Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. When did I become the person that takes ibuprofin on rainy days because I get achy. WHEN?

2.  Owen has discovered the joys of the craft supply store. He is in the process of creating batman paraphanalia…namely a pair of gauntlets. We visited the craft store twice this weekend. Here he is picking out a glue gun. His gauntlets are really quite glorious…. The next day I bought him an exacto knife and a cutting board. I see a new line item on our mythical budget.

Just after I took this picture an employee walked around the corner and paused. Owen looked at her, shrugged and said, "Mothers." She nodded sympathetically and said, "yep, we've all got one."

3. The weekend was good but I felt kind of out of sorts all weekend. On Sunday Ernie and I went for a drive in the country which  usually cures my ills. This time…eh…no such luck. The fields were uninspiring. I think once the fence gets moved and NeighborGate hopefully comes to an end I will feel more myself. 

4. The sound of that rain on Sunday night was beyond glorious. Ernie was beside himself with happiness. Rightfully so as he had worked hard moving plants all morning. We had the air on but we didn't care…we flung open the windows so we could listen to it. It felt like a blessing.

5.  I made a pretty stupendous dinner the other night. We didn't feel like going to the store so we dug around in the kitchen and made something up. We pulled some shrimp out of the freezer and thawed it. Ernie shelled it and I dumped the shells in a pan with some sauteed onion and garlic. I tossed the shells around a bit and added water and a bit of my glass of wine and let it simmer. Eventually I strained it and poured in some French green lentils I found in the pantry. I really should make those more often…they are a totally different creature from brown lentsil (eh) or the red lentils I like. In a separate pan I sauteed some onions and red peppers and the lone handful of green beans we had. Once the lentils were done I drained them and added the sauteed vegetables. Then I mixed some flour, some curry powder, some paprika and mmm….I think some garam masala, salt and pepper. I tossed the shrimp in the mixture and then sauteed them quickly in some hot oil, let them drain and tossed them on top of the lentils. It was pretty damned wonderful if I do say so myself! Owen even tried a bit of shrimp and proclaimed it 'not terrible' but the lentils were really the star.

6.  Why was I so sad to see that Neil Armstrong had died? I don't entirely know. A bit of my childhood I guess. And which astronaut was it whose parents lived in Derry, New Hampshire and gave my parents a wedding gift? I think it was knife or some kind of cutting implement and I was always impressed by it. Gone…all those details and memories are gone….

7. My beloved Eric Brace is of course the person who wrote the song Tranquility Base and I know many of us turned to it upon hearing of Armstrong's death. Listen.

8. This morning Leo swore up and down there were no clean clothes he could wear. I knew his father had done multiple loads of laundry yesterday. Evidently Leo has inherited my lackadaisical searching abilities. When Ernie returned from walking Owen to school he pointed out the jeans in the pile of laundry Leo had already searched. Then we sent him upstairs to get a clean shirt. He came down wearing an old long sleeved shirt that has a rip in the cuff and is a little too small. I looked at him and tried to convince him to find a different shirt. I guess Ernie had just the same thing. He yelled, I sighed, and Ernie said, "oh, don't worry about it, we're just joking." Leo did the offended sigh and said it's didn't SOUND like joking and I did the parental sigh and said, "no, you're right it sounded like a parent trying to be helpful…how horrible." Then we all sighed and Leo stomped down the front steps angrily and then when he got to the last step he stopped and did a happy little jump to the sidewalk and scampered off. 

I just loved that happy little jump.

Loved it.