FUNDAY SUNDAY!

After spending most of Saturday afternoon sorting out cards, letters and other memorabilia, I thought I was ready to start the redistributing of rubbish in the cupboard.  Not so!  The cards needed to be resorted just to make them fit, and of course, rather than sorting them into size, I had to see from whom they were!  

I sat and read, and reminisced, and eventually had to pull myself together before my day disappeared completely and I would feel the regret of waste of time.  I set too and finally put everything away.  Whether it is in its final resting place remains to be seen, but I felt as if I had accomplished something, albiet what I am not sure! With the exception of the plants, the room looked somewhat inhabitable, even inviting.  Of course, sharing with a bunch of salad fruits and vegetables could be a little daunting!

The physical exertion had been good for me, as swimming is still a fair way off!  As tepid as the water looks, looks are deceiving and with the long periods of below freezing temperatures, it will take time to recover.  

Work was somewhat erratic, as appears to be the norm recently.  With the evolution of electronic filing, attorneys can file suits at any hour of the day or night.  It is like depositing a letter in a post box after the collection time.  You know that the postman is not going to pick it up until the next day, but at least you have it out of your hands, and on its way, so to speak.  Clerks, no doubt, are having to deal with hundreds of filings sent during the small hours, or at weekends,  (as I have been told paralegals do not sleep,) and our 'quota' seem to be those that are on the list for after four o'clock!  I cannot be certain, but it is as if those issuing the court documents wait until five minutes before 'quitting time', and then press the 'send' button, on every case they have coming to us!  I am no doubt being paranoid here, and no doubt it is coincidence, (or perhaps they do it to everyone,) but our work day gets much busier between the hours of four and five! Sometimes, they hit the send button just before lunch, but that is rare! However, I digress!

Work was somewhat erratic!  March came in like a lamb instead of a lion, with the wind dropping and the temperatures rising.  Everyone appeared to be in a much better mood, and people were smiling more broadly.  

Texas Independence Day was celebrated quite quietly.  Both my sister and daughter-in-law have birthdays on this day, as well as my friend Cyndi.  It is a very busy day!  I went to Joe, as I had a challenge for him!  I knew the minute I mentioned it, that I should have tested the water before wading in!  Joe is a sweetheart!  With his new venture being roasting chocolate, I had lots of ideas!  I took him a jar of my home made candied orange peel.  "You could become a Texan-Belgian chocolatier!" I said, giving him the jar.  "Or you could just eat the orange peel!"  The look on his face betrayed his feelings, and I gathered I was not the only one to make a suggestion.  He saw that I could read his mind, and said that lots of people had been making suggestions.  I had to laugh.  It is always the same when you finally master an art, and everyone becomes and expert.  He promised he would let me know when he had created something spectacular with the peel, but I told him to just enjoy it!  I know he will create something amazing for me.  He knows that I would be happy for him to just eat the peel and not make a thing!  Thankfully, such is the nature of our relationship!  My apologies were accepted, although deemed unwarranted, by the very fact that I had thought to apologise! We laughed at the unspoken words and continued to put the world to rights!  

I arrived back at the office just in time for the 'before lunchtime' button press!  I had been mulling over a fish recipe, which I had not mentioned to Joe, but perhaps should have done, because he is an expert, but being an expert he would probably have recommended I 'go with my gut feeling', and that was exactly with what I was having the problem.  I did not have a 'gut feeling'.  However, I was inspired, no doubt divinely, and stuffed my flounder with cheese and peppers. The thought of a chipotle sauce wafted through the mind during the first batch of 'just before lunchtime button press', and I had little time to look up a recipe!  Despite not practicing to deceive, I found myself in a bit of a tangled web!  So much to do, so little time!  Mixing my authors was the least of my problems!

Flounder stuffed, sauce made, applied just before serving, and apple and blackberry crumble with an apple-blackberry custard, was served and eaten with gusto.  I was very excited that all enjoyed all!  I long for the day when I can pick my broccoli from the garden and not resort to frozen packs, but I am not quite there yet.  My broccoli shot up and is now flowering, which apparently is not all bad!  However, that is another topic!  

The winter is, apparently, not all behind us, and there are a few more days of cooler weather, with a frost looming sometime next week.  That being the case, I decided to risk putting out my plants, for a couple of days, to get them used to the outside air.  I did bring them back in on Thursday and Friday night, because the wind was starting to pick up, and the lion of March was fighting back!

Once again, the weekend rolled around.  My younger grandson turned five on Saturday, and we called him from Samantha's truck.  "It is 10:15 in the morning, here", I told my older grandson, who was immediately shocked and decided, "That is just weird!"  After chatting for a while, their friends arrived and we said farewell.  We went to shop!  "I checked with someone in that section, and he confirmed the price", I told the lady at the check out.  I wanted to purchase a piece of meat, which was on sale.  She pointed to the price on the packet.  I kept my cool, despite being spoken to like I was a child, and smiled. "I know what it says here, but it has been reduced". Off she went to check.  I think she must have taken her break at the same time, as it seemed like an eternity before she returned.  I was right!  I knew I was right, but I decided that as everyone has been a little happier of late, I would not rock the boat, despite the lethargic attitude of the store staff!  Another lady came to the scanner, and attempted to put in the new price.  This time, the product came up a penny more expensive than the original price.  She looked at us, slightly nervous.  We laughed, and she relaxed.  It took about twenty minutes, a call to the supervisor and some manipulation of the system to get the right price up on the screen!  Thankfully, by this time, the original lady was on board with the humour!  We are slowly coming back to the Austin I know and love, I thought!

There must have been a surge in something on the electronic front on Saturday morning, as when we went to check out at Sam's, the cashier looked perplexed.  Everything had frozen.  She asked Samantha if she could scan her card to see if she could free it.  It did, but she needed a supervisor.  We were unsure as to what was going on, but the lady who was in front of us, and who was trying to check out, told us that the cashier had managed to multiply every item on her trolley by a thousand!  Her bill would have been a fortune, and despite earning points for each item bought, it was not worth spending a quarter of a million bucks!  Once again, rather than get irritated, everyone saw the humour.  Perhaps it was the weather? Perhaps Austin is remembering Austin!

It was lovely to take my book down to the pool and just relax for half an hour on Saturday afternoon.  I did not see a soul.  Eighty degrees in March, like a swallow, does not a summer make!  I returned home full of life and pottered for a while in the garden.

Sunday morning was warm, but overcast.  There was a sense of spring in the air, and a sense of new life.  For the first time in two years, the 'Southby' festival is coming back in person, and there appears to be an opening of arms for its return.  It starts next weekend, and whilst I am not sure of how much I will attend, there may be an opportunity to go and see what is new next weekend at one of the larger 'centres' downtown.  It will be cooler, but I doubt that will dampen anyone's spirits.  There is a definite sense of 'welcome home'!

The overcast scene that can be seen from outside of my window is probably an indication that I will not be taking my book to read this afternoon.  I may tackle another indoor project, or maybe check on how to proceed with the broccoli.  All in all, nothing particularly exciting unless you are me!  Perhaps I will have a fun report on the beginning of the festival, next week, and see if Austin really is back to being Austin, or maybe I will just comment on the broccoli!  Only kidding!  Time with tell, in .... another story!