chained to the stove

 It’s a ‘rainy day people’ sort of day with some of my favourite Gorden Lightfoot music playing on repeat to mark his passing yesterday. His greatest hits album has been played heavily since I was first diagnosed bipolar as it’s perfect for those days when I’m creeping into hypo-mania or those lower days… the melodies fill my brain, displacing negative thoughts as well as calming my thoughts.

I imagine that I can actually sing but alas!

When I was in my pre-teens I had an old record player in my room along with a selection of 45s and 78s leftover from when my uncle Graham lived with us. One of those 45s had ‘Pussy Willows’ on one side with ‘Black Day in July’ on the other. I grew up loving both those songs by Gorden Lightfoot.

Another song I often played on the ancient player with suspect wiring (I’d get shocked when I changed records), was “Drunken Driver" by Ferlin Husky… it was the start of my love of dirge music… I suppose “Black Day in July” would be another dirge song… thank goodness I didn’t know about Leonard Cohen back then or I might not have grown up…

“The bumper struck the little girl taking her life away

While the little boy in a puddle of blood in the ditch lying there did lay

The drunk man staggered from his car to see the damage that he had done

And he let out a yell you could hear for miles when he recognized his dying son”

If you do a search on Youtube you’ll find a rendition - it’s a sad sad song but now it just makes me laugh thinking about my 12 year old self listening to this song over and over - I’d play the stanza with ‘puddle of blood’ over and over… wacked out!

The rain has been coming down the past few days, sometimes in sheets, other times just a light drizzle, but enough to mostly keep us inside. Yesterday I spent the day chained to the stove making three new recipes and one that I’ve made once before: first I made bacon crackers which are basically crackers with bacon & brown sugar cooked in a low oven for over an hour. Then I made an apple pudding cake with apples from our trees, lots of cinnamon, and a bit of cake layer. Later, I popped a small roast into the instant pot with some pepperoncini peppers, ranch dressing and onion for some Mississippi style tacos. The tortillas took another hour to make.

Pat was the lucky recipient of my labours. The tacos were fantastic with the sauce from the roast to dip and a bit of sour cream to top it off. I gobbled mine down before Pat and Carm got half way through their first one - I’d starved myself all day in anticipation! The apple fritter cake finished the meal - it was still slightly warm from the oven so melted the ice cream in just the right way.

Today is the 36th anniversary of our first ‘date’! THIRTY SIX years!!!!! Carm was my upstairs neighbour in a 2 apartment house so in a sense we were living together from the beginning. Trial by fire! It was a risky move considering I would have had to move if things got sticky but luckily! Here we are 36 years later :-)

Lupa got the brunt of attention this morning when I brought out the clippers. She was pretty cute before the shearing but I wanted her to be at optimum tidiness/scruffiness for the Titanium reunion at the beginning of June. Carm helps to steady her so it goes really quickly compared to the poodles - she was done in just over 30 minutes - easy peasy!

Awesome!

“a day spent in the kitchen”

“a quick haircut”

“a few minutes of sunshine this afternoon”