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Family time
Jul. 8th, 2013 09:07 pmMy sister and her boyfriend flew out to visit over the holiday weekend, and we did many things. Here, let me bullet point them because I'm slightly drunk on vodka and Italian blood orange soda.
-Went to a little nearby town that puts on a killer fireworks show. There were about two hours of warmup by every nearby citizen who was letting off their own arsenal of fireworks before the main event began
-Went tubing and drifted along and got scraped up by the river bottom and floated and ate tortilla chips. My husband got massively sunburned because he didn't apply sunblock often enough. I kicked a fish.
-Baked a slightly demanding Japanese cheese cake that was supposed to be light and fluffy and involved two double boilers and turned out to be delicious...and almost exactly like ordinary cheesecake.
-Baked three loaves of pretzel bread and they were delicious, especially with good cheese and some mustard butter. (I didn't eat the mustard, but everybody else did.)
-Ate out a LOT. A lot a lot.
-Went to see a miniature horse show and also a western cutting show. I had been used to seeing miniature horses that were kind of small, blobby little pony things, but these guys looked like you put a regular sized horse in a shrink ray. We didn't get to see the driving or jump portion of the show, though. And the cutting was interesting, but there was a lot of concentrated cow pee in the air so we didn't stay long.
-Sat around in one of the several good local coffee shops and watched videos of people making tiny replica food out of candy.
I love hanging out with my sister. I miss her terribly, even though we talk on gchat pretty much every day. I wish we lived closer, and fantasize about some sort of farm/compound where we could keep animals and bees and bake a lot and make crazy dinners, but I don't know how that would happen. Her dude is a pretty nice guy as well. I think of two other sisters I know who fantasize about running a pizza farm - a place where they and their families would both live, and they'd grow all the raw ingredients to go into great pizzas and have people come and watch movies on the side of a barn on Friday nights, and I totally get that impulse. I want to plant a garden and keep goats and chickens and have people over to look at the stars late at night. Maybe some music.
This place is great in so many ways, but I hate being away from many of the people I care about. Although we're all scattered, now, friends and family both. We both grew up in a family that did a lot of lip service regarding the family sticking together, but it was really my grandparents holding it all together. None of us really talk much to our vast numbers of cousins and aunts and uncles. I know I'd feel stifled if they were on top of me. Sometimes I want a house full of happy people eating and laughing, sometimes I want a monastery full of nothing but warm stone and comfortable silences.
I think the vodka is making me mopey. It was a good few days. I have funny tan lines, including racoon eyes from my sunglasses and sandal tan.
-Went to a little nearby town that puts on a killer fireworks show. There were about two hours of warmup by every nearby citizen who was letting off their own arsenal of fireworks before the main event began
-Went tubing and drifted along and got scraped up by the river bottom and floated and ate tortilla chips. My husband got massively sunburned because he didn't apply sunblock often enough. I kicked a fish.
-Baked a slightly demanding Japanese cheese cake that was supposed to be light and fluffy and involved two double boilers and turned out to be delicious...and almost exactly like ordinary cheesecake.
-Baked three loaves of pretzel bread and they were delicious, especially with good cheese and some mustard butter. (I didn't eat the mustard, but everybody else did.)
-Ate out a LOT. A lot a lot.
-Went to see a miniature horse show and also a western cutting show. I had been used to seeing miniature horses that were kind of small, blobby little pony things, but these guys looked like you put a regular sized horse in a shrink ray. We didn't get to see the driving or jump portion of the show, though. And the cutting was interesting, but there was a lot of concentrated cow pee in the air so we didn't stay long.
-Sat around in one of the several good local coffee shops and watched videos of people making tiny replica food out of candy.
I love hanging out with my sister. I miss her terribly, even though we talk on gchat pretty much every day. I wish we lived closer, and fantasize about some sort of farm/compound where we could keep animals and bees and bake a lot and make crazy dinners, but I don't know how that would happen. Her dude is a pretty nice guy as well. I think of two other sisters I know who fantasize about running a pizza farm - a place where they and their families would both live, and they'd grow all the raw ingredients to go into great pizzas and have people come and watch movies on the side of a barn on Friday nights, and I totally get that impulse. I want to plant a garden and keep goats and chickens and have people over to look at the stars late at night. Maybe some music.
This place is great in so many ways, but I hate being away from many of the people I care about. Although we're all scattered, now, friends and family both. We both grew up in a family that did a lot of lip service regarding the family sticking together, but it was really my grandparents holding it all together. None of us really talk much to our vast numbers of cousins and aunts and uncles. I know I'd feel stifled if they were on top of me. Sometimes I want a house full of happy people eating and laughing, sometimes I want a monastery full of nothing but warm stone and comfortable silences.
I think the vodka is making me mopey. It was a good few days. I have funny tan lines, including racoon eyes from my sunglasses and sandal tan.
