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WELL, NOT EXACTLY: YOUR CORRESPONDENT HAS JUST RETURNED FROM ANOTHER OVERNIGHT with Motherdear for the Easter weekend.
Which, it just so happens, saw some snow on top of a major snowfall on Good Friday which disrupted things to such an extent that many churches had to cancel Good Friday services for the first time in many years--even if such is a quirk of the traditional formula for establishing the observance of Easter on the Sunday after the first full moon after the 21 March Vernal Equinox.
In any case, Saturday afterlunch saw Your Correspondent picked up by brother Dennis and driven to Motherdear's residence in Caledonia, Minnesota, some 40 mile south of Winona as the crow flieth--arriving with snow from Friday's storms still on the ground, by and large (yet some debris from snow-plowing operations in Caledonia could still be evident on the streets, prompting moi to shovel open the driveway and kerb around Motherdear's residence soon after arrival). Motherdear, for her part, still had the TV on @ maximum volume, as seems to be her habit; the price, I've been told, of her not wanting to wear a hearing aid prescribed her (although she hinted earlier this morning, replacing a battery in the existing hearing aid, that she might want a new one fitted).
On top of that, considering her age (86 going on 87), she complained of the backache, rheumatoid arthritis and lumbago flaring up time and again of late because of the seasonal change in weather patterns about this time of year. And with her TV on as loud as it is, I often have to speak up for her to understand what I was saying in conversation. (She acknowledges where, for the sake of maintaining mental alertness, she makes a habit of watching Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune every night. That, and the news. She's not the kind to want cable or digital TV, thinking FreeVee is "more than good enough" for her viewing needs.)
Turns out she also has another problem medical: Itchy scalp of the kind beyond the help of even Selsun Blue, requiring a special prescription-only medicated shampoo as costs $100/bottle, unlikely to be covered by Medicare Part D, another of those specimens of Republican excesses in Zealotry and True Belief as she takes issue with for undermining the soverignty and soverign identity of the country. (She agreed with me that John McCain's choice of Rev. Rod Parsley as "spiritual advisor" could be the death knell for McCain's campaign as revelations emerge of Rev. Parsley's hatemongering and bigoted teachings.)
Dinner last evening: Hot dish I've long been fond of--noodles, canned corned beef, cheese and peas, prepared by a neighbour of hers.
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AND EVEN IF THE CALENDAR SAID EASTER SUNDAY, THERE WAS A LIGHT DUSTING OF SNOW here in the Auld Home Patch as I woke up this morning and brought in Motherdear's Sunday paper. Brekkie: Reconstituted instant coffee and two toasted English muffins.
Just before the noon hour, Jesse (a nephew of mine by way of Dennis) picked me and Motherdera up to go down to Dennis' house for the dinner: Boneless Cure-81 ham marinated with ginger ale, brown sugar, pineapple and cloves; two varieties of potatoes (oven-roasted with onion soup mix and cheesy such topped with crumbled Ritz crackers); Jell-O fruit salad; assorted relishes I don't quite care for; biscuits ... and, for dessert later, French silk and peanut butter pies. Dennis, Debbie (his wife), Jessie, his wife and myself made up the dinner party.
No less than two snow showers were discerned during the course of, and following, the Easter dinner in and around Freeburg, where Dennis has his residence, interspersed with sporadic sunshine which helped melt this late run of snow.
Before the dessert course, Dennis, Debbie, Jessie and wife played euchre, a card game I seem to know nothing of, not having played same in my own time.
And just after 16h15, Dennis and Debbie drove me back ... even if there was an episode along Hwy. 26 between Brownsville and LaCrescent which saw Tootsie, their per Shar-pei, become sick in the car to the extent that Dennis had to pull off to the side of the road and get napkins for to clean up the canine mess. Dull and gray throughout, with a brief spell of sleet heading into Brownsville being the only serious precipitation coming back.
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AND SO, YOUR CORRESPONDENT RETURNS to the blogging routine after the Easter hiatus of sorts. As always, expect him to remain as opinionate as ever.
I hope, too, that you had a nice Easter.
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