Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Memorial Day Outdoors

I got my June Dragonfly Joy written yesterday while J worked & also created a new blog for the online version of the newsletter. So, some creativity, even though I didn't make any art cards.

J arrived home from work with a gleeful expression & an armful of lovely purple phlox she'd picked for me along the road. She is too wonderful! She kept saying they were nothing, but to me, they are marvelous. She also brought me some very high quality printer paper & some transparencies for school next year.

Wanting to be outdoors, we decided on lunch at Peach's. We had to wait awhile for a patio table, but it was worth it. It's funny how different the two Peach's areas are. I would never want to eat inside. There is a grey film of discontent & hopelessness there. I can hardly even stand to wait inside for a patio table. But, the patio feels good. The food is good, too. We split the Mediterranean pita platter, with its trio of dips for soft-crunchy pita chips. I like the hummus best and the tzatziki is good, too. But, I am not so keen on the roasted red pepper & feta dip. Luckily, J loves it. We also had the fish & chips. The fish was a little too fishy for me, but the fries, drenched with malt vinegar, were pretty good. It rained hard while we were eating, the pelting on the canopy reminding me of the rain when we were at Bongo's over spring break. We have so many good memories & seem to make more every day. I am so very much in love, have never experienced anything this good before.

After eating, we took a walk around town, the real town not just touristy downtown. We looked at house colors, smelled flowers, petted cats. It was a lovely walk & I could have walked even longer. We ran into several people, but none I knew...except Erik, who I dated years ago. He has turned into something else, looks like a former Marine. I am so glad I'm not with him. I looked at him & the skinny blonde he was with & thought, "Good lord, that could have been my future had my dreams at 18 come true." As Garth says, sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.

Once home, we settled in on the couch & watched Samantha Brown, Ina Garten, & Paula Deen do their things. J, head in my lap & drool pooling, asked why I watch such torture. Ina was making a beach picnic with beef tenderloin & bleu cheese sauce sandwiches, marinated shrimp, avocado & endive salad, and brownies. Paula made brownies topped with a brown sugar, butter, & nut mixture. Then, she rolled an ice cream ball in nuts, served it with 2 brownies, & drizzled the whole thing with gooey caramel sauce. She made a chocolate cake with fudge sauce & chocolate trifle, too. I am going to look up the recipes & make one of them for J tonight.

The kids came home all pumped up. They went to see Star Wars, went to Dave & Buster's, swam. Must be nice to be a 40-something year old man with virtually no bills. You can spoil your kids all they want & never have to worry about money. Of course, there is the issue of having to live in your mama's basement...

After the kids had gone to bed, J & I watched a PBS show on West Virginia & the coal mine wars. It made me want to have the book group read Storming Heaven & The Unquiet Earth. Denise Giardina was interviewed for the show. She is a hell of a writer...I wish everyone would read those books. J has never read them, nor has she seen John Sayles' Matewan. All of this info is new to her & she kept saying, "That's terrible." The show made me cry.

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