Recovery and a Bake

I was very relieved to awaken on Friday, feeling “normal.” 

Thursday was the worst day I’ve experienced since my breakdown, but if you asked me what it was I was feeling, I didn’t know. Dr. Shoja has always said I suffer from “exquisite” anxiety, but it takes time to put the word to the feeling. I took two Ativan and it sure worked. Anyway, I was super glad to feel happier yesterday.

I’d seen Kevin on Thursday at a time when I couldn’t speak, even to him, and my arms were shaking like a  mix master, so he came back with Shelly yesterday afternoon to check on me and we decided to get together this afternoon to play some games and have some laughs together.

Friday was such a relief. As is today. Both days are so mild, I’m overheating on walks, wearing only a long sleeve tee-shirt and my open winter coat. I seem to have an internal furnace; maybe that’s a nice side effect of exquisite anxiety.

After our walk this morning, I baked a Plum cake using Plumbs I picked in Gisela and Doug’s orchard last Summer. I’m serving it to Kevin and Shelly when they come for an afternoon of playing games. And tonight: Prime Suspect. I love the show having never seen it during it’s first or subsequent run.

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Here’s a hint for bakers: Don’t put your pale beige Garlic powder beside your pale beige Ginger powder. It can ruin a good bake! (I managed to save my bake, thank God, with a pastry bag and my hand-held little vacuum.) 

A Rough Day!

I think my meringue mushrooms look lovely all mixed together in the tin I’m gifting to Eoin and François, don’t you?

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An unexpected and welcome surprise: Yesterday began bright and clear! The weather forecast was for naught but rain, so the inspiring dawn was wonderful, like new clothes. Our morning walk was a high; my spirits were soaring for the first time in ages.

We took off early to get supplies for Prawn risotto (I’m eating like royalty), before going on our walkabout on the driest trail I know. After a night full of rain on Wednesday night, the trail lakes and rivers are daunting. As the day darkened, I built up the fire and finished Behind the Scenes at the Museum. (My Amazon books still have not arrived.)

Our only grocery store is suffering; there was no bread, hardly any organic vegetables and no sugar or Coke. Even frozen goods were scarce, but I got enough Prawns for my recipe.

Yesterday afternoon, my phone died, yet again. Forced to communicate with Telus by chat, it was gruesome because the service representatives seem inclined to blame me, my phone or my internal wiring for the problem in my own best interests to avoid charging me for a service appointment. I wanted to cancel my phone. But patience (barely) prevailed and I politely insisted on a repair. My phone is out until January 7th.

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In late afternoon, trouble. I had a bout of severe mental ill health. I took and Ativan and managed well through the dinner party at Eoin And Franois’ house. When I got home, I went straight to bed and awoke this morning still pretty rough, but I’m functioning and today will be okay.

I made myself a nice big batch of Prawn risotto on a very rainy day. And so begins 2021.