Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  When Ernie plays Tom Verlaine singing Walking Home from Stalingrad.....it's a good night.  That, and a gorgeous fire in the fireplace, made for a lovely evening last night.

2.  Owen told me he was a little tired this morning because he stayed up so late last night talking to Leo.  He seemed kind of excited about it though and then he went on to tell me they talked about a lot of things: God, the universe, the Big Bang, etc. He seemed so happy.  I wanted to ask more but I kind of didn't want to intrude on their private conversation.  I just told him how pleased I was that he had a brother with whom he could talk about all sorts of things.  He nodded happily and kissed me before darting off.  Man, I love those boys.

3.  I felt rather smug that when I went in to kiss Owen goodnight last night he was humming Whole Wide World to himself.

4.  Can we talk duckfat?  I mean I know the legend of duckfat fries, etc. but good LORD yes.  I made a five hour roast duck just before we went out of town.  It was really good but for the price you pay for duck I didn't know if I was something I'd do too often.  But I used some of the duck fat to saute some potato wedges and they almost outshone the duck.  Then the night we got back from Birmingham I was scrounging in the refrigerator to figure out something for dinner.  There was just a little leftover duck and the saved duck fat.  I threw a bunch of potatoes in a pan along with the diced leftover duck and duck skin, some leftover orange bell pepper and a bit of garlic.  I cooked all of that in the duckfat and once it was done I cracked a couple of eggs on top and finished in the broiler.  That simple leftover hash dish was worth every penny of the WHOLE  duck.  Duckfat....yes....absolutely amazing!

These are the potato wedges I made to go with the duck the first night:

5.  Something has come up with my mother's estate and I needed to find the court paperwork.  I sent Ernie scurrying upstairs and downstairs looking for it while I sorted through stacks of papers that I shove into a drawer everytime we have to clean up for a house concert.  I couldn't find the original court paperwork but I found the paperwork issued after everything had gone through probate.  I sighed, thinking perhaps that would work and then it dawned on me that all that was from JUDI's estate not my mother's estate.  Geesh.  Too many estates I guess.  Midway through this Owen asked me what was going on and I told him it was just something about Grandma.  He asked if this was hard for me and I said, "no, not so much---it's been long enough."  But then, as I dug through tubs and bins it did begin to get to me.  I found a plastic bin that holds some of the things Judi brought with her from South Carolina.  There's a cookbook from our childhood, a framed collection of photographs of her as a child, a bag of completely dried out weed that she used during chemo and a couple of cards that people sent her at the very end.  There are also some of the calendars I had made every year with pictures of the boys.  I would make them for my folks and my sisters.  I sniffed the bag of pot, read the cards and looked at the calendars.  It always touched me incredibly that she had kept all those calendars and brought them with her.  I looked at Ernie and told him that I was wrong when I told Owen it wasn't that hard anymore.  I guess I should throw some of that stuff out but I still can't.

6.  Judi's house in South Carolina was set into a hill so that the main level was on the first floor in the front, and on the second in the back.  There was a huge magnolia tree on the side and it always felt like you were in a treehouse.  The landscape in Birmingham reminded me so much of South Carolina.  I hadn't quite expected that.  Sort of scrappy with southern pines and the kind of strung out development that comes with a lot of cheap land.  I love the magnolias...this one was at Arlington, the antebellum house we visited.

7.  Yesterday I told the guys that we were going to go to Allerton today.  This morning?  Feeling kind of lazy.  So then I decided we'd work on cleaning upstairs---which we dearly need----and yet?  Still feeling kind of lazy.  I had to work a bit yesterday---not for long but it still feels like it's been awhile since I had day with nothing in particular calling to me.  Maybe I'll make the boys go get some more firewood and we'll just all be lazy together....