I had a very relaxing day today. I walked outside a lot, since the temperature was so mild, and I baked spaghetti squash and made cranberry sauce for the first time. It's not hard, and the recipe I found online suggested adding blueberries, so I threw a handful in. It seemed delicious to me, but I wasn't sure what everyone else at Rich's house would think.
Originally Rich had said he would have a small group for dinner this year, and someone gave him a twelve-pound turkey so I didn't provide the bird this year. Soon the number had ballooned to nearly twenty people, and I said the turkey wouldn't be large enough, did he want me to get a second one? but he said no, he had gotten a turkey breast to supplement it. There was a family with three boys, so that was a lot of fun. People brought all sorts of salads and vegetables, including the family, who brought sweet potatoes from their garden and butternut squash soup also made from produce from their garden. My spaghetti squash was from my former garden plot, so it wasn't just vegetables, it was locally grown vegetables. The mother of the family had also made her own kombucha, and it was delicious. The guy who always brings desserts brought three today, and the father of the family made a pumpkin pie from scratch, but I took a bite of it and didn't finish it. He asked about it and I said I was full (I had shared my other desserts with Travalon), so he took my leftovers, tried a bite, and said, "This isn't my best pie." Which was more why I hadn't eaten the rest than just being full, but I hadn't wanted to say so. I have made some doozies of desserts myself over the years, like the pumpkin tofu cheesecake that someone said would NEVER fly in Paris. That may be the funniest insult that has ever been lobbed at me, except for the time I asked if there were any loons on the lake where Anna Banana II's family has a cottage, and Tiffy said, "Besides you, Famous?" People did eat most of the spaghetti squash, but they really raved about my cranberry sauce. I should have made a double or even triple portion; I think we each got a small spoonful. But I'm gratified that everyone else thought it was as delicious as I did.
I was telling El Vegetariano and a woman who often comes to brunch after Mass about how much Travalon and I enjoy watching The Office, and for some reason the woman thought that meant I would also love some action show she really enjoys. I don't know why loving a comedy show about the workaday world would imply any interest in an action show, but I said I would keep that in mind. This wasn't enough for the woman, who insisted I watch a clip of the show featuring a smokin' hot actor, which may be why she loves the show so much. Me, I love The Office precisely because the people on it are so real-looking - even the attractive people are like someone you might see walking down the street and think, "That person is cute," not someone who would make you stop in your tracks and go, "Whoa! Stop the presses!!! How can someone that good-looking even exist?!?!"
***Warning: Graphic description ahead***
Please skip this paragraph if you are at all squeamish. When I was a teenager, my friends and I were once biking through a nature preserve when we saw a crow carrying something furry in its beak. As we approached, it dropped the furry thing and flew off, and we looked down at it expecting to see a small rodent, but instead it was the head of a rabbit. The rumor was that some group called Rama Bahara held satanic rituals in the caves in this nature preserve, so I assumed they had beheaded the unfortunate lagomorph during one of these rituals. But then today as I was taking a rosary walk in the neighborhood, I came across a rabbit head. Since I'm fairly sure none of the neighbors are Satanists (although I guess you never know), I am assuming a coyote was responsible, and maybe that was also true for that long-ago beheaded rabbit in my hometown. So then I looked up "Rama Bahara" and could only find something about a cult headed by a guy named Rama Behera, but nothing about them beheading rabbits, and they were based in the northern part of my current state, not the one I grew up in. Anyway, I wouldn't say two beheaded rabbits thirty-five years apart in two different states indicates anything. If more rabbit heads start showing up around town, then I'll have to rethink this.
Famous Hat
