Sunday, March 21st, 2021

Aikidoka Happy Hour

Nothing new, an amazingly calm day on the news front. All the Corona stories are pretty much more of the same. New cases continue to hover at 55k every twenty-four hours. Concerns of a new surge with the more transmissible variant B1.1.7, surges in some States and thousands of college kids partying in Miami. No drama. This new administration is peaceful and calm, what a nice respite after a new horror story every day for four years. It will take some getting used to. Even Twitter is mainly commenting on how uneventful the news is these days.

We can all get on with our lives, within the limitations of pandemic caution that is.

Today was forecast to be and actually was a warm sunny day. After a slow start into the day EM and I made Thyme sticks as well as cheese sticks as nibbles for this afternoon’s happy hour with the Aikidoka.

Exhausted from the effort I retired to my garden couch for two hours of lizzarding in the sun, working to bring those Vitamin D levels up! I then headed to the pool for my 14:15 slot. The only slot all week at the alternate pool guaranteeing a 45 minute swim.

I might have wanted a little too much between the swim and the Aikidoka coming over. I redyed my hair and while the color soaked decided to make Halaua (Arabic for both “sweet” and “pretty”) while simultaneously placing cheese on crackers. As a result, my sugar-lemon mix got too hot, so it is useless for hair removal as it is not sticky enough, but rather like rock hard candy. Next weekend I will make another batch, and here I thought I had finally figured out how to not overheat the mixture. Oh well.

Three of the four Aikdoka ladies came over around 16:00 for a happy hour of champagne and cheese snacks. It was an entertaining afternoon. We did not need to start the fire until 18:00 as it was so pleasant outside even without the sun. For most of the time we perched on the garden wall close to the food. A few Thyme sticks, a piece of Bree baked in puff pastry with Fig mustard and truffle oil was my lunch and dinner. It is so refreshing to entertain again.

I feel blessed to have such a diverse friend group, a wonderful daughter, a lovely home, interesting work and to be healthy.

So much to be grateful for.