Clear skies and cool temperatures introduce me to the week, a deceptive welcome if one believes meteorologists who say temperatures will top 90 degrees once or twice during the week. I have little reason to doubt the meteorologists, though they’ve lied mercilessly to me before. This time, I think their predictions have added weight, given that it’s late July in the South.
If my self-discipline and energy cooperate, this will be the week I begin readying the deck for an overhaul paint-job. I’ll buy a belt sander and a passel of sanding belts and will go to work, preparing the surface for a couple of coats of deck-specific paint. I make no promises, though; my self-discipline and energy have been known to abandon me before.
Writing is on the agenda again this week, too, though I’ve been fizzling in that regard since last week when my burst of creative energy was hit by a surface-to-mind missile. If I have even the most remote hope of submitting anything for various writing contests underway, I’ll have to get in gear. I can’t get too excited about contests, though, probably because I know with a significant amount of certainty that I have no chance of winning. Whether I enter contests or not, though, I shall write.
A trip to Hot Springs for an informative medical presentation of interest to my favorite wife is on tap for mid-week. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll rent a pickup and buy a ladder at Lowe’s while they’re on sale for $30 off…I miss my old beater pickup when such things occur. While I’m renting (if I rent), I may pick up a BBQ grill from a big box store. I’ve not grilled at home since moving to the Natural State; withdrawal from grilling is ugly and upsetting to me and to those who witness that unpleasant spectacle. I’ve grilled once since moving here, but that was the grill friend’s belonging to friends…it’s not the same as grilling right here on my deck. I have a deep and abiding hunger for grilled rib-eye, rare, accompanied by zucchini, onions, and jalapeños, all grilled alongside the steak.
My grilling may have to wait, though, because I invited said friends over for dinner this week to partake in pan-seared sea scallops atop a bed of spinach and risotto. That meal sounds simple but requires more than passing energy and effort, especially pertaining to getting the risotto just right.
A visit to the HSV Farmers’ Market is in the cards, as well. It’s held twice a week now, Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we learned last week that the Tuesday market is weakly attended by vendors, so I suspect it may not last. Thursday, though, is the day to get locally grown tomatoes, zucchini, okra, yellow squash, green beans, etc., etc., as well as locally made fried pies and spice packets, if one is of a mind for such things.
If I can muster the energy, I may join my favorite wife in a visit or two (or more) to the health club, which we’ve recently joined and which she’s visited far more frequently than I.
There’s more to this week with Swinburn, but I don’t yet know what “more” is. I just know there’s more. If the mood strikes, I’ll post about it as I go along.
