Closing Notes for the Day

A quiet but interesting evening.

We finally got around to trying the recipe that's posted below. A bit of work, but the results were quite nice -- though we agreed that next time, we increase the number of patties that we make. These were BIG burgers.

Had a Serious Talk with the offspring. That's unusual -- we get along so well with her that usually only a quiet word, or just a raised eyebrow (the Vulcan parenting method of choice), is enough to let her know that there's a problem. This time, though, she'd make a serious mistake two days running -- once, while my partner was visiting a friends house, taking a younger girl for whom she was acting as a 'mother's helper' and hiding with her in the garden when it was time to go, refusing to respond for fifteen minutes. She got the riot act read to her on the drive home by her mother, and was so impressed by it that she came to me and gave back her allowance for the week -- which we had not asked her to do, but which I decided, after reflection, to accept. Then, the next morning, her mother decided to accompany us to church, which set off the offspring, because she likes going just with me -- it's time that is just us, and (more significantly) I let her get away with more at church than does her mother. She threw a royal funk. So we talked, this evening. I warned her it was coming, because I don't think its fair to drop out of the sky like a ton of bricks, if for no other reason than that this is a kid who likes knowing when something unusual is about to happen -- as this was. I think she understands the severity of our feelings, and why we were mad. Once we were done, though, I made sure that she had no doubt what our basic feelings were and continue to be, about her. She's a great kid.

We need a wide trivet -- say, about six inches wide and a foot or a bit more long -- to go on the dining room table, to receive hot bowls and such. Got to be good looking -- polished stone comes to mind, though I've no idea where to find someone to make it, let alone find one already made. This is clearly a Problem of the Idle Rich.

I am reading a couple of books at the same time -- both are science fiction. One, The Miocene Arrow, is elegantly written, though the plot wanders back and forth so that it doesn't get decisively advanced all that much except every fifty pages or so. The other is Califia's Daughters, about what happens to society when the male population is decimated and the prevailing society -- what's left of it -- becomes a matriarchy. I haven't read much of it so far, but I really like the writing style -- direct, forceful, descriptive.

And that's about it. I think this is the most I've posted in one day, ever -- if not, damn close. Must be a literary drought coming....