The Days Are Flying By

Yesterday was a whirlwind of good things. The perfect seat in the restaurant to watch everything going on. Because of my association with N last time I ate in this restaurant, the staff treated me like a dear old friend. Wow. And my lunch companion was having a very happy birthday. Her massage was excellent and her haircut amazing. We had wine. We had eggplant. We had chocolate gelato. We lunched for 2 hours and it seemed like 20 minutes.

Then off to the library where I had parked the car. And a one hour (delightful) conversation with one of my volunteers. That was part of my former employment. Training and taking care of the shelving volunteers. I spent a good part of the hour waving and smiling at people as they came into the library.

I came home hours after I had left to find that G had vacuumed the floors, walked the dog and taken a nap. I also had a message. I was asked if I would come into the greenhouse next Saturday and teach "Growing Healthy Houseplants". So I am already starting to fill in the blank spaces on next week's calendar days.

I attempted Spaghetti Carbonara again last night for G's dinner. He remembers the Carbonara of Rome. So this is a daunting task. I had purchased diced pancetta last week and had eggs, Parmesan and pasta. Subconciously, I was preparing for this dish. I crisped up the pancetta with some garlic and a few sliced mushrooms. Set out a large bowl with half cup of egg beaters and half cup of shredded Parm well blended. When the pasta was al dente, I scooped it out of the boiling water and directly into the bowl and mixed everything together quickly, adding a spoonful of pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce. Then I added the contents of the frying pan. Fat and pancetta et al. Mixed again. Served. Waited. G had the most amazing expression on his face. I really had no idea if it was a "good thing" or a "bad thing". Turned out to be very good. It was a huge bowl of pasta. I had the remainder of the pasta plain. No sauce. No butter. No cheese.

While watching "Fringe" last night, I worked my way through another year of Country Home magazines. The recycle container is filling up with magazines. Soon, I will have an empty book shelf for something else. OR I will be able to finally sand and paint the bookcases. That's a lovely job for the winter months.

J and I were discussing retirement. We are both old enough to retire. But we like working. Just not all the time. J has a more professional job. We decided it would be perfect if it was possible to take time away from work when it got too tedious; not vacation. Time away. A few weeks or a few months without going to work but being at home. And then come back refreshed. I thought about G and think if he could just have two days in a row off, once a month, he would get enough sleep and return to work refreshed. People who have the weekends off are very lucky. G and I are both required to work one of the weekend days. G works Saturday because it's a very big day in the fast food world. He should be present. I usually work Saturdays at the greenhouse because there is more to do. I like to have work to do if I have to be at work. And if it's slow, I prefer to stay home.

I read my unemployment information booklet from cover to cover last night.

I have shirts to iron today. A dog to walk. A meeting to miss. (I don't like meetings) I have to choose between pizza or Mexican casserole. Or I could make tomato soup. But first I have to smell the cream and see if it's gone bad. It's good. SOUP!!! Which means I can have roasted beets and sauted kale. Happy Day! Just returned the pizza dough to the freezer.