Another quiet Sunday

The cough worsened as the day continued, so I took the afternoon off and just cooked and watched Classic Doctor Who. I was on the last episode of The Third Doctor (1974-5). The cough got worse, but it was responding to Cough and Cold, High Blood Pressure (HBP), antihistamines, cough suppressants, and ibuprofen. This suggests that it is a remnant of asthma and allergies. I have faced this before. My best solution is to rest.

I rose early, around 7, and started writing the blog. I talked to Deborah, who had invested the weekend in working data for arranging classes and took a break to speak to me for a while. We miss seeing each other and have started counting down to Deborah’s visit in February—less than five weeks away.

While Deborah returned to crunching data, I finished and published a blog about Saturday, cleaned up, shaved, and dressed for church. I switched to grey slacks, a gray dress shirt, a Pride tie, and a blue sweater vest, my new look for church (my suits are now quite big on me). I found my black shoes, Cole Hann’s, and black socks but wore my usual wool brown hat.

Air Ford (Escape) took me to First United Methodist Church in Beaverton. About 140 years ago, the congregation started at the first Methodist Meeting House in Beaverton. The current location was a land gift of the local families, along with the park across from the church, which, at the time, was a field far from the town center. The current buildings, the second set built on the land, were assembled in the 1950s and expanded to the present arrangement for the next twenty years.

I had coffee and soon was listening and singing through the usual service. Dondrea played the cello and the base today. The choir, waiting for a slow-moving member, sang beautifully. The sermon was connected to the creation stories of the Hebrew scriptures, known as Genesis, but moved to the story of Cain’s murder of Abel. Pastor Ken focused on Cain’s claim, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Ken’s answer was “yes!” Ken claims we are not meant to be alone and focused on our selfish needs but to be in a community. When, as with Cain, we focus on just what we want and act alone, we deny community, and both lose. Ken also dwells on the creation story of Eve and points out that it is often used to degrade the position of women. He instead suggests that cooperation and community are the real focus of these stories. God’s plan, according to Ken, is for us to work together, respect each other, and build strong and lively communities.

I stayed around for a while and had coffee. I begged off of a Bible study and headed home. There, I did the dishes and soon made a mess in the kitchen. I decided to make a messy Italian-style dish but used eggplant instead of pasta. I peeled and sliced the eggplants, chopped the slices into cubes, salted the cubes, and let them sit for hours as the salt removed the bitterness. I then tried to make a sauce but got distracted and started again after dumping the burned stuff out; f**k. The remake had me setting the alarm every five minutes to stir.

I watched Classic Doctor Who while the onions, diced fresh tomato, green pepper, and garlic cooked. I then added a can of peeled tomatoes that I carefully mashed (they will spray if you are careless). I let that cook on low for an hour. I baked some sweet Italian-style sausage, cooled them, and sliced them into squares. I washed the salt off the eggplant (there was a pool of dark liquid). I then put them in a towel and squeezed them, lots of liquid, and then took the now-ready eggplant into the pan with the sausage.

I uncorked some red wine and poured a glass. I had about two.

Shredded mozzarella layers with the mix and then dabs of ricotta cheese created a familiar baked product, except there were no slices of eggplant. I roasted it for thirty minutes, and it was not cooked. Another forty-five minutes produced a better product. It was delicious.

The Classic Doctor Who has now moved to the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker’s version, which most of us older watchers would say is The Doctor. One can see Tom Baker’s zaniness starting, and soon, the show will move to its friendly structure, which will define the show until it was canceled in the next decade (and after three new actors follow as The Doctor).

I try to read after a shower and dressed in my PJs. Soon, I was nodding off. I managed to ignore the wheezing and sleep. I woke a few times but rolled over, but I rose to prove hydration.

Thanks for reading.