Saturday Randomness

It’s a sunny Saturday morning, and I’m in a random sort of mood. Let’s see if I can get some truly random stuff up here, instead of narrowing down to one topic, shall we?

I finished my book last night, “Horse Heaven”, by Jane Smiley. I’ve tried to read one or two other of her novels, and haven’t really enjoyed them. But I loved “Horse Heaven” so much, this is a second reading for me. It’s a story of horse racing, told over a two or three year period. There are a large cast of characters, including 6 horses, and the people who surround them. It was a slow read for me…I’d go a couple of days without picking it up at all, and then dive back in. Last night, I read from maybe 11pm until 2am, when I finished. Having such a large cast of characters, and having read it so slowly, I have already forgotten how some of the horses came to be in their particular situations…so I guess I’ll have to poke through the book a bit before I return it to the library.

We had a smidgen of rain the other day. Some areas got as much as 1/2 inch, and power went out for maybe 12,000 people. “How can this happen?” you might well ask. It wasn’t even a storm, just a dripping. Happily, our local newspaper described how it can happen. When it’s been dry for so long, dust and dirt can accumulate on the wires. When the wires get wet, I would think especially with a dripping rather than a storm, that dirt and dust can turn into mud. Mud can conduct electricity, which can then knock the power out. Interesting, no?

I’ve started receiving the bills for my lab work to diagnose my health issues. I take back all of the crap I said about my insurance, because even though I pay the first $5,000 in medical expenses, they have contracts with the lab that bring the bills down significantly. How significantly, you may well ask? The total of lab work (not dr. visits or x-rays) came to $1,763. My share of that is about $125. The lab company wrote off the rest, due to their contract with my insurance company. Whew. Of course, when I see a bill like that, I then think, “What if I didn’t have insurance, and I then had to pay the full $1,763?” That would indeed be horrid. So I’m counting my blessings on that one.

My darling friend Dorothy’s mother passed away a couple of weeks ago. Poor Dorothy is in so much pain right now, missing her mom dearly. It makes me so sad to see her so sad, and of course I remember well how painful and downright confusing those first weeks (hell, months) were. I can tell her that it gets easier, but not really better. Ugh. Dorothy gave me her mom’s walker, which is one of the fancy ones with a seat and wheels and brakes and so on, which I am going to take to my Grandma. I know my Grandma will get good use out of that.

Which makes me think about my Grandma. I went to visit her while I was on sabbatical, but now I have a good reason to go visit again. I think I’d like to bake something yummy to bring Grandma and her sister, my Great Aunt Flo. What to bake? Cheddar biscuits, like they have at Red Lobster? Brownies? Scones? Cookies? Maybe I should bring some soup, that they could have for a real meal, rather than sweets. Maybe I should bring both, a satisfying soup and something sweet. I need to stew on it a bit. Ted did suggest that I might make this recipe for Cookie Dough Brownies, as he could then try them. And gosh, when I look at the picture, I think they do look like something the ladies would adore.

Yesterday I went to lunch with a friend of mine, Denise. Maya and her daughter are friends from High School, and swam together for a couple of summers as well. Ted and I have become friends with Claire’s parents, Denise and Scott. Denise loves a local restaurant, Hot Basil Cafe, which serves both Thai and Indian cuisines. She generally gets the Pad Thai, and I generally get either a seafood curry or muttar paneer. Sadly, Hot Basil has closed (rumor is that they will move to a new location), and a Mexican place, Guacamole, has taken over. We both like Mexican food, so we thought we’d give it a try. We thought it would be a sit down restaurant, like Hot Basil was. Instead, it’s more of a fast food place. Locally owned, but you know…you go to the counter, order your food, they cook it and bring it to you. The owner was friendly and knowledgable, and helped me decide what to order. The one thing I said, though, was that I need to have guacamole on my tacos. This is imperative. The guac is the most important part of the meal for me. The tacos didn’t come with guacamole, so he said I’d get a side order. When the tacos came, of course, there was no guacamole. The waitress was nice and brought some for me right away. The tacos were good. The restaurant was clean. I think if I were craving a taco, I might go there. But it’s not the same nice sit down experience we had before, and I suspect we won’t be going back for our monthly lunches. Certainly not because of the guacamole issue, but because we’re more interested in something a little fancier. I do hope that Hot Basil reopens nearby.

We finished watching ‘The Killing’ the other night. Ted watched closely, and I watched in that distracted way I sometimes do. Like when I fall asleep during a key moment, or decide to go to bed while he binge watches 3 more episodes. From what I saw, it’s a really good show, and if you’re at all tempted, you should give it a try.

Lastly, my Grandma in Portland (as opposed to the close by Grandma) is turning 98 this month. 98. That’s crazy. I wish we could visit her for her birthday. She suffers from dementia, and wouldn’t recognize us, but she would be happy for the company anyway. My family up there will go see her, which is good. Sometimes it’s hard living far away from family. Like summer, when my nieces and nephews and my dad all have their birthdays. Or late fall, when my sisters and step-mom all have their birthdays. I do wish we could be there for all of these little family get togethers. Maybe some day we’ll move up there, who knows. On the plus side, Ted’s family all lives here, so we do get to attend lots of birthday parties, little get togethers for Labor Day or the 4th of July. So it’s not like we’re really missing out. Just that we’re missing out, if you know what I mean.

I’m typing this post on my iPad mini. I find my posts written here are more prone to typos (small screen, tight keyboard), so forgive me if you see any. I also don’t like the interface the Word Press app has for inserting pictures, so you get no pictures today.