Gonnachange

That's terrible about the two horses; even though race horses at this level are high performing athletes they're also very fragile.

Dinner Tonight

Baked breaded chicken leg quarters with a garden salad and some wild rice.

Gonnachange

As I hoped for last night was a quiet evening at home reading and listening to music. I'm about to start cooking breakfast for my wife, daughter, and her boyfriend and it will be the world premiere of the apple wood smoked maple bacon I made a couple of weeks ago.

No big plans for the day aside from getting a run done.

Gonnachange

The bacon was a huge hit, to the point where my daughter asked me to make BLT's for dinner. So I did. Later, after my short run I threw a baseball around with my daughter.

This morning saw me at the gym working with my trainer; that will be my exercise for the day. Dinner tonight is leftovers: salmon, chicken, noodle kugel, and salad.

I've started to think about my menu for Sunday's small BBQ; I'd like to decide by Thursday which gives me plenty of time.

SoberLeigh

My last cholesterol test came back so well that I am going to treat myself to a delicious BLT once the tomatoes are in season!!!!!

I love noodle kugel; I haven't had it in ages.

Gonnachange

I honestly can't remember the last time I ate a BLT. Many, many years ago I'm sure. In season tomatoes are the best!

Kugels are so versatile and unless someone is avoiding carbs it's always a hit. The one I made for Mother's Day was the first I made in over a year; now I've made it twice in three weeks.

Gonnachange

SL, I should have mentioned above that my wife planted our herb/veggie garden yesterday and there were at least two varieties of tomatoes. I love being able to walk into my yard, grab something from the garden, and immediately use it. Can't get any fresher than that.

Walking

When I wrote earlier that my gym activity was going to be my only exercise for the day I wasn't correct because I was excluding dog walks. Since it's so nice outside I took her on a longer than normal one; she's now sleeping. :-)

SoberLeigh

Do you have problems with stink bugs where you are? They destroyed my beautiful tomatoes two years in a row . . .

Gonnachange

We'll very occasionally get stink bugs in the house, but I've never known them to be a problem with the garden. What we tend to have issues with are aphids attacking our flower boxes as well as squirrels digging in them.

Gonnachange

The day started with me meeting a friend for breakfast and after a 15 minute walk home I went for a run. So far so good. Tonight we're going to pay our respects at the home of a friend whose mother passed away a couple of days ago. It's right around dinner time and there will be light fare served so we'll be eating there.

Gonnachange

I spent one hour at the gym doing a high intensity stamina/strength workout and I'm happily wiped out. Even a short walk with the dog took a different level of exertion than it normally does. That it's by far the warmest day of the year isn't helping matters and I'm trying to be extra diligent about hydrating.

This afternoon will see me walking the hound at least once and finalizing my menu for Sunday. Dinner tonight will be pork stir fry with rice.

SoberLeigh

Dinner, as usual, sounds delicious, GC.

I am sorry to hear about your friend's mother; I hope that she led a happy life.

Gonnachange

As always, thanks.

Thanks for your compassion. She was 87 and lived a very fulfilling life as a writer, artist, and along with her husband, a person of influence representing the Israeli Health Care System in the USA. Her passing reminded me of something almost 20 years ago; my then little daughter was over her son and DIL's house playing with her grandsons and she drew a picture of my daughter that was remarkable. We still have it.

Last night was a celebration of her life that was tinged with sadness.

On A Lighter Note

I've decided to reign in the menu and not offer anything that I think will be outside the comfort zone of any of my guests.

Appys

Crudite with dillweed dip
Corn and black bean salsa
Roasted red pepper and basil pesto wraps

Salad

A variation of a Caprese salad since I'll be adding sliced red onion and drizzling it with EVOO and red wine vinegar

Main Course

Grilled marinated flank steak
Potato salad
Spinach Pie

Dessert

Fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, etc.)
Whatever our guests bring

Beverages

Whatever our guests want.

Gonnachange

Exercise today is going to be walks with dear dog and a walk into town to do some banking.

Tonight we're going to watch our next door neighbor play guitar at a local bar. She's been taking lessons for a couple of years and her school has arranged for some of the students to get on stage so we're going to support her. It will be her first time in public so she's understandably excited and nervous.

It's supposed to reach 90F/32C today so dinner tonight is going to be light. A baguette sandwich filled with fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil pesto, and arugula. I'll also be serving a salad.

SoberLeigh

Your guest menu sounds amazingly delicious, GC.

Enjoy your evening; hope your neighbor shines.

Gonnachange

Thanks SL. Yesterday my wife asked me what I was making and I think the dish she was most excited about was the potato salad. Really????

I give my neighbor a lot of credit; she's a single mom of three kids who aged 13-18 and in the past couple of years has started to do some things for herself, such as the guitar lessons.

Gonnachange

We had a fun time last night watching our neighbor on stage; as far as I could tell all the band members did a fine job, enjoyed their first time on stage, she was very appreciative that we attended, and we were home by 10:30 so all is good even if we were out later than normal on a weeknight. Who am I kidding, going out at all on a week night is rare.

As much fun as that part of the evening was events immediately preceding it were more serious. The man I share a birthday with and went to dinner with last week called to ask if he could come by for a short while. Last week I wrote about how the concern for my hopefully non ABIL (HNABIL) was growing and it still is; he was supposed to meet the man I share a birthday with and some other friends to go golfing two days ago and never showed up. He didn't return calls to his cell phone, his home phone, or an email either. And still hasn't. A few days before that another friend in this tight circle had some business to attend near HNABIL's house and stopped by in the middle of the afternoon after calling to say he would. My BIL while not three sheets to the wind had clearly been drinking. Bottom line, things are not moving in the right direction and seem to be accelerating. We honestly don't know what to do next; his wife is aware of at least some of what's going on and maybe much more than I think and my wife was going to call her today to talk.

On a lighter note, I was thinking of running today, but the ankle I sprained a couple of months ago is bothering me so I'm going to rest it.

Tonight we're doing our usual last Friday of the month tradition and going to see a friend's band at a local pub. We'll probably only stay for the first set because we want to be at the gym early tomorrow AM.

SoberLeigh

I am so sorry to hear about your BIL. is he still living with your in-laws or did he move (I may have missed an update while I was sick).

Gonnachange

SL, this is my other BIL, the older of the two. The BIL I earlier wrote extensively about is in the same situation; he's living with my inlaws and not working. Fortunately his drinking seems to be under control, but I cant confirm that with any certainty.

The person I wrote about earlier today owns a home and is married with three children. He's always been uber responsible and hard working and I think part of what he's going through now is because he was let go last Fall and is having a harder time finding a new position than he anticipated. Make that a suitable position because I believe he could have found employment, just not at the salary he's used to. So now that some lingering home projects have been completed he has a lot of time on his hands with not much to do. I'm not going to play pop psychologist, but my wife and I think that his strategy of holding out until the ideal job comes along is not the right way to go about it; take a job, even if it's less than you were making and continue to look. It will restore some self esteem, keep him busy, in very practical terms generate some household income, and he won't have to explain to potential employers why there is such a large gap in his employment history.

SoberLeigh

I agree; take a decent job and keep looking.

I am sorry about the situation - worrisome, indeed..

Gonnachange

One of the ironies of his situation is that in his industry employers have generally moved away from the 3 month "probation" period. The norm of late has been to be hired as a consultant on a 3 month contract and after that decisions will be made. There are advantages and disadvantages to both parties, but one of the benefits to the employee/consultant is that there is a lower expectation that s/he will stay and less of a stigma if the decision to part ways is made. IOW, if he did take a position that fulfilled many of his requirements with the exception of remuneration he's not locked into a long term commitment if something better comes along.

Yes, it's worrisome and while we all know it's ultimately up to him to right his ship, he's fortunate that he has even a stronger support system than his younger brother because he'll have the support of a wife and children as well as some very close friends, which is something that was not available to ABIL.