We Couldn't Pass Up The Pool

We went to the Stalnaker's for dinner last night, they put in a pool for their grandkids, who were there, and Cy and I enjoyed it quite a bit too.  Anyway's, Cy felt like taking an easy three day weekend, so he dished up some hot dogs for us.  They were good, but we were forced to resort to Hebrew National dogs because Otto's was closed for the holiday weekend.

Solar Eclipse; a Fingernail in the Sky

The Solar Eclipse

     After the past few weeks, the rain picked the worst possible day to return.  While any day would have been bad, there's a partial lunar eclipse in Portland today, and an annular eclipse farther south.  Much to everyone's disappointment, the sky is a uniform gray, preventing any chance of our seeing the eclipse.  I opted to go for something simple on the grill tonight, hoping that it would give me more time to view the eclipse.  Alas, 20 minutes from the time of maximum eclipse, I can find the suns position as easily as I could find the North Pole--without a compass, in a row boat.  It looks like we'll have to wait until 2017 for another solar eclipse, though that will be a total eclipse.

     For now, the light's just a little strange, and our burgers are on the grill.  I've sliced up red onions and pickles, so now we're ready for dinner.  It would appear that the food will not be eclipsed by the eclipse tonight, though it would appear that the cloud cover is thinning.  Maybe, in twenty minutes the cloud cover will have dissipated.  Now, 5 minutes from maximum eclipse, the world outside is visibly darker.  With two minutes to go, we were all outside, staring (when Mom and Mimi weren't telling we'd burn our retinas out) at the sun.  Even with the heavy cloud cover, you could see the moon drifting across the sun.  Leaving a fingernail of bright sun.  The light is coming back, but it's still very spooky, like dusk or dawn.  But like neither at the same time, and like all at once.


     The burgers were very good, part of the advantage of being the first burgers of the season.  The eclipse was amazing, though no better than one of the numerous lunar eclipses we've had over the past couple years.  With the burgers we had sides of tater-tots and coleslaw, neither of which we're supremely memorable, though they both went well with the burgers.

Summer-Time: WHAM!

     For Mother's Day, Cy, Mom, Mimi and I went down to Corvallis to see our cousins.  The moms went out to lunch, and us kids built a great big bonfire out of, among other things, some old chairs.  We got back to Portland a little before 5, and Mimi had me drive her out to her house to get Maggy.  By the time we got back, dinner was ready.

     Dad stayed in Portland, and in the early afternoon our neighbor, Dennis, came over to give us some of the fish he had caught that morning.  So Dad cooked that up for us, and we came home to grilled salmon.  It was really good.  We ate al fresco, it got up to 93º today, hotter than it got almost all last summer.

     Now we're working on dessert,we've got some leftover strawberry bombe from last night, and Dad is hulling strawberries to go with it.  I know it's kind of an old, overused adage for this blog, but summer is here.  Not spring pretending to be summer, real summer.  Hide in your basement with a big cold glass of lemonade summer.

    Also, I got hired to lifeguard at the local pool this summer.

Dining Outside At Last

BACON!!!

     Today was warm and sunny.  We went for a walk this morning at Lewis and Clark College (I drove). Turns out it has a beautiful, giant, campus. We then went home and worked in the yard.  For dinner, Cy has made us BLT's, and his famous Majiggy Fruit Salad.  And he's made us strawberry coolers to drink.  Should be good, we've got ice cream for dessert and we'll be eating outside for the first time this year.

     The BLT's were good, and we had some extra bacon.  The Majiggy fruit salad, which Cy got published in Cooking Light magazine five years ago, was as good as ever.  The strawberry coolers were good, but nothing special.  The bottom of the pitcher is covered in strawberry seeds.  It was a good meal to open the outdoor eating season, and a great night to do it.