This has been an exciting week around the pandemic stricken Midwest. Lots of snow, lots of melting and lots of birthdays to report on. First the weather: the temperatures ranged from a low on Friday the 19th of -19.6ºF to a high on Wednesday the 23rd of 55.7ºF, a swing of 75º in the period of 5 days. In addition to the snow already on the ground, on Sunday, we received an additional 8.5 inches of very wet snowfall in the space of about 6 hours. This was the heavy wet stuff, which in days gone by would have been perfect for snowball fights, building snow fort, or rolling and constructing a snowman. We did none of the above. Only shoveling.
Friday afternoon and into the early evening, we finished clearing the basement area for the scheduled construction on the weekend. We didn’t finish until after 6:00, effectively cutting into our cocktail hour. We were forced to dine on the wonderful assortment of cheeses that our friends Marsha and Ted sent for Deb’s upcoming birthday, of course accompanied by a decent wine, not from a box!
Saturday was not a quiet day. Our contractor arrived in the morning to drop off materials and then headed back to another Menard’s store for more supplies. He returned just after lunch and commenced installing all the metal framing for our basement project. He finally pulled out of the driveway by 5:30 in the afternoon.
During the day, our first doorbell ring was the florist, delivering a stunning floral bouquet from Abigail, via the local Janousek florist. (Abigail is really into supporting local businesses!) John and Lynn Covert stopped by to deliver a card and gift for Deb and then, our friends Glenda and Jeff drove in from Lincoln to drop off some birthday gifts for Deb, whose celebration wasn’t really scheduled until Sunday. They stayed for a glass of Rose’ Prosecco which they kindly brought with them, together with a “Texas style” brownie properly decorated. Later in the afternoon, a friend, Robin Putnam stopped by with a birthday card and another lovely bottle of wine to enjoy at a later date. Evidently, we were to be blessed with a birthday weekend, as the actual date was on Sunday, the 21st. This was all to celebrate her 70th birthday, a milestone of sorts; we seldom sit around in our late middle age envisioning life at 80, so the hoopla was appropriate.
Due to the snow, the planned celebration at our house was moved to Abigail’s. We left and headed to the service station to recover Darcy’s car, which was in for an oil change. Deb delivered the car while Mark drove over to Paddy McGown’s Pub to pick up our take-out dinner consisting of a huge club sandwich for us accompanied by a bag of their tasty “Reuben egg rolls” some deep fried “blarney stones” (pepper encased in spicy cheese and deep fried,) and some other of their specials for the girls.
Before dinner, we gathered in Abigail’s knitting room, ostensibly to show Deb some of her most recent creations, but actually to surprise her with a Zoom Happy Birthday song from some 30 or 40 of her friends and relatives. Needless to say, she was surprised. We truly knew she had not suspected a thing as she immediately complained that she had not put make-up on or fixed her hair, effectively catching her unawares. It was truly memorable and we again thank all of you, many of whom are our readers for helping her to celebrate. Kudos to Abigail and Darcy for organization, preparing and also for baking Deb’s favorite chocolate ribbon cake, a treasured recipe from her own Mother.
After dinner. We viewed a special presentation of Darcy and Maria’s - “Deb’s Antarctic Vacation” which they had hysterically mocked up from photos. Deb was shown basking in a swimming pool on board a ship in the Antarctic, seen petting sea lions and penguins, and sunning on a glacier. This is the only Continent she has never set foot upon, but she is still hoping. If not, we have this “film” as a remembrance.
We returned home Sunday night, exhausted and exhilarated at all the festivities we had crammed into a weekend when we were supposed to be stuck inside, with only our “bubble” to spend time with. But the festivities didn’t stop there. On Monday evening, Deb and Tim Duggan brought a hot home cooked meal of Indonesian pork roast, mashed potatoes and yummy gravy as well as ice cream and cake and a bottle of wine to share with us for a dinner. They stayed until nine, toasted the passing years and then left us to think of all we had enjoyed over the snowy weekend.
Tuesday was suitably low key. Deb enjoyed her monthly zoom book club meeting while Mark tried to understand the Scots accents on another episode of Hamish McBeth. Sometimes he is able to turn on the captions but most times that small electronic switch eludes him so he struggles to keep up. Ostensibly they are speaking English but not always recognizably so.
Wednesday is grocery shopping day, so Deb is off to visit the various markets and lay in supplies for the coming week. Wednesday Drinks night was fully attended and we completed the evening with some more cheese and wine, this time box wine! We have been binge watching a show called The Sinner at the recommendation of Marsha and Ted; interesting but definitely R rated for violence, nudity and language. We are enjoying though.
Thursday was again a quiet day, Deb toiling away on reservations for clients who have begun to awake from their imposed isolation and are making plans for year end 2021 or early 2022. So much for thoughts of forced retirement for her. Mark broke out the wok pan after years of disuse and made a chicken stir fry for the evening meal. We also have a fresh batch of liverwurst pate whipped up for snacks so are good for the rest of the week and into the weekend.
Thanks again for all the help on the birthday Zoom. stay safely distanced, wash your hands and schedule for your vaccine. We are all pulling through this, slowly but surely.
