#266 - Father's Day and Story Day

I slept in until ten thirty and woke feeling much better.

Not long after, Robyn came into the room with tea and a plate of grapes, blueberries, strawberries, banana and some malt toast with butter. A little Father’s Day joy. We are heading to my sister’s house for mounds of homemade pizzas.

So, we didn’t want to eat a big breakfast.

I started writing in bed and we put on Bill Maher. We have to leave around noon to make it to my sister’s by one-ish. Robyn got me a funny card and some gift cards which was lovely. I can get some booze and see some movies!

Kiddo #1 was up early to have breakfast with her dad. I was so tired I never even heard her get up and go. And she isn’t typically stealthy as she goes about her day.

But this was the slow start to the day that I really needed.

We waited for kiddo #1 to return before leaving. Gas is too expensive these days to take two cars if we don’t have to. That meant we were late leaving by half an hour, but it’s not really a big deal.

The highway was incredibly busy as per usual on a weekend. We were heading Niagara bound and there is always extra traffic from all the tourists visiting Niagara Falls or crossing over into the United States. Stop and go traffic is a pain. And I haven’t been travelling in that direction for years to see old friends a family because I waste so much time and fuel trapped on the highway. The system is broken in the part of the province and its only gets worse every year.

Luckily, I asked if Robyn would be willing to do the driving and that allowed my to work on the laptop for the length of the time it takes to get there. I have my noise cancelling earbuds going to drown out, or at least take the edge off the music the kids will be listening to. They are incapable of being in a silent car. Some people just aren’t comfortable listening to the sound of their own mind for any length of time I guess.

One thing this ride has made clear to me is that I need some sort of sun shade for my laptop. I checked on Amazon and they have these nifty laptop bags that have louvered panels like they use on movie monitors. That seemed like a great option for me. There are others that clip on a rest on the monitor, but they all had bad reviews. And the ones that seemed to work better were over seventy dollars.

Too rich for my blood.

I could just construct something out of card stock and facbric myself, but I just don’t have the time for it. I ordered the one that doubles as a laptop bag. I think that gives me the best sun shading and bang for the buck. It was only $35 compared to the $75 price tag of the other versions. I have to wait one or two weeks to receive it. I could have had one tomorrow, but the price for that would have been back up to $75.

The weather has been co-operating with us so far today. It’s a balmy 22 C and a little humid, but terribly so. I opted to wear jeans and a golf shirt. We will likely be sitting outside for a good portion of the visit. I brought my Australian sun ha t just in case to cover my pale bald head.

I think I have to get used to being the passenger in a car again. I usually am the one who drives while Robyn reads or takes a nap. I like getting the extra work done in time that would generally be wasted otherwise.

Kiddo #1 wished me a Happy Father’s Day when she got back from her dad’s.

Kiddo # 2 is still mad at me for yelling at him last night for be a music Nazi. His need to be in control of the music in my car just irritates me some times. It’s so insistent and unrelenting like a form of OCD that drives me nuts.

I shouldn’t have lost my temper with him last night, but I am the only one in the family who will call him out on things. And so I pay the price of being the bad cop.

It’s funny being a step parent. Every year at this time it causes me to reflect on things. It’s not an easy thing to raise another man’s children. You never get the love that a child has for it’s biological parents. It’s very easy to be seen as the asshole at every turn. They good things you do go by unnoticed or are easily forgotten. I stopped correcting the kids when they thanked their mother for things I had done for them.

It never stopped me from doing the things for them.

It’s a bit like being Santa Claus, I guess.

You do your good works in the dark of night.

But enough of that.

The trip to my sister’s took an hour. It was busy, but not as bad as some other trips to her house we have endured in the past. Or maybe it was because I wasn’t the one driving this time.

We said our hellos and I could smell the pizzas cooking in the oven. We chatted for a bit, and I got to try a cherry mead from a local distillery which wasn’t half bad. I make my own cherry mead at home. This mead was carbonated and a little tart. I make my meads on the sweet side because I like it a bit sweeter. Having said that I did enjoy it, but I wouldn’t seek it out to buy it myself.

The food was served shortly thereafter, and we sat down at the dining tables. There was a hot honey, jalapeño and pepperoni pizza which was amazing. The second pizza was olives, pepperoni and pineapple, a combination we often order from Dominoe’s pizza. So Robyn and I were happy campers. Everyone seemed to enjoy the pizzas.

My nephew Carter took the jalapeños of his pizzas, not because they were spicy, but because they were vegetables.

There was some Caesar salad as a side dish as well.

After filling our bellies, we moved out to their back patio and sat under the shade of an umbrella. The conversations continued and we had a good time hanging out.

A little later, my sister brought out the desserts. Two coconut cream pies, a Sarah Lee chocolate cake and a pecan pie. I had a piece of pecan and coconut cream pie. Why not?

It’s Father’s Day after all.

My brother-in-law let us try some candies he bought from a site that has things from around the world. Off flavor KitKats and things like that. There were some lemon meringue pie flavoured Mand M’s and some caramel freeze-dried ones as well. He even had a pecan nougat Snickers bar.

The site was candyfunhouse.ca and had all kinds of things.

We stayed until about five thirty, wary of the possibility of heavy traffic on the way home. And it turned out the highway was still busy, and it was a good thing we gave ourselves some extra time. Although, having said that, the traffic was better on the way home than on the way there.

I chose to drive so Robyn could get a nap in before she had to go and do her support work at seven.

I came home a took a short nap before getting up and taking an Advil. My head was pounding and I had a short story yet to write.

The kids gave me some Snickers and Twix bars, plus a gift card from Amazon as a Father’s Day gift, which was very thoughtful of them. I used a small portion of it to buy a book I saw on an episode of For All Mankind. It’s called, ‘The Sand Pebbles,’ by Richard McKenna and was even made into a movie starring Steve McQueen.

I loved reading all the Alister McClain novels and I think this will have some of that men’s action feel to it that they did back in the fifties. James Mitchner even had a blurb on the front cover.

The story follows a marine on a gunboat in China, but really it is about the emergence of China as a nation. Sounds interesting to me.

I’ve been writing from nine PM to now, which is eleven twenty. The story is starting to flow a little better and events are unfolding. My writing pace is still slow, but it usually picks up the more I get into a story.

I took a short break earlier to make a cortado. I have a feeling this story will take me all night like the last one did.

While I was in the kitchen, kiddo #1 was getting her meals ready for tomorrow. She has a gym membership and a food plan she is following to get herself into better shape. Good for her!

She was making overnight oats and then some baked salmon and potatoes. She had a lot of questions. She cooked her chicken and salmon without putting any spice on first. The chicken won’t be great, but the salmon should be fine.

I pulled out some spices and offered a little advice on what she could use in the future as well as add on after the fact.

She’s cute and trying, so I can’t be too hard on her.

It’s now one AM and I have written the third scene in the story. Things are still going slower than I’d like, but they are picking up.

Time to take a short break, maybe make some caffeine-free tea and then come back to it.

I worked non-stop until six thirty AM before the story came to a conclusion.

I was feeling good even though I had stayed up through the night. I also remember promising never to do this again, but here we are.

The story is done and like almost all of it with exception to the ending. I couldn’t get all the wrapping up to a point where I was satisfied, but I also couldn’t think of anything else to add.

It was another marathon writing session that didn’t need to be.

When will I learn my lesson?

Maybe over the next two weeks! That would be great.

Anyways, sleep deprived rant complete.

Time for a couple hours of sleep before work starts.

Until today.