Sunday's Story

Sunday, I slept in until 5:50 AM. I made a cup of coffee and stumbled into the day.

The weather today was more or less a repeat of Saturday. Except the sun kept peeking out and Santa was dancing.

I started the weekend wash by stripping the bed and stuffing the bedding into the wash. I thought about breakfast and then thought better of it. Stuffed shells and a big chunk of garlic bread tends to fill you up, I guess. I decided to do brunch instead.

So, I ate my pills and refilled the pill box. I checked the bay leaf tree and it didn’t need watering yet. I wound the clock and checked the living room for excessive cat hair and/or hair ball barf. No, I was good…

I put the bedding into the dryer and started the last load of work clothes and the bathroom towels.

I was looking out the kitchen window when I saw a beautiful sight: A bright red cardinal was silhouetted by the deep green branches of the evergreen he was sitting in, while he was scoping out the bird feeder. I ran to get the camera, but in the short time I was gone, he had flown down and was eating under the feeder. Damn! That would have been such an excellent photo!

I emptied out the dishwasher. I don’t think I mentioned it but I ran a load through yesterday evening. I put the three ice cubes into the orchid. The thing is still alive but shows no signs of blossoming again. I cleaned out the kitty litter box.

When the dryer stopped, I remade the bed and put my work clothes in it. Then I put a blanket on the kitchen table and started working on the clock again.

I was laying out the clock template again. It had to be in the exact same place, so the biscuits won't show when its cut out. Then the phone rang. It was my daughter Melissa. We caught each other up (the big news on her end is they listed their house and got a bid first thing. The bad news is that they have to be out by April 1. So, they are scrambling.)

We talked for over an hour, so brunch went out the window. After we hung up. I took out a pound of frozen shrimp to thaw in a colander. I want to make my old favorite, Shrimp Scampi with Linguine. Finally, I shaved and showered.

Before I went out in the garage, I saw the Red Wings game was on. So, I started watching it. In lieu of brunch, I ate some Triscuits and cheddar cheese. I put two trays of ice cubes on top the shrimp to keep them cool. I thought for sure we were going to win this time (it was 1-1 through overtime) But we lost in the shoot out. Damn!

All fresh and clean and with the bedding fresh and clean as well, it seemed a natural to take a nap. So I did.

I woke up around 4:00 PM. I got dressed and took the clock slab out to the garage. I cut off a lot of the extraneous wood with the circular saw. I blew off the sawdust from the boards and myself and brought it back into the house. I needed to scribe the exact two circles on it. I used a nail, string and a pencil. It took several times, but I finally got the two-inch thickness I needed. I stopped there, knowing the next step (cutting it all out with a jig saw) would be long and intense.

It was close to 6:00 PM, so I started making dinner. I shelled the shrimp I'd thawed after I picked out the un-thawed ice cubes.. These were already de-veined, which was nice. I put  two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter in my 12-nch sauté pan on medium-high heat. Meanwhile, I filled my pasta pot with water and turned it on high.

To the sauté pan, I added two shallots, finely diced, four cloves of garlic, minced, and a good pinch of red pepper flakes. I cooked them until the shallots were translucent (about three to four minutes). I seasoned the shrimp with salt and pepper and added them to the pan. I cooked them until they were pink (about two to three minutes). Then I pulled them out with a slotted spoon and put them in a bowl to keep warm

The pasta water was at a rolling boil, so I added salt and a pound of linguine. I cooked that until it was al dente (about seven minutes).

I added 1/4 cup of white wine and the juice of one lemon to my sauté pan and brought it to a boil. Then I added another two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter. Once the butter had melted, I returned the shrimp to the pan and added the cooked pasta. I tossed it all about, using my tongs and then plated some. I topped it with fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

I took another chunk of garlic bread out of the tinfoil, wrapped it in wax paper and heated it up in the microwave for a minute. Then I ate dinner. It was even better than I remembered!

The rest of the evening was spent watching TV until about 10:30 PM, when I went to bed.