Thursday Games, Food, and Rain

Around midnight on Thursday, the rains halted. The water reached my rose bush and was the most we have seen in a few years. It was about two inches of rain in about twelve hours. The ground was soaked by the earlier rains that day, and our usual local flooding, sort of large puddles here, and some local creeks and rivers overflowing elsewhere. Writing this on Friday morning, the waters are receding already.

I got up around 7 and had some coffee I had prepared the night before. I had a 9, and so soon I was in the shower and all that to make the appointment with Jack at the church. There via Air VW the Gray, we soon resolved the outstanding issues (except for a light switch that needs to be fixed).

I headed back home, wrote the blog, and found more coffee. I had made scones the night before (forgot to put that in the blog), a bit undercooked, but the Lemon Ginger was bright. I had that with coffee while writing the blog. Once that was done, published, and decided to let the rain remain outside while I stayed inside.

I had a chicken cordon bleu from Market of Choice, roasted carrots as a side (I overcooked them to near-mush), and couscous as the starch. I like to make a great lunch once in a while, then just have snacks for dinner (if anything). I took the premade, stuffed, and breaded chicken and grilled it on a small non-stick pan until all sides were browned. I then added it to the already peeled and split carrots, which were baking in some oil and salt. The digital thermometer, getting the goods out of the oven, read hot enough. I had cooked raisins and Indian-style spices in butter and set them aside. I added the couscous to that and then hot water to finish. Soon I had a nice lunch.

I decided to buy Moonraker, the old Roger Moore James Bond movie. It had been showing up in my feeds of late. I forgot how dated these old Bond movies are. Though Tim Cook or Elon easily fit the mood for the villain, Hugo Drax. And yes, Dr. Goodhead is the name from the original author. Jaws, not the shark, makes his appearance in this film. It is a ridiculous film.

Corwin appeared. We get out Fate of the Fellowship of the Ring and play until about 3, as Mariah wanted to meet again for the holidays in Portland. At first, I did not want to travel in the wet, but then I thought it would be fine; it had rained here before, and I couldn’t let the rain stop me.

Air VW the Gray traveled in the wet darkness as the sun was gone, soon as it was near the Winter Solstice. Beaverton was slower than the raindrops, and various drivers seemed scared, and there was lots of braking for nothing. We made it through the usual slow spots and crossed a bridge to reach Hopworks off Powell.

Mariah was waiting for us, and she got a present of the presidential library magnets (Nixon, Carter, and JFK) I had been collecting for her, but kept forgetting to bring. I had an Old Fashioned and shared fries and pretzels instead of dinner. We talked about travel, the holidays, and some of our dreams.

We said our goodbyes and will meet again in 2026. The drive back was dark and usual. Corwin and I, once at the house, had more coffee (I had switched to coffee at Hopworks as I had to drive in the dark) and finished the LOTR game. We used different characters this time, and it played well. Corwin focused on destroying the Dark Lord’s troops (we had Gandalf and other characters who were good at stopping them). I played Frodo and dodged the bad guys until I had enough resources to reach Mordor, and we made our roll. A win, though seven dice with six Nazguls! I had three rerolls and rolled almost all blanks, a lucky day!

After that, Corwin headed home, and I watched another Halo episode. While it was interesting, it wasn’t enough of a story to recommend it. It is for fans of Halo.

Deborah sent me a cookbook, The Talisman of Happiness by Afa Boni. This book, finally revised in English and for American cooks, has been the standby, according to what I have read, in Italy, and is now available to Americans. It has over 1,600 recipes! I enjoyed flipping through the book and thinking about cooking a few items! I sent one to Deborah, too, without knowing she sent me one.

Time disappeared, and soon I was reading in bed. Sleeping lightly, at best. I woke at 4 and finally slept after getting up for a while.

Thanks for reading!