Sunday's story

I woke up during the night again (dammit) and so slept in until 7:00 AM. I warmed up some of yesterday's coffee and then got to work. Riese is supposed to stop in at 2:00 PM to drop off that book I bought in her fundraiser. So, I needed to clean the house and am thinking about making some brownies

So, clean the house I did! I also did the bedding that I neglected to wash yesterday and then the last load of regular laundry for this week. I was done cleaning the house about 11:00 AM, so I started making the brownies. I also thawed out some of the Beef, Mushroom and Barley soup in case they are hungry.

It is supposed to get close to 80 degrees F. today, so I turned off the furnace and opened almost all of the windows in the house. I love fresh air!

About that time, I saw my neighbor jump my fence and head for my back door. His friend with the power washer came over and they wanted to test the water pressure. I showed him how to hook up the hose to the one attached to the fence to get the water back there. The guy said the water pressure was fine, so they started working.

I put the brownie pan on a rack to cool. I ate a bowl of soup and an apple for my lunch, just in case they don't want to eat or don't have the time. I was just waiting for the power washing to stop so I could take a shower. I appreciate him being so thorough, but on the other hand, I don't want to greet guests stinking, either.

He did stop at 1:30, so I walked back and admired his work (no sh*t, the difference is night and day). I paid him his $50.00 and asked if he was finished. "No," he said, "I still need to do the platform and the 4x4's that hold up the swings." So I asked him to wait 10 minutes so I could take a shower and he said no problem.

So, I took a shower and changed clothes. Jeremy, Jyl, Joe and Riese showed up right around 2:00 PM. Riese gave me my book, a nice thank you letter and two school pictures of Joe. It turned out they hadn't eaten lunch so I dished out the soup and cut into the "rustic Italian" loaf of bread I bought at Westborn, yesterday. At that point, I felt pretty silly having already eaten my lunch, BTW.

They seemed to be enjoying the soup and bread, so I went to cut up the now-cooled brownies... Damn! They had risen to the top of the pan like last time, but this time it was just an air pocket and the rest of the stuff was still wet and at the bottom of the pan, not fully cooked. I wish I'd cut into them before they came, so I could have thrown them away! But, Jyl said she would try one. She pronounced it good, so Jeremy and Joe also had one (Riese was outside playing). So, I cut up the rest of them, put them on a paper plate covered with Saran Wrap and told them they could take them home if they liked.

We chatted about this and that: Joe's Homecoming dance (his date broke her arm and couldn't go, so he went stag and ended up dancing with 10 or 12 other young ladies) Jeremy's work and school (he's mentioned in yet another magazine article - seems like almost every week now!) and Jyl's neighborhood stray cat rescue operation (which didn't seem to have the whole-hearted support from the rest of the family you might expect). Jeremy and Jyl both said that my kitchen tile turned out good and that the pictures in my Blog did not do it justice.

They left around 3:30 PM to go grocery shopping (thankfully taking the cursed brownies with them). I changed my clothes and then wrote all this down.

I boiled some water in the kettle and added it to a one ounce package of dried Morel mushrooms to rehydrate them. I put the load of pants and shirts in the dryer (I shut off the washer hours ago when they started their power washing). Then I walked out back to take some pictures of the play structure.

Then I changed my hoses back and went out front to water the container gardens. The hanging planters were still moist, so I just did the mailbox garden, the tree box and the urn. Then I watered the new grass in the lawn. I was just washing down my garage door (dust and grass clippings) when Jake and Carla pulled in. They didn't come inside, as they were just out for a Sunday drive through Hines Park, looking at the trees. But, when I told them about the power washing, they did walk out back to check it out. Both agreed with me it looks amazing! They left for home and I coiled up the hose out in back.

Back inside, I hung up the laundry and then drained the Morel mushrooms. I used a sieve and a coffee filter and did it twice. I want to use the liquid later and there is a lot of sand in Morels. I rinsed off the Morels in cool water and patted them dry with paper towels.

Seeing Jake reminded me of something I'd been mulling over since he mentioned it this past Thursday. He said he had a concept; that, as a child he looked up at the sky on Palms Road and saw stars. Now when he looks up, he just sees airplanes. He thought I should make that a poem. So, I stopped working and I did (it's called "Airplanes and Dreams" in the poetry section, BTW). I posted it and the pictures of the play structure.

It was almost 6:00 PM, so I needed to give some serious attention to my Sunday Night dinner. I used the Morel mushroom to make a sauce. I saut�ed some diced shallots, added the mushrooms, some of the mushroom water, heavy cream and white wine. Then I pan seared some sea scallops in olive oil and butter. I topped the scallops with the sauce and added some lemon slices and fresh parsley for a garnish.

Very disappointing! I'm not sure why, but the sauce was very bland and nothing seemed to pop on this dish. Oh well, you can't hit a home run every time, I guess.

I watched my normal Sunday night shows and went to bed at 11:00 PM.