Smokin' - Tuesday, October 10, 2023

For years, The Husband and I have planned to buy an electric smoker grill.  We say, "Let's get ourselves one for Christmas," and we shop online or in a store, and end up not making a decision.  A month or two ago, Son #2 gave us his old one.  Saturday, we put it to the test for the first time by grilling a pork butt.  It turned out great.  

Before the meat came off the grill, I texted The Sons and invited them and their families for dinner Sunday night.  When the allotted grilling time passed, we opened the smoker and discovered that the butt had seriously shrunk and would never feed as many people as I had invited.  So Sunday morning, I started a pot of bean soup, thawed some tamales, and made some slaw, then I went to the grocery store and bought some chicken strips for the kids who would likely not eat anything on the menu.  It was a bizarre smorgasbord, but we all got full, with enough leftovers that I won't have to cook for a night or two.

* * * * * * * *

Today (Tuesday) is my paint class day, but the shop owner is on vacation this week and cancelled the classes.  

Today is also the second Tuesday of the month, my former boss and I have a standing date to meet for lunch at noon on the second Tuesday of each month, but she is at the beach.

Got stood up twice in one day!

Since I had nowhere to go and nothing to do, I spent most of the day working on my brother's face.  A couple of months ago, I tried to recreate (in ink and watercolor) a black and white photograph of my brother and my dad holding a stringer of fish between them.  My dad was probably in his early 40s, and my brother was in his mid-teens.  My first attempt at drawing them failed pitifully.  Daddy looked like Daddy, but when he was 80, not when he was 40.  My brother looked like some random 10-year-old.  I re-drew the picture, scanned it, and tried to edit the scan on my computer.  I successfully younged-up Daddy, but the brother gave me fits.  In the original picture, he's not quite a kid, and not quite an adult.  Each new version of his face looked like someone in the family (particularly my Aunt Janice), but not him.  I kept trying.  At one point, Judd Hirsch appeared (erase), then PeeWee Herman (erase), then Dash Riprock (erase).   I finally hit on something that looks *remotely* like the original picture and am gonna roll with it.  Maybe.