Meandering on the Way — June 14 to 25

Wednesday, June 14

We started a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle yesterday and finished it today. Five hundred is a nice size. Those 1,000 piece puzzles are a lot of work. Plus they monopolize our dining room table for days and days.

Once it was together, we didn’t want to put it away immediately, but we were going to need our dining room table. E used a bread board to transfer the puzzle to this little table next to the couch. It’s doing well there.

Friday, June 16

E plans to make another paella for B and B, who are coming on Saturday. So today she spent some time doing parts of the meal that can be done in advance. She has also been working outside, her latest project being a major rehab of the bed on the east side of the house. She also is in charge of making war on the spider mites, which are bad this year.

M has been doing lots of yard work, especially in the back yard. The results are mixed–very mixed.

M is also binge watching The Last Kingdom, a saga of Saxons vs. Vikings based on novels by Bernard Cornwell. He’s nearing the end of Season 4.

Saturday, June 18

We walked in the forest today, then later on had paella with with B and B. Very nice.

Sunday, June 19

We celebrated Fathers Day by cooperating on making a chocolate pie for M. Making chocolate pie around here is a complicated process. It goes like this. First M mixes up some dough for a pie shell. He has to make more dough than he needs because A) having extra allows for mistakes as he rolls it out and puts it into the pie pan, and B) he just has to eat some of it raw. (!) M bakes the shell and leaves it on the counter for E. E makes filling and puts it into the shell. She then makes meringue, spreads a not too thick layer onto the filling, and then bakes the pie to brown it. Then the pie has to cool. When it’s ready, M makes some whipped cream. To serve the pie, we cut a piece for M and a piece for E. M then removes the meringue from his piece and places it on top of the E’s piece, giving her a double layer of meringue. Then M spreads some whipped cream on his piece. It’s delicious. Everyone is pleased.

Monday, June 19

M went to the dentist. E concentrated on her next challenge: hosting tomorrow’s meeting of her book club. They will be discussing The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, so clearly there must be tea. Also there will be Grandma Randall’s applesauce cake plus gluten free macaroons as needed. Also crackers and two kinds of cheese. Some club members will be here, and others will be Zooming. Very complicated.

One of the many themes in The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane concerns the experiences of a young woman who was born in China, placed in an orphanage, and then adopted by an American couple. This was at a time when there were large numbers of unwanted girl babies in China, many of whom were adopted by couples from other countries, chiefly in North America and Europe. As such girls grow to be teenagers in their new homes, issues of cultural identity complicate what is already a difficult time. E and M watched a documentary film that follows a number of adopted Chinese girls as they negotiate these years. It’s called Somewhere Between and was made by an American film maker who had just adopted a girl from China and wanted to learn whatever she could from the experience of others. It’s interesting.

Tuesday, June 20

The book club meeting day has arrived. As she is preparing, E finds that one of the small folding tables that she likes is unusable due to loose and missing hardware. Oh-oh. Finally she says “I don’t really need it.” Why would she say a thing like that? Well, possibly because she is confident that M–who has has a graduate degree in grammar and linguistics–will know what she really means: “The person I am talking to could probably fix this table. If so, he should do it right now.”

Once the table was fixed and other preparations made, E took some time to call Spain and talk to Manolo.

The book club meeting went fine. M stayed out of sight in the study watching The Last Kingdom. He is now in the middle of Season 5.

Wednesday, June 21

M finished removing grass and other weeds from the raspberry bed–an area that has been much neglected in recent years. E played orchard worker and climbed a ladder to thin apples from the tree closest to the house.

In the afternoon we walked over to H and T’s house to see how their remodeling project is going. The framing and drywalling are all done and painting is just beginning. H and T are a little frustrated by how long it is taking, but it is definitely progressing. After a tour, we had tea and sliced mangoes outside. It was a warm day, so their deeply shaded back yard was much appreciated.

Thursday, June 22

Tertulia with J and R at Coffee Culture. It’s time for the annual Chintimini Chamber Music Festival. J is a former board member and she and R often host some of the visiting musicians. This morning their house guest, Festival Music Director Erik Peterson, joined us for coffee and pastries.

Several times during the day, E received reminders about her appointment on Friday with a service provider who shall remain nameless. By the third reminder she was starting to get annoyed. More on this later.

Later on we had dinner with J and B at Tacovore. They’ve recently returned from a holiday in Portugal. They are part of group of about a dozen travelers who call themselves “El Grupo.” The core members of the group studied together in Costa Rica and have been traveling together ever since. In Portugal they were able to rent some lovely multi-room accommodations. Among other places, the group visited Aveiro, which is known as the Venice of Portugal. The gondolas of Venice have graceful designs, but they pale before the strikingly colored gondolas of Aveiro.

Friday, June 23

Just after breakfast, E went off to her 9:00 AM appointment with the provider who shall remain nameless. When she arrived, there was a light on inside but the office door was locked. Beside the door was a doorbell button. She pushed it several times but got no response. She got out her phone intending to call and ask if perhaps she had come to the wrong address. (Though this seemed pretty unlikely since they had given her this address three times the previous day). At this critical juncture, it turned out that her phone was not working! Yikes! What a mess. Luckily she was only five minutes from home and was able to go back and use M’s phone.

When this was finally sorted out, the explanation was simple. It was the correct address, but the staff had forgotten to unlock the front door for the day’s first appointment. Had they heard the bell? Oh no, they said, the bell had been disconnected some time ago because it was so annoying.

They were very apologetic and the actual appointment, when it finally came, went very well.

Saturday, June 24

We went to the nursery this morning and bought several zinnias and a small bunch of verbena. When we got home, E went right out and put them in the ground.

Sunday, June 25

Rhubarb cobbler for breakfast. Yes!