I am still around

We just got back from New York and tomorrow are leaving for South Haven and Chicago.

We visited the 911 memorial. This coincided with the Pope’s visit so there were a million people waiting to get into the museum. Great timing. We did not join the line.

New York went totally berserk over the Pope and mass hysteria broke out all over the place. A woman rushed from the crowd and grabbed the Pope’s hand. She will cut her hand off and sell it on eBay.

The wedding was great success and cost a bit more than John’s new jaguar. But he only has one daughter – for which he is extremely thankful.

Well I got all the things that Cate needed for our dinner party.  

Well that’s not true – I got the things I thought she needed but I got the wrong type of mozzarella and the wrong type of ricotta. I needed to get delicatessen cheese – not cold food section cheese.

I also could not get chanterelle mushrooms so got some other ones - which were not acceptable for the purpose - and have been put into the mulch bin.

Given that she did not have the appropriate things Cate nevertheless made some things which purported to be ricotta and cheese cakes but which when completed looked not much like anything edible at all and could have been survivors from Pompeii.  

So these were not served and reside in a plastic container in the fridge. I cannot throw them away because Cate says she will eat them for lunch. Eventually they will turn green and can go out.

My quiche was dry. This is because I cooked it on Friday evening and warmed it up on Saturday. Even so it was delicious

My chicken was dry because I cooked it with the lid on the dish in the oven had to brown it under the griller.

The steaks were no good and were badly cooked.

Fortunately the wine was wet and cold and alcoholic so everyone  was not too worried about the food.

No one else even came close

Cate’s brother and sister in law are coming from Washington for the weekend. The planning for this is akin to the landings in Europe on D Day.

By the way – if you have ever wondered what the D in D Day stands for - it stands for Day.

First of all there is cleaning. Everything must be very clean so I have spent the last few days vacuuming, dusting and polishing. Yes I have polished the toaster and the microwave and I have cleaned the inside of the washing machine.

Then there is the food. I have acquired enough food to feed the Queen’s Royal Hussars – and their horses – for a month. But it is not just the quantity of food – it is also the type.

On these occasions Cate just loves to make something really nice for a starter. (I do the main course).

She scours cookbooks and always finds something completely delicious – and which will require substances of which I – and the people at the supermarket - have never heard. 

These will include things like frosted lark’s tongues, free range smoked eel ears,  Patagonian high mountain snow corn and Venezuelan beaver cheese. 

After much diligent searching I will find these things – or the next best thing. I will find that I can in fact buy smoked eel ears but only in a 20 pound bag. Cate will only use two ears so the remaining 19.9 pounds will be stuffed into a cupboard and there they shall remain until they turn to dust.

Our cupboards are full of these types of these things. I noticed yesterday that our downstairs fridge contains a bag of about 10 pounds of cranberries. What are these doing here? I wondered and then remembered that we needed about 2 ounces of cranberries last Christmas – but I had to buy a 10 pound bag. I found some obscure spices a few months ago that had a use by date of 1995.

We have bought three dozen bottles of wine. If this is not enough I have a cellar downstairs with another five dozen.

The florist will arrive this afternoon with a truck full of flowers. Then of course there is the jumping castle and the balloons.

Some really churlish people made a list of all the lies the Republican candidates told during the debate. Carly was the winner and Donald Trump came second.

No one else even came close.

Weird stuff indeed

You mean like how old the world is?

I have been so excited about what is happening that I forgot to blog.

I have settled down after the execution of Tony Abbott. All that is left is a warm glow – which I am sure will be with me for some time.

I have taken delivery of my new car. It is not in fact a very exciting car but is a common or garden variety Subaru SUV type thingy. But it is all wheel drive so that I will no longer get stuck in snow in the back lane – or slide all over the roads when we have icy weather. 

It also has something called EyeSight which is intended to prevent me from crashing into other cars – and tells me when I am wandering out of my lane. This will be particularly useful when Georgia decides to bite my ears while we are driving.

And if I try to crash into something the car brakes all on its own. How clever is that.

They still do not make a model with bullet proof glass so I will continue to be exceedingly careful and courteous – and even smile when people cut me off.

I have acquired a back set cover to attempt to protect the seats from Georgia’s large white teeth. They did not have one made out of kryptonite so I had to settle for canvas and I am assured it is almost indestructible. Almost is not quite good enough - but we shall see.

Cate has sort of accepted the destruction of her garden. It is called learned resignation. She still sighs and whimpers when she sees it - but will get over this with time.

I really enjoyed the debate last night. It is unimaginable to think of Donald Trump as president but he seems to have excited a lot of voters. Which means that they believe what he says he will do. Could that be true? Are people that dumb? (Yes).

But he would be better than Ben Carson who thinks the world is 6,000 years old, climate change is a hoax and straight men turn gay in prison.

Weird stuff indeed from a retired neurosurgeon!