My sister hasn’t had a chance to ride the pandemic sourdough train, so I brought some sourdough starter along on our trip to Georgia. Rest assured Dear Reader, we have put it to good use. So far we have made sandwich bread, bagels, peach tart, and English muffins.
And it's only been five days!
My family is full of folks who love a good board game. As such, we have amassed quite a collection of them, and few holidays or birthdays are complete without unwrapping a sturdy box with a new challenge within.
My nephew, Treat, is our go-to guy when it comes to figuring out the rules and set up of all but the simplest games. He is able to read and explain even the most complicated set of directions with ease and humor.
Oh how my sister and I missed him today as we muddled through a beautiful and well-reviewed game that I received for my birthday. It took us over an hour just to get halfway through the instructions and set up, and we never did actually get to play the game. I have no doubt that once we figure it out, it will be a lot of fun, and the complications will be forgotten when the gameplay is familiar.
My sister has vowed to watch the video tutorial tonight, and I plan to reread the rules in the morning so that we might put my gift to good use. Oh, and I am definitely going to get Treat to play it with me when I get back to Virginia, just in case we miss something important!
I was lucky enough to receive all sorts of birthday wishes today, but of them all, this piece of advice stands out:
Happy Birthday! Hope it is full of beings you love.
Because it has been! And even though I did not consciously realize it, those words have long been my guide for planning and spending all of my birthdays, with many happy returns, indeed.
I spent the Sunday afternoon before the COVID shutdowns began browsing books at my local Barnes and Noble. Who knew that would be the last time I would set foot in a bookstore (or library!) until today? And as good as it was to be back, I was surprised by how unfamiliar so many titles in the kids and YA sections that I usually frequent were. Thank goodness the publishing world did not grind to a halt with the rest of us!
Oh, and the Daphne and Velma series? The one that fills in the backstory of your favorite Scooby Doo gals, detailing how the two were friends from pre-K, until Daphne dropped Velma in middle school and never looked back? Well! That one was too good to leave on the shelf.
Down here in the deep south we were prepared to make it through the days by fanning ourselves and drinking sweet tea on the veranda (or staying in the a/c all day). But weather predictions have it that the temps here will be cooler than DC by 10 degrees or more for the next few days. And? Just a bit warmer than Ketchikan, Alaska where Josh is sweating through his fish-processing orientation in unseasonably toasty weather. But on the plus side? The landscape is breath-taking there, and he says the food is plentiful and good, and dinner will be served promptly at 5.
Maybe he can find a veranda to enjoy a nice glass of iced tea with that incredible Alaskan scenery.
The text chain was humming. Our cleaning lady, whom we had recommended to several neighbors, had been working at a home in Bethesda (a referral from one of our recommendations) when a misstep led to injury. It turned out Estela was sidelined for at least 6 weeks with a broken ankle. Summer vacation made cleaning the house ourselves a no-brainer: after all, we did it for months during the COVID shutdown. And so this morning? We grabbed our bucket and mop and scrubbed from bottom to top, spit-polished til it shines.
Oh, and we also sent a Get Well Soon card to Estela, because nothing like a Saturday spent cleaning to remind us how much we appreciate her.
