Morning all:

I’ve just been listening to a Starbucks CD titled Lucinda Williams – Artist’s Choice. On this CD is a cut from Paul Westerberg with the line “a good day is any day that you’re alive”; especially so on a quiet early Saturday morning, some favorite tunes playing in the background, and freshly brewed coffee at your side. Good morning everyone!

Actually the “quiet early Saturday” is a bit of a stretch—reality being that outside
the wind is howling through the trees. The temperature is sliding and we’re on track for some snow flurries. Later on my morning walk with Shang will prove to be a bit more robust than it was yesterday. Still, it’s a good morning everyone.

Now that Adrianne and Tevita are back in Tonga things are settling back to normal. I don’t have to comb my hair before heading downstairs and can scratch where and when I want. With them gone, no longer am I playing a “Lord of the manor” role around the house. In fact, shortly I’ll be laying under the toilet installing a new Fluidmaster kit to fix the thing. After that I plan to take the cover off the DVD player to see whether or not a good squirt of pressurized air will remove all of the Play Doh. See, life continues.

This past month Marcia and I made absolutely certain that we were the perfect hosts, and want to thank all family members who assisted us with this task. We felt that it was important to be nice to our kids and treat our visitors properly. Not only did it reflect on us for our overseas guest, but more importantly, Marcia and I understand full well that it is our kids who will eventually be selecting the nursing home.

Last Sunday Adrianne and Tevita made us a traditional Tongan “Umu”, their Sunday after church meal. Well, it was not quite traditional since their way is to cook it in a covered earthen pit where everything cooks for a few hours—we used my thirty-year old rusty turkey smoker. Served on banana leaves the meal was still very tasty and fun. One complaint, as per the Tongan way we ate sitting on the floor and I realized that my body stiffens with massive cramping while eating that way. Also, the Umu is eaten from the leaf packets each portion was cooked in using the fingers. This is where Dirk’s Law of Finger Food eating came into play: “After your fingers become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.”

For those with paraskavedekatriaphobia, I hope you made it through the day yesterday without incident.

Now make it a great week.
Cheers,
Dirk