And Other Bad Words
I was an only child… but it took a lot of effort.
—Alpha Child
We had been riffing on the Steven Wright joke, “When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box. I was an only child… eventually.” Alpha’s ad-lib made the joke that much darker. I am quite proud.
“Baba” plays the part of the matriarch and rents a house on the cape, then invites the families to come stay with her. Our responsibilities include making dinner (plus cleaning up) and enjoying ourselves.
This year was one of the rainiest summers in a long time, among the top 5 since record keeping began, but we still had plenty of time for fun.
We went on a whale watch out of Provincetown on Wednesday. It was really foggy and we didn’t see any whales, or anything at all, for almost two hours.
Suddenly, out of the fog, we stumbled across some whales that really showed off for a bit.
We discovered Skaket Beach, on the bay side of Orleans, on a beautiful afternoon.
The beach is very flat so as the tide retreats you can walk out very, very far.
There are natural tide pools that trap crustaceans. The kids had fun hunting hermit crabs and minnows. Tim dug up a couple of steamers to show the kids what lives beneath the sand.
Beta child made some new friends, as usual. Baba did, too, with a couple that lives in the next town over from us. Meghan and I had fun talking with them about local stuff, and listening to the husband grouse about local contractors and the crappy McMansions they put up.
A couple of days into our stay, a local hawk mother decided that her chicks were ready to leave the nest. One of the three wasn’t quite ready and complained, loudly, every remaining day of our stay.
The mother hawk, to her credit, never strayed too far away. The siblings showed up as well to coax him off his branch. This one, however, mostly hopped from tree to tree and demanded a nest and food.
Alpha child officially graduated from high school today!
Hot day, graduation was moved to morning to avoid 90+° F in the afternoon. (92° as I write this, expected to top out around 94° in a couple of hours.)
Afterwards, lunch with the grandparents at the Emerald Rose.
I’m very proud of Alpha. I’m also very proud of myself and @mom that we successfully launched a tiny human to adulthood.
I think this is the earliest that I’ve ever put air conditioners in the windows. Most years we make it until July. We used to go entire years without putting them in.
We’re just over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Most years past we would simply go to Meghan’s mother’s house, and she would put on a traditional dinner: boiled corned beef, boiled potatoes, and boiled cabbage.
Last year we ate a sad dinner on our own, as I had never made corned beef and cabbage before. I tried it in the slow cooker. It didn’t turn out very well. Lesson learned.
Due to the wonders of science and concentrated efforts, the world has vaccines in record time and we see the light at the end of the figurative tunnel. My mother-in-law has been vaccinated and graciously agreed to come to our house. And I’m taking another stab at making traditional Irish-American dinner.
Taken from How To Make Corned Beef:
Stovetop method: For a 5 pound brined corned beef brisket. Place the corned beef in a Dutch oven. Sprinkle with one tablespoon of pickling spice blend and pour in 4 cups beef broth. Add potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat, cover and cook for about 3 1/2 hours. Add water if necessary to keep brisket covered. Slice across the grain.
I don’t mind saying, it was delicious. But it might have been a side-effect of having company for the first time in a very, very long time.
We made two exceptions from tradition: I added garlic mashed potatoes, and we didn’t have Irish coffee after dinner.
This recipe was an instant hit. I have to make a double batch if I want leftovers for the next day.
Adapted from therecipecritic.com
When I was a kid I disliked soups and stews, and hated even the idea of lentil soup. (which, as a child, I somehow equated with Barbara Streisand – probably due to the publicity of her movie Yentl.) Fortunately I became more open-minded as an adult, and found that I absolutely love lentil soup. It’s very healthy for you, to boot.
The red lentils in this recipe break down and make a very creamy soup. Green and brown lentils may be substituted, but black lentils don’t work out well.
You can try other vegetables as substitutes or additions, including sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mushrooms, celery, or whatever you have on hand.
Adapted from The Absolute Best Lentil Soup.
This is our family dog. She is waiting for me to take her for a our regular after-dinner walk.
I am changing her name from “Butter” to “Aka Lana Lana” (“Hopeful Shadow” in Hawaiian) as she closely follows me around the house from the moment we finish dinner until I actually take her for a walk.
Last night, Beta spent half an hour out on the deck. She was wearing the wool cape I got her last Christmas. She had her new noise-cancelling headphones that block so many of the sounds that bother her. She used the new family telescope to check out the Pleiades.
That was pretty awesome.