I just had one of the nicest weekends in a long time. I say I had one because Vicky started hers working... so I'm sure she can think of nicer ways to spend a weekend.
But as she was working, I was making soup. Don't worry. I plan to post the recipe tomorrow. It was the perfect weather for soup, a bit chilly and drizzly, and I was ready for it. I had it in mind after Christmas, when we froze the remaining ham and hambone off our HoneyBaked Ham. I bought some beans and some kale and got to work. I started by boiling the hambone in some chicken stock and water, removing the meat, and letting it simmer, simmer, simmer. All day long, our home was filled with that perfect smell of soup cooking.
I was in the garage at my computer, playing WoW. It was my last free weekend before school starts so I wanted to get as much WoW in as possible. I'd play for 15 minutes, stir the soup, play, stir, play, stir. All day long. It was great.
And when Vicky got home, we had some great soup, watched some great TV (okay, it was crap - Desperate Housewives & My Name is Earl - but we like it), had a little wine... good stuff.
We started our Sunday at IHOP. My pancake addiction comes as no surprise to anyone and, while IHOP's are far from the best (far from mediocre) pancakes, Vicky had heard about IHOP's ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKE SPECIAL!!!... so... We had pancakes. Actually, Vicky ate healthy. I had pancakes. I had 10 pancakes. Mmmmmmm....
From there, we hit the road, heading out to Tom's Farm in Corona. Driving up the 91, we saw a lot of the devastation from our recent fires. It was horrible. But the thing that really caught my attention was the word EVADE, because I saw it tagged onto buildings and billboards - three times on Sunday. Very strange. I don't know what the deal is but it is a strange word to use in graffiti.
Our plan at Tom's Farm was to load up on some healthy, yummy stuff. Our schedule won't allow us to start hitting a local Farmer's Market until February so we thought we'd enjoy Tom's Farm this time, instead. We bought some chard and some mushrooms for tonight, to saute with a little onion and garlic. We also purchased a small ton of other veggies, went home and made a huge salad for dinner (with more bad TV: Burn Notice and Psych!). Yum!
But while we were out in Corona, Vicky saw a sign for a Bank Owned Home for sale. We'd taken a bit of a detour. Vicky wanted to see it so, following the signs with some difficulty, we went into the house. It was a beautiful home and I would have bought it in a heartbeat. Five bedrooms, three or four baths - it was immense. And being sold by the bank, I expected the price to be... What? Just short of insane. And the folks who left, took every fixture, every feature, every everything that wasn't nailed down. This house would need a lot of work! I feel bad that I can't afford to give Vicky better things but, with school and my writing, I'm trying. Thankfully, Vicky agreed with me about the house... and we kept going...
On our way home, I started telling Vicky about this idea I have for a play. And it's a good idea. It could be funny. But there's one wrinkle that I didn't mention that struck me this morning on the way in to work. The play centers on a person's decision to take his life, which is something I'm familiar with, but an epiphany this morning made me realize that it may be too late for me to write this one. You see, once upon a time, suicide was easy for me to write about... because, after all, I'd been there. The problem, though, is that the time I'd been there was a very long time ago. So, when I think about suicide now, I can't think of many reasons to do it - and you have to be able to think of every wrinkle to be able to write about it. When I think of this character killing himself, I think, "Why would he?" and then I realize I don't know. I can't think of a reason that I understand well enough to actually write about. Of course, I could write about a guy losing his wife - but haven't we been down that road enough times? This isn't to say I won't write the play; I probably will. It just means that there's more thinking that needs to be done before I'm ready to step up to the edge of the Grand Canyon once again.
And that was my weekend. Nothing monumental. Nothing extreme. Just a nice time with the woman I love doing the things I love.
You can't beat that.
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