August 8, tricky day

Today's Handsome Son's birthday, yay him. It's also Handsome Partner's anniversary. Our son was with him at his last moments.

This makes it a complicated day, though we decided quickly to celebrate each person on their birthday, to lift the weight off the day a bit.

So I baked a chocolate cake for Handsome Son

sent him a card, and a greeting text at the hour he was born, and he'll be over next week for a little celebration. 

Meanwhile I went out early to pick these, they're doing well this year 

and to provide mosquitoes with a nice breakfast.

I did find a suitable aquarium for SG, Mitch 

98lbs empty. A gallon weighs about 8lbs. Times 75, plus 98. It adds up.

And I'm wondering what to make next that's portable and I think I'll try this 

Happy day everyone, some days are harder to navigate than others, but we've done it before, we can do it again.

Sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula 

Plum crumble, plumbing and democracy

 Yesterday I did make the, drum roll

plum crumble, first helping served here, cook's privilege, with yogurt.  I used a Martha Stewart oat crumble recipe for the topping, and macerated the plums according to Rose Levy Birnbaum, with sugar, salt, ginger, lemon zest and cinnamon.

Whenever Handsome Son makes it over here to celebrate today's birthday, this is part of it. I have to put it in the freezer, after I took a helping over to Gary last evening, so that there's plenty available for Handsome Son.

Then, today already stressful, Handsome Partner's anniversary, the kitchen decided to take my mind off it. While I was making tea for breakfast,  after I'd rinsed dishes, I heard a weird dripping sound. Looked under the sink and the cabinet was filling up with water.  Oh. 

Gary came over, diagnosed that it  didn't need a plumber, it was running through the bottom of the disposall he would get a new one later this morning, and install it. He doesn't trust me to buy the right thing, which is probably wise. Also kind.

So the current state of the kitchen. The cabinet is mopped up and cleaner than in years, and I'm doing dishes in the downstairs bathroom. 

About democracy, we're all counting on Ohio voters, some of whom are blogistas, to vote NO on the one proposition on the Ohio ballot today. This is an attempt to raise significantly, to 60%,  the percentage of votes required to place any public question on the ballot going forward. It's a referendum on referenda. 

There are other state elections today, and, as always, we need to do whatever it takes to locate our polling places and vote. And remember if you're already in line when the polling place closes, you can not be turned away, no matter what anyone says, or how eager the officials are to get home.

Vote suppression has been happening for years, even in this bluest of states. Usually it's been busted, like the Trenton (State capital) voting official who, a few years ago,  "accidentally" moved 35,000 votes from our democratic House  incumbent to an unheard of right wing opponent, giving the win to the right winger. Briefly. In two days it was exposed, the official no longer worked there and the right winger vanished, never heard of since.

A few years ago I went to vote, same district, same candidate running for re-election, found my regular polling place closed, door locked, no flag raised. This was two hours after the polls were supposed to be open, meaning early commuters couldn't vote on the way to work. 

It's in a school building, and schools are open here in election days, civic lesson for kids,  also a  great chance for a PTA  bake sale. So I marched into the school office and demanded to know what was up. The flustered lady in the office ran through the building to alert the poll watchers that they needed to get moving. After I explained that my next call was to a judge to report this lawbreaking, that is.

They opened up, ran up the flag, and said oh we didn't realize, etc. I explained I could still file a complaint, and they practically waited on me hand and foot. They do say that this kind of blunder can be ascribed to incompetence rather than malice. But this is a small town and these guys had been working polls for years, and I voted very pointedly, and they were on notice. Never happened again. They know me too!

I do wonder though if they hadn't had the fear of judges put in them, how many votes in this very blue, very foreign-born district they would have succeeded in suppressing.  Worth fighting for. After what I went through to get the vote, don't get between me and my ballot!

 In other news, Handsome Partner has been gone twelve years, or maybe that's minutes.

Happy day, everyone, also happy birthday to Handsome Son, he really is, now mid fifties. It's strange to see your son going grey, but I'm so blessed to have a son who's a friend. 

This is a poignant day chez Boud.

Birthday , handsome Son! And well done, Dems

I have a card ready and was hoping to deliver it yesterday for him to get when he arrived home from work. But it was too hot to venture out, still in heat wave mode. 

And there's cake

Chocolate with chocolate chips and cherries, chocolate icing, waiting with its tinfoil hat, to celebrate whenever that happens. 

He's very philosophical about his age anyway, but just in case

And, on the subject of a brilliant couple of weeks for Democrats, here's me, putting my own advice into action, after yesterday's brilliant latest legislation on climate and corporate taxes

So  let's do that. Stop to rejoice that,  in the face of the evil which has overcome the other party, we have a president and Congress who can still get good things done.

The best definition of power is the ability to get good things done. And it's important to recognize our own power even when that seems small. Stepping down from political soapbox now, to do a little happy dance.

Son's happy birthday

The menu was chicken cordon bleu, with pasta in red sauce, followed by chocolate walnut cake decorated with chocolate icing and half walnuts

Topped with butter, ready for the oven

Table laid ready, flowers, like all the best restaurants. Fresh grated parmesan, hot peppers. Sun tea with lemon.

 This went over handsomely, and there are few leftovers. In fact more chicken was called on,  keeping warm in the oven.Really successful. First dinner together since February 2020. This is a restart. 

We'll do it again in September. I don't have the energy to pull out all the stops more than once a month! But this one, along with the nice check beside his plate, was a very good event. 

This year his birthday, aside from being 08/08, auspicious, is a multiple of 18, very auspicious, so with a multiplier factored in, it made a substantial gift. Which tickled me and pleased him.

And I have several dinners to reheat now. This chicken works very well that way.

All in all a good time.

Plenty to write about..

Plenty of material today, what with current reading of David Rosenfelt's  nonfiction about his real life, not the first person he writes from in his dog related detective fiction.

All about dog rescue, which leads me to my own long history of strays showing up and applying to live here, cats and dogs, birds who cross my path like the lovely Emily Hope, a lutino cockatiel, not this one but this is right idea

More about all that another day. I have a lot of stories, some very funny.

Meanwhile I did shop a little for spinning material

  and yes, this is the actual stuff on its way. After the  robe is done, and relating to the upcoming doll. More later.

But mainly this is part of the reason I can't write much right now

Handsome Son's birthday tomorrow, don't know when he's free to come over for a dinner, but the cake is ready. And in the freezer is a large dish of chicken cordon bleu, which I'll serve with pasta in red sauce

That's the good part.

But tomorrow is a complicated day, since it's also Handsome Partner's anniversary. Always a difficult day with so many memories and swirling emotions even after ten  years.

So, bear with me. I have all kinds of interesting stuff to tell you, and not quite enough bandwidth right now.

I shall return.