We are planning goulash tonight – we being Der Bingle, Cameron and I. They may be adding many, many spices so this could be an adventure for me. I remember once, a long time ago, Der Bingle sprinkled a pizza with really hot peppers and I spent most of the time at the table with my tongue in a glass of iced soda.

Other memories have been popping up of late. When I was young, something would trigger a thought in my father’s mind and he would cite a quote of piece of poetry. Once, in the summer, when I was in my late teen, we were in the warm weather eating area that looked to the east. He was still seated and I was getting up and I can still see him and hear him citing William Wordsworth:

THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
          The earth, and every common sight,
                    To me did seem
                  Apparelled in celestial light,
          The glory and the freshness of a dream.
          It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
                  Turn wheresoe'er I may,
                    By night or day,
          The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

Perhaps it was me getting older but still not of an age to realize things would not always be the way they were; perhaps it was him remembering his years before the war; perhaps it was some of both.

I hear those words again now in my head . . . and I remember that evening . . . and I understand more.

I have to smile – I thought everyone had fathers who quoted poetry at the dinner table. I guess I was pretty lucky.

So what will distinguish this goulash meal for Cameron – perhaps the quote for the movie Housesitter with Goldy Hawn and Steve Martin.  (Der Bingle has been working to give him a foundation in cultural reference movies.)  Actually, it’s a quote I already used when the subject of goulash came up; you know, this one: “I punched a totally innocent Hungarian.”

Yes,  I know, it’s not Wordsworth.

Cameron and I are here alone; I think he is upstairs; I know I am on the porch. Alison, Robert and Summer left to go to Indianapolis to visit Colin and they are staying both tonight and tomorrow night. So, right now, it is quiet – quiet in the way that in times past I would have considered normal. Oh, the TV is on because I saw Marlon Brando in The Freshman was being shown. This is the quiet such as I knew when Der Bingle was overseas and Robert William was sleeping in pajamas with feet in them. That was a long time ago.

Der Bingle is on his way and Sydney will be all excited and I suppose there will be Netflix streaming movies watched by grandpa and grandson. Right now I am going to sit and enjoy Tea with Mussolini.

I just heard the car door. And it will still be a good quiet, just a little more sound mixed in.

I love V8 Fusion Light Peach Mango juice and I hope to use it to flavor iced tea in the summer, and, actually, I doing that right now. I looked at the V8 site to grab a picture of it and was astounded to find that I couldn’t find it there. It is a test product? Will they stop making it? Should I have Foo order all that is in Wal-Mart warehouses so I will always have some in the Foo Bar beverage cellar, which is in the basement behind a brick wall. Yes, yes, I confess. Foo used to manage the Foo Speak Easy. Old-timers still mumble “AJ sent me” when they come through the door.

I think I am recognizing a pattern in this calendar thing. This Wednesday, however, I did not have to compensate for the evil 30-miute planned  delay that East Noble has because they are closed. The announcement came last night. A few snow flakes are still falling and the wind is picking up so maybe we will just drift***  through the day.

Last night I dreamed it warmed up considerably and started raining and all the yards and streets were free of snow and just wet. In this dream, I knew Summer and Cameron were someplace near and I was bracing for the outrage . . . and then that dream ceased, or I lost consciousness in it. I don’t know, really, but at least it was merciful.

***

Issued by The National Weather Service
North Webster, IN
4:24 am EST, Wed., Feb. 10, 2010

… WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING…

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING.

* TIMING… LIGHT TO AT TIMES MODERATE SNOW WILL CONTINUE INTO MID MORNING BEFORE DIMINISHING TO SNOW SHOWERS. WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH CAUSING SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.

* MAIN IMPACT… STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL BY THIS EVENING SHOULD RANGE FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES… WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE ALONG WITH SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER DRIFTS. THE HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED NORTH OF ROUTE 30 WITH THE LOWER AMOUNTS TO THE SOUTH. INCREASING NORTHWEST WINDS WILL CAUSE CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON… RESULTING IN NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AT TIMES AND SOME IMPASSABLE ROADS IN RURAL AREAS.

One snowy Buick. Check out the snow on the side mirror.

Two snowy Buicks, otherwise known as hump one and hump two.

This morning when I started the car the light digital number that indicates the temperature outside said 7; I did not expect this. Or maybe it said 4 – cold can have an effect on the brain and short-term memory. The mind chanting ooh, it’s cold, ooh it’s cold, ooh, it’s cold, ooh, it’s cold sort of sops up all the short-term memory cells for those moments.

Sydney and I waited in the cold car in the cold driveway for Summer to come out and then we dropped her off at school and then we went to the fairgrounds, although it the back of my mind I was thinking, “Ooh, it’s cold.” I thought Sydney should just be out for just a short spell at the fairgrounds and when I opened the door and he got out, he stopped in his tracks. Then, he took off on an exploration. On impulse I took a pictures of the cold morning and the exhaust documenting it and then I got back in the car and realized I had left the door open while I was outside.

Cold morning.

Cold in the rear.

Stupid.

I suddenly realized I couldn’t see Sydney anywhere; I panicked, thinking he might have a heart attack in the cold. I got out again and scanned the area and, then, there he was, trotting along. I honked the horn to remind the cold dog the car was waiting, but he still had things to sniff . . . and mark. Finally, finally, he came up to the car and got in the back door I was holding open for him. Then I turned and looked and saw that once again I had left the front door open.

The folks at the Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse are shaking their heads at me and making me stay away from the firestove so I won’t soak up all the heat. They believe it will teach me a lesson. Fortunately, Foo tossed me a bar towel with which to warm my feet. She has a soft heart, dontcha know.

This afternoon I thought I’d go on record with my psychic power and announce that the Colts would lose, but I didn’t. Of course, I was right. Summer is growling/crying and I am just sad to be vindicated.

RATS

I got up to take Alison back to work after being off for a while to deal with her mother’s stroke. It was colder than I expected – in the teens. Still, this is early February in Northern Indiana so there’s no reason to be surprised, just a reason to be cold. The car’s auto operation of the heating up process doesn’t direct air at the windshield immediately because that air would be COLD. As usual, after a while, the blower came on strong and there was a strong smell of skunk all the way out the hospital and a good part of the way back. It is my fervent hope that the smell did indeed dissipate and that my nose did not give out; I don’t want to have a deja vu moment when I get back in the car.

When Sydney got skunked last time, he had apparently harassed the skunk under the car because his head got a direct hit and the bottom of the car reeked for days. Oh, that was fun – shampooed/skunky dog in the car interior and skunk smell coming out of the vents. Sheesh, Sydney. Not a good memory if you visit it too closely. That episode was followed by weeks of panic whenever he went out at night again. Sydney’s out?? Oh, no.

Yes, it IS cold this morning – I just had to slip my shoes off because the leather was giving off the retained cold into my feet and not outward into the room. I have them pulled up under a small blankie now . . .  oh, yes, hmmmm, good. Hey, my nose is still cold as well. Now that I have realized it, I am having trouble getting it out of my mind and think I will snuggle down in this little corner with a nice comforter all around me and pulled up over my nose.

This storm had forecasters talking about Washington D.C. being buried in snow; as of yesterday morning the forecasts and radar showed  the mass in Indiana dissipating just north of Indianapolis and Ohio was to be cut in half horizontally as well. But it slid a little north and gobbled us up in the nor’eastern driven winds and wet snow. I guess Washington is still in blizzard conditions today and Der Bingle says he heard on the radio that folks there were clearing grocery shelves of bread, milk and Super Bowl beer.

We don’t have much snow this morning but last night that snow riding in 35-40 mile gusts made driving bad. Der Bingle, who thought he would have an easy trip up last night spent about twice as much time as normal getting here. He said it wasn’t the worse weather he had travelled in, but it was close. Cars were off the road all along the way. Robert and Alison were coming from Cincinnati and they were really caught. At first I let them know I had told them so as they travelled up I-74; I had said the Ohio River Valley is going to be a mess, a mess, I say. I’m nice that way.

As Alison called from the interstate to report on the number of slide-offs and wrecks, I told her they should drive out of it north of Indianapolis; I was wrong. She called from that area and talked for 29 minutes in a play-by-play account of cars they were seeing in ditches and median strips. I kept thinking I wanted her to hang up because I didn’t want to be an audio witness to their car sliding. She did hang up and they did get home okay.

So did Der Bingle who got here about 10:30 pm and tossed my cold Hot Head Burritos in my lap. You know, when they are cold like that you can tear a hole in the foil and just stick your face into the flour wrapping and bite right through to the rice and beef and cheese and sauce. I’m sure Der Bingle was impressed as he watched me do that while he sat a wee bit away taking off his gloves. Yes, yes. I got the burrito unwrapped before he got his hands ungloved. Impressive, no?

He talked about the trip and I just went munch, munch and munch. This is where getting toward old age and far into marriage works out – imagine doing that on a first date. Well, even I shuddered at the thought.