Who's a Fat Bastard - Dinner with the Curley's.

February 8, 2015

      I never left the house all day. As a mater of fact, I never got out of my pyjamas and barely looked out the window. It took me over five hours to write yesterdays blog. I was up at 8:00 and with two cups of drippy Joe trying to shock my brain into activity I sat in front of the computer from 9 - 2. Flying fingers of fury pecking out a weeks worth of memories. The amazing part of that was I could remember back a whole week. Is this the result of old age or of forty years of self medicating catching up to me!
      After writing yesterdays blog, it took me until mid afternoon, I procrastinated about doing my workout until it was too late to do my workout so I didn't do it. Instead I was going to take my guitar over to Mama Lee's place and entertain the old folks with gravelly voiced country songs played badly. They're mostly deaf and can't really hear what I'm doing, but they smile and tap their toes. Though not always to the beat of the music. I didn't do that either. Instead I had lunch. Sausage and eggs with sour kraut.
      After lunch I sat there in a sausage induced vegetative coma until at 4:30 the lovely Lisa woke me out of my semi catatonic state to take me to dinner at Annie and Willy's.

Willy and Mac

We were supposed to be there between 4:00 and 4:30. Since it was 4:30 and I was still in my pyjamas, that seemed unlikely. I pulled on a pair of pants, ran a toothbrush over my teeth and splashed a little water on my face and I was good to go!
"You're not wearing those are you?" the lovely Lisa asked as I stood beside the car in my bedroom slippers.

Really??

I went back in the house and put on shoes.
      When I got back outside the lovely Lisa pointed out the flowers that were already blooming. There have been Snowbells blooming for a week or so and now the first Crocus was up.

That's not good! It's the first week of February.

The average temperature has been 12 degrees. The lovely Lisa Ski Bunny has only schussed the slope twice all this season! 8 degrees and raining doesn't make for much snow. It is however tricking the flora into spring like activity. I can't believe that the weather is going to stay like this through the rest of the "winter." The apple and plum trees are budding and the Daffodils are coming up at a tremendous rate.

Everything is starting to grow. If this keeps up I'm going to have to mow the lawn! Well, what's left of the lawn after the Chafer Beetle infestation.

One day of sunshine and the damn thing will grow six inches. I fearlessly predict that in the third week of February an Arctic cold front will sweep down from Tuktuyuktuk and frost the berries off our Holly tree.

I wonder, if that happens will we not get any fruit this year? We have the best plums and apples and the Grandkids are finally big enough to climb into the high branches to pick them for me!
      The Rat dogs were in the car and we were on our way to dinner with the Curley's. Willy was cooking up a prime rib he won at the legion meat draw. Usually when we eat at Annie and Willy's we eat out on their deck. Lots of room and a great view of the Fraser River. This will be the first time we have eaten in their condo. Gord and Penny were already there when we showed up about 5:00.

Where's the Beef??

The Rat dogs went off like a fire alarm when we came through the door. Four Rat dogs bouncing off the walls and each other. Okay, three Rat dogs, Mac has outgrown his Rat dog moniker and is now five or six times the size of Elvis.

Mac the monster!

      While no one was paying attention, I put the Raptors game on TV with the sound muted and turned on the stereo for music. "You can turn the sound on the game if you want." Willy said. The withering look I got from the lovely Lisa told me Willy didn't know WTF he was talking about!
"No, this is good Willy." I said. "I can never get enough ABBA music!" I lied. That's what was on the cd player. Five songs later, I met my Waterloo and went into their bathroom checking the medicine cabinet for whatever pharmaceuticals Willy was on that make you like ABBA!
      Willy is the one who does the cooking in their family. He has become a very good cook. When he started he used to make lots of Scottish dishes like Mince n Totties and Sausage and Onion Stew. Boiled meats are a Scottish passion. As a child I dreaded roast beef. I knew instinctively that beef wasn't supposed to be grey! Throw a pot roast on the stove covered in water and cook it till it's the colour of the February sky.
      Willy has improved dramatically. The roast was cooked to medium and was meat coloured and juicy.

Beautiful Prime Rib

Well done on the ends for Willy and a nice pink in the centre for the rest of us. Garlic mashed potatoes, a loaf of French bread and three veggies.

Asparagus, carrots and fried leeks

A most excellent dinner. After dinner the smokers headed out onto the deck and the rest of us reloaded our coffee cups and settled in to wait for desert. Willy makes a wicked Trifle. Birds custard and tinned fruit cocktail. Just like Mom used to make! I had a small bowl of it while we had Myth busters on TV blowing stuff up. Then I had Willy go sneak me another helping while the lovely Lisa wasn't looking.
      I don't know where the time went but I guess that's how it is with old friends. You can sit and talk endlessly about nothing and yet when we left at 10:00 I was thinking, that was a great night.

That's all I've got

Till Next time

Peace out Y'all

©2015 Dave Squatch Ward