World of mine Wednesday’s Ws

What’s top of my mind: Plans for the spring and summer. It’s time to get cracking or these seasons will slip away like sand between my fingers. I’ve already missed the opportunity to go to Iceland with chums; there is talk of going to Canada in July. None of this going to happen unless I sit down and make concrete plans. Brother #3 will probably want me to come to Michigan sometime in August. So many things I would like to do other than work, which is what’s likely to happen.

Where I’ve been: The Botanical Gardens. We took our friends to the local outside museum to see the display of Chichully glass, which is once again erected among the cacti. Someone looked at art and DougT looked for butterflies and Leon the Larger checked out the rocks. Urs Truly mostly looked at dudes in short pants and read bilingual signs to see if he could understand the Spanish.*

Where I’m going: Michigan. I go 29 March to tend Father while Brother #3 is out of town. Brother #2 comes in at the end to take over; we will overlap by day or so, which will be jolly. I think Brother #4 may be around as well. Brother #3 will leave out some boxes for us to sort through. I suspect he wants us to throw everything out on his behalf so he doesn’t feel guilty to do it himself. Some cousins sent Father a box of old letters from the days of his father, which I plan on reading to him. I will also have the dogs, the chickens, and the bees to attend.

What I’m watching: The sub-solar point. This is the spot on earth where the sun is directly overhead. When that happens there is no shadow at noon. That must be eerie. I found a website that gives me the location of the sub-solar point at any time of the day. I could watch this for hours. The vernal equinox approaches. As I write this the sun is ~ 1.0 S Latitude, getting ready to cross into the northern hemisphere. I wonder where this will happen.

What I’m reading: “The obstacle is the way” by Ryan Holiday. This treatise on Stoicism addresses what to do when so-called impediments and pitfalls happen on The Journey. The gist is the obstacles are things we journey through, they are not ‘things that get in the way’.

What I’m listening to: Silence. I am turning off the background music and podcasts more often than not these days. This gives me a relative quiet in which I can hear the clock ticking, the AC humming, and other soft sounds normally drowned out by greater decibels. This provides a lovely calm, one I find quite soothing.

What I’m eating: Asparagus. I bought some asparagus last weekend but it turns out one of our chums doesn’t like asparagus, so while they are chasing butterflies in Tucson I will cook the bunch for our own supper. Asparagus is not my favorite vegetable but it makes a nice spring treat. I rub mine with some olive oil and lemon pepper and briefly broil them.

Do you like asparagus? How do you cook them?

Who needs a good slap: My cousin X. I am trying to keep a rapport with some of my relations who do not share my views. We do this by not sensibly not talking about politics. Cousin X is posting photos on FB of high gas prices, putting them next to photos of gas prices that were in 2016-2020 to imply the current high cost is Biden’s fault and if Trump was president it would not be so. This assumption has so many faults to it it makes my eye cross. I despise correlation = causation stupid logic.

On a 1-5 scale, I give my cousin X two slaps.

What I’m planning: Eggplant parmesan. After a few failed attempts in restaurants to get a good one, I plan on making some of my own. I am doing careful research as to what to do/what not to do that it comes out crispy not soggy. Fingers crossed I can make it right.

I am also planning on wearing my green/white/gold bowtie on 17 March. I have no Irish genetics whatsoever but it is jolly good fun to let my hair down a bit that day wearing green and having some Irish whisky never mind the cabbage and corned beef there’s a good fellow.

What’s making me smile: The back porch. Now that it is cleaned up and the dead plant pots replenished it is decent again to make one actually want to sit outdoors. I like to be there after dinner, after dark, with a good book and a good snort at hand. Lovely.

*Not bad.