Friday Contrasts

I was tired from Thursday’s adventures and slept in late, after 8:30. I rose and made local liberal coffee, Equal Exchange, and then started my morning as usual. I read the doom-laden news and updated my transactions in Quicken. I was happy to hear from my accountant the previous evening that my taxes were nearly done. Cornerstone Tax Service in Hillsboro got them done in about a week. Excellent. I owe $1,000 and am looking at a refund of $2,000 from the state of Oregon. Nearly perfect, though I had made a substantial prepayment for a quarter when I realized that my interest and dividend earnings had no withholding and my refunds for last year were counting, too.

(Susie’s flower opened today)

I am looking forward to finishing 2024.

I started on the blog, running late already, and it was a long account as Thursday was packed. I wrote until almost noon. I spoke to Deborah and texted here and there. After a break, I showered, shaved, dressed, and was ready to start my afternoon. It is a no-sale day for us liberals, meaning I limited my purchases to local, a few items I could only get at a retailer, and a chance to walk.

Air VW the Gray got me to Powell’s without incident, and I walked through the store a few times. After deciding to pass on a Sunday School class, I resisted a few interesting books on New Testament Greek. My timing for the class did not work—I am traveling often, and thus, I will move on to other things. I have plenty to do!

Mary Beard had a new paperback book on Rome, Emperor of Rome, and I got a copy for about $22. I only buy books about history, gaming stuff, have lots of footnotes, or are about magic tricks. Fiction and so on are usually in my Kindle. I have not yet worked out my library membership, but I will try to get that working soon.

I also got a lovely chocolate bar, as Powell’s Beaverton has a large candy section and other items that are hard to resist. I stopped by New Season’s and bought the minimal items I needed: shrimp and sausage for jambalaya. It was a warm and sunny day, and I wanted to cook something from The Big Easy. I noticed that the store was nearly empty.

(Notice the words in the glass.)

Next door is the furniture and stuff store City Home. Chaz, I talked to the sales folks, and they told me this was their newest and largest store. They also just put out some new items.

(When I saw this setup, I thought of my sister. When I sent her a photo, she thanked me for decorating my guest room to her taste. I left the stuff at the store. I was tempted by other items.)

I stopped at The 185th Corner veggie place and loaded up; it is a local place. For $24, I had a large bag of green freshness (I would have paid twice that or more at New Season’s). I then spotted their coffee and got a bag for too much. I have to grind it. It was lovely and locally roasted.

I finished Kolchak: The Nightstaker by Jim Rice. I liked the story and the style and can recommend it if you can find it. This book is about all that the author was paid for. It was a different time in the 1970s, and an author often went unpaid. The author’s estate copyrighted this book from a Kickstarter created by a fan.

I started Elric of Melniboné, and this version, a collection of the first books, has most of the stories in the correct order. I forgot how much I liked Michael Moorcock’s writing and appreciated a book in the proper order. A brain cookie and I picked up this volume, of two, in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the used bookstore B L M F Literary Saloon. The second volume is still there, waiting for my return. A reason to return.

I chopped the onions, crying intensely, celery, green pepper, and garlic. I located rice and other items in the pantry and seasoning shelf. I primarily followed the New Orleans School of Cooking recipe and my memory of Chef Reneé’s instructions for Jambalaya. I could hear his laughter and locally accented voice as I chopped, ordered, assembled, and finally cooked. Mine was more fresh-tasting than the smokey flavor of Reneé’s version, with a slight kick, but still good. I used the chef’s trick of adding some veggies at the end to create a bite. I called Corwin, and he came over and had some; he pronounced it good. He took a large container with most of the shrimp (I used pealed and deveined shrimp). As I get older, shrimp has less appeal to me (unintentionally punned). The next version will host the addition of muscles, clams, and a white fish.

Corwin and I tried the new coffee after grinding it. ‘Gather, Darkness’ was perfect with the food. I must admit I had three bowls. I put Deborah on speaker, and she spoke with us for a while as we enjoyed New Orleans-style deliciousness. I finished the dishes; Corwin had done most of them. Then, I returned to reading.

I read until after midnight, enjoying my trip back to Melniboné. I thought it would be fun to tell precursor stories to Elric, but I will settle for the complex tales from the existing canon. I had trouble putting the book down.

I soon slept, and while I cannot remember my dreams, I suspect I walked the dreaming city of Imrryr on the Island of Melniboné and maybe caught a few sounds of the song of pain, and my heart quickened like a native.

Thanks for reading.