#315 - Happy Birthday Dad

I managed to sleep in until eleven.

Family was due to arrive around one thirty, and we still needed to tidy the house and pick up a few things. I had four pizzas ordered from Blondies set to arrive between 1 pm and 2 pm, but no gift or card for my dad’s birthday.

I headed to Golftown to get a gift card and then to Shopper’s to get a card. I bought some peameal bacon chips, and some korma flavoured chips on a whim while I was there. I headed over to Walmart to see if they had the Alani energy drinks a friend had recommended to us and found four flavours in the pop and water aisle.

I grabbed one of each and then checked to see if they had my fruit slices gummies I liked and there happened to be a few tubs left. I swiped one and headed for the check out.

Back home Ronyn was tidying in the kitchen, so went out to cut the lawn and tried and spruce up the front and back after a week of neglect. A quick cut and no weed trimming made the place look good enough to my eyes.

We retreated to our room to watch some Seth Myers before anyone showed up.

I tried one of the Alani energy drinks and found it to taste good. It was one that tasted like an orange creamsicle. The 140 mg caffeine sticker on the can was a bit of a shocker. I read the can and it advised you to only drink one can per day. I wish the bubbly water guys could make a drink as tasty as these. Even Robyn thought it tasted good. Her comment was, “If it tastes this could it can’t be good for you.”

And she is probably right about that!

We got through watching the show when my sister and her family arrived, followed shortly by the stack of four pizzas delivered by the Uber driver.

We said our hellos and my parents arrived just afterwards.

We chatted for a while and then dug into the pizzas and a Caesar salad that my sister brought. The pizzas seemed to go over well enough with everyone but kiddo #2, who is a picky eater.

We chatted for a bit more after the food. Kiddo #1, my father and my brother-in-law got into a heated discussion about men and women that lasted a good forty minutes and was slightly entertaining to myself and Robyn. We chose not to participate and instead sat back and enjoyed the spectacle.

Pecan and an apple crumble a la mode were served for dessert. The ice cream, a Chapmans special vanilla, felt like it was whipped and didn’t really melt. I don’t think the ice cream was much of a hit, but we all ate it, none-the-less.

We chatted some more and it seemed to me we were all into talking today. So, the conversation was lively and enjoyable.

Everyone left around six and we had forty-five minutes to chill before Robyn had to head out to her second job for about an hour. We watched a show and just relaxed. I was too full to do anything other than lie on the bed like a beached whale and moan.

Robyn left and I filled my time with YouTube videos, but I didn’t see any new ones from my favourite content creators. But I was happy just to sit and rest, knowing the fun would be over tomorrow when we went back to work.

We watched the Daily Show to start and then moved on to the newest episode of Lioness, which was full of good action and tension. It’s really amping up the spy action thriller vibe this season. There is a lot more maneuvering of the pieces on the chess board this year.

After that, we watched an episode of Lucky, which was better than the previous episode that felt a bit unbelievable. It was during a car chase sequence that ended in a big pile up crash. The staging of the scene made it seem like it was too staged. Over a dozen vehicles were chasing right behind the main character and after the crash it looked as if there were only two.

And they likely needed it to be that way so that the character had time to escape the scene, but the way it was done, she should have been apprehended almost immediately. Maybe it was a budgeting issue. Or they had to cut for time. But does episode length matter on a streaming show anymore?

All the while we were watching, I was getting texts from kiddo#1 asking if this sweet potato looked edible and why does the scale say this on the screen. Only later to be asked the doneness of a steaming salmon straight from the oven.

I guess I should be flattered that they even ask my opinion about things.

Robyn was done with TV for the night, and I had to get some writing started. I headed downstairs so I wouldn’t bother my sleeping wife and nibbled on some cheese and grapes left over from the party.

I’ve always liked the way people in France end a meal with a cheese and fruit plate. It always seemed like a very dignified way to end a meal. One day I will spend a little time researching the after-meal tradition a little more.

I am sure it will show up in one of my books sometime in the future. One of my characters will indulge in a sumptuous cheese plate, perhaps drinking it with a dessert wine or a lovely old brandy.

Doing the research for that particular scene will be something to relish and hopefully expense.

But, as the last day of our vacation, it was a pretty good one.

Tomorrow the world goes back to normal, and I’ll need to plan a new adventure to give me something to look forward to.

Until tomorrow.