Grappling and planning

I know it's sunny and beautiful out but I'd just as soon have it gray and rainy. It's just how I'm made, I guess, and it would suit my mood. I'm sitting here, curled up in my corner, Mark's posters surrounding me, reading about Keytruda side effects. Ernie's had a really, really rough day yesterday with some new side effects that neither of us were thrilled about. I'm assuming it's from the Keytruda so doing a bit of research before we see Vasireddy this week. Ernie's been doing so great lately that it took us both aback.

It definitely made for a quiet day. More tv was watched than is healthy, plus SERIOUS dozing on Ernie's part. And after sleeping most of the day he went up to bed at 9:00 with no argument. It was a fricking miracle. He was asleep when his head hit the pillow and woke up feeling a bit better today. Fingers crossed.

Our only excitement was dinner. Sad, I know. We dusted some shrimp with a mix of cornstarch, Penzey's sweet curry powder (🧡), cayenne and salt and pepper. We (Ernie) sautéed them in a bit of olive oil and put them over a bed of greens dressed with olive oil and my beloved lemon balsamic vinegar. It was delightful. I made the seasoning mix but Ernie really did everything else. I did a damned good job directing though.

The spreadsheet has been activated for the Jon Byrd/Paul Niehaus house concert. I'm trying to keep it very simple. I think we're just going to do a big batch of pulled pork and a couple of barbecue sauces....right now I'm planning a North Carolina vinegar sauce and a mustard sauce. I don't really care for regular tomato based barbecue sauce so I'm gonna make what I like! A big batch of sesame noodles just because it's a house concert and some kind of salad....mmmm, I don't know. I'm leaving things like coleslaw and potato salad and desserts to all of you! Don't forget to bring a friend!

A few more pictures from our Official Mark Gerking Wander:

^{I want to hear Mark's comments on some of these.....}

^{I made Ernie turn when we saw the sign for 'site of first courthouse in Pocahontas." We were struck again by Iowa's beauty as we drove}

^{We turned into what looked like private property with the grain bins in the above picture. Suddenly, there was a fenced off little area with this wonderful little monument.}

^{Damn, I just love stone buildings}

^{Man, did they ever muck up the front facade}

^{gorgeous drug store signage and lettering!}

^{There's just no damn way to take a good picture of this}

^{You can't go wrong with a big arrow}

^{I just fell in love with this elegant little building}

Onward.