I rose without an alarm on Wednesday around 7ish and found the coffee waiting for me. The end of the Sleep Monk coffee from Christmas (thanks, AJ, Steve, and Nikki). I took my meds, grabbed a slice of Irish-style ginger molasses cake and a banana, and headed to the office. The sky was gray, and the sunrise was shades of gray. No blue. The Oregon winter is back with Oregon Mist returning us to our usual damp, but not too damp days and nights.
The blog came easily to me, and I soon recalled Tuesday and created a story of the day. Deborah teaches on Tuesday, and I spoke to her later. We get just a few texts exchanged while she works on Tuesday.
Most of my day was spent reading, enjoying Charles Stross’s latest Laundry book, number 14. Also, the TTRPG (TableTop Role Playing Game) version of Laundry should be published in a few months (it is more than a year late). I have the previously published version, which I have used a few times and enjoyed.
I continue to write all morning, and soon it will be published. There are a few distractions. I planned to write some Dungeons & Dragons and start looking into launching a Roll20 campaign. But I never get that focused.
I fry some bacon. I want some cooked bacon to add to salads and maybe put in a sandwich. I also discovered an ant invasion of the kitchen, and I managed to spray that without ruining the bacon (which ends up in the fridge once cooked and later bagged to be ready to use). I spray the bathroom, vent in the office, and the pests are gone. Ick!
I reheat the leftover gnocchi in a meat sauce and make a salad, taking my last slightly faded carrot and using the peeler to add carrot strips to the salad. The last of the Olive Pit green olives, picked up in Corning, California, last year, when I was driving back from LA in the EV. I add my sliced, flavored, and toasted baguette to the salad. I read while I am eating instead of watching YouTube. I can see the story of Bob in the Laundry in my mind. I read faster and faster as the story heats up. I missed the protagonist Bob and Mo, who have not appeared in books as the main characters for years.
I start doing laundry in the morning. I have only one load of mixed items.
I dress and soon decide I need to do something besides eat and read, though I am not sure that is true. I board Air VW the Gray, which seems pleased with itself now that it has received an expensive realignment. It is likely that I am imagining that the EV exudes smugness since the dealership.
It seems a long drive to Hillsboro, and there is easy parking on Main Street today. I bought some sign letters at an antique store to see if they are the right size for the church sign. If so, I will be back. I walk through the town and see that the Axe Throwing Bar (alcohol and axes seem a strangely unsafe mix to me, and certainly not what I think of when I hear ‘AA’) has smoked chicken wings, and that has my attention. The usual salt-sugar twice-fried version I am not interested in much, but large smoked wings are something else. I manage 2,500 steps, which, while not great, is something.
I visited the giant sequoia redwoods in Hillsboro. They are only 150 years old, planted by a pioneer, and already massive. The area has been updated with a bench and water passing through paving.
I return to the house, get out the thin New York Strip I ordered from Whole Foods in my grocery order, salt it, and set it out (should have salted it yesterday and set it in the fridge). I read. I then make polenta with milk and water. I seldom order it and have never made it before. It is cooked cornmeal. The steak is baked at 200°F (a smoker is recommended, but I have only a stove) for 45 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature of 120°F. I then heat a cast-iron pan to very hot, but with too much avocado oil, and brown the steak on both sides. This is Alton Brown’s receipt. He uses an even hotter pan with lots of smoke.
Dinner is delicious (I slice it with a sharp knife and eat the slices with a fork). The book plays a movie in my mind while I enjoy my dinner. I have apple sauce as a dessert and even a small slice of Irish-style bread.
I read and then dress for bed. I did not finish the book, but started to nod off and dream of other adventures with Bob and Mo. I turn off the light and sleep before it gets late.
I have an ultrasound of a mass in my neck on Thursday morning in Portland, if insurance works.
Thanks for reading.
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