Enough.
Birthdays and other important stuff. On Sunday we celebrated two birthdays; Jeff Kirkpatrick, former City Attorney of Lincoln Nebraska and currently “job searching” celebrated his 57th on Sunday, the 23rd. Likewise, Bernadette Cleary of Tipperary, Ireland celebrated her 75th , also on Sunday. Congrats to both of you and we wish you many more.
Friday afternoon, Darcy and her partner Maria came over to make use of our kitchen. they used 36 of our tomatoes to make Maria’s family recipe for fresh tomato sauce for pasta. Although it wiped out our counter top supply of tomatoes, there were so many more on the vine that it was a blessing. While the sauce cooked down Mark and Maria set about making homemade fettuccine to serve with some of the sauce. We dined on the patio with the four of us enjoying the fruits of their labor and enjoying some wine and conversation. A very satisfactory meal with family we don’t get to spend that much time with.
Saturday we held another Covert family Zoom conference to catch up on all the doings. Ed and Meg had a wonderful time in Lake Tahoe, and announced that Meg has been admitted to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (The organization that awards the Emmys) for her casting work. We will start bombarding her with our picks for nominees - just kidding! Sabrina, in Florida, was keeping an eye out for the dual hurricanes headed her way and keeping the fuel in her car topped off in the event that she had to evacuate. Milo, Lynn and John’s grandson and current boarder in their basement, started school here in Omaha, although they opted for virtual classroom for the moment.
Other school news was that we attended our friend Iris Highland’s photo opportunity on Sunday. Her parents and sister took her to her new Montessori School location for a picture of her starting (which actually began on Monday) her new schooling. She braved the changes and is currently attending 3 days per week, part time. Her sister Esme is not sure where her big sis is all morning, but her Esme’s mom is now wondering if they will take 2-year olds as well!
Sunday evening we traveled to Lincoln to attend a socially distanced birthday party for Jeff in their driveway. A total of six couples sat at tables in the driveway (in the 90º heat) and enjoyed hors d’oevres, wine and conversation. Glenda had prepared potato salad, a cucumber and tomato salad from Jeff’s garden and freshly made up hamburgers and bratwurst sausages for the grill. Mark offered to handle the grill duties (he needed the extra heat) and we then sang the Happy Birthday song as Glenda served homemade chocolate cake with ice cream. A lovely, if warm evening and we were back in Omaha by 9:45PM.
Monday slipped by with a little time at Abigail’s to water the garden and set the hose on the front lawn. Tuesday, Deb joined her monthly Book Club with a virtual Zoom meeting. We again prepared hamburgers as a quick meal before the book club. Mark, in the meantime tuned into Judy and the PBS Newshour to catch up on the shenanigans.
Wednesday, Harry the Dog had an appointment with the groomer. Even the very old and infirm benefit from a trip to the groomer! He came back that afternoon shampooed, closely clipped and looking young. He still can’t hear any better, and his cataracts now show up from under his shaggy brows, but he looks much better. Mark baked a loaf of bread in preparation for pasta with tomato and Kalamata olive sauce. Very tasty And a way to use up a few of the growing batch of the tomatoes on the counter. Our friends Marsha Gallagher and Ted James stopped by for a visit on the front porch, bringing some books in exchange for some tomatoes. Very fair trade!
On Thursday we spent time reading books, Mark working on completing the rest of his Bee Hotels for installation and then over to Abigail’s to meet the carpenter about pricing a deck in her rear yard. We returned home in time to hear the news of the day, eat a wonderful vegetable frittata and then pick something to watch that wasn’t the Great Leader spouting for over an hour while he accepted the adulation that is his due.
Time to wish you all a great weekend, keep washing those hands and don’t leave home without your masks. Stay safe.
