The rest of my weekend and blue dipping sauce

O.K., I’m not feeling quite as bleak and foul as I was this morning.  The kind words people leave here always help.  Rough weekend overall.  Our Easter dinner was good but my mother was exhausted and pretty shaky and my father, well, I asked him to say grace before dinner as I always do on holidays and he couldn’t remember it.  Then he forgot we had a bathroom downstairs and when he wasn’t at the dinner table he sat on the couch and dozed.  However he admired the guys’ new train set up and enjoyed himself I think. It’s just that every time you think you’re dealing with things and kind of adapting there’s another step down.  I shouldn’t be surprised but it is just so terribly painful to watch.

My sweet peas had a wonderful day though—a more successful egg hunt, presents from Grandma  and Grandpa and in the evening we recreated a science experiment with milk and food coloring that we had seen at the Science Share and that was most exciting, particularly if you were 5 and 7.  Then Owen announced he wanted to do an experiment with cooking.  I tried to leave the room but Ernie told me I had to stay.  I suggested perhaps following a recipe but he said no (and no smart comments about ‘like mother, like son’).  He started assembling ingredients.  The final recipe included flour, cheese, hard boiled eggs, milk, yogurt, fresh basil and eggs.  He mixed it up in the kitchen aid mixer and then poured it into a pie pan and we baked it.  He sat and patiently (or impatiently) waited for the half hour it baked and then served it with a dipping sauce of blue food coloring.  I could have done without the blue food coloring but actually it was pretty good.  Ernie thought it was a bit heavy on the basil but I say you can never have too many fresh herbs.  Leo drew rating sheets that we had to hold up.  Owen gave it a 50 but Ernie and I both gave it a 100.  Leo of course just coordinated the judging, he doesn’t actually eat food.

Then Owen took a bath and finally washed off the face of Adam Schmitt, which he’d drawn on his knee.

I’m trying to cheer up and keep things in perspective.  Today my father walked to the store to buy something they already had in their cupboard but he was home within the hour and managed not to tip over despite the lack of shillelagh.  I do love my father.  A lot.  I can’t imagine what my mother is going through.

I just bought a shillelagh on ebay…not that we could afford it.  I hope he likes it—still can’t find his and he won’t use a regular cane. 

Oh—and Katrina asked about my aerogarden—-it has been amazing.  I just cut the plants way back because they were getting too big and I had a big bowl of cuttings.  The only problem is that it keeps blinking ‘add more water’ no matter how much I put in but that’s o.k.  Although I may not use it in the summer when I have an herb garden outside I’ll definitely keep using in the fall, winter and spring. It’s been great and nothing beats fresh basil.

There…I’m ending on a gardening note…..that’s a good sign….