Hi everyone,
“We’ll try it at least once,” Mike has been saying for months now, almost since the start of the construction.
“Sure,” I agreed, although I have to tell you that Mike and I rarely eat out anymore. Not only is it better for our wallet, it is better for our waistlines too. Mike is losing some weight. He is so pleased that now he weighs less than he’s weighed in years.
Wednesday Mike called our friend Margaret, “Tucker’s Shucker’s is open, do you want to go tonight?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. Margaret always uses very good English.
When Mike talked to our maintenance man Gary that day, he mentioned we were going to Tucker’s that night and Gary said he’d like to go along too if we didn’t mind and of course we didn’t.
At the appointed hour Gary, along with his woman-friend Ellie and Margaret showed up. Despite the rain - and with the aide of a super large umbrella, we walked down the block to Tucker’s. Okay, I’m sure I made my umbrella sound larger than it really is there; it would probably accommodate four people if you were all good friends, but two people can walk under it most comfortably. Umbrellas these days are only big enough for one, you know what I mean?
Margaret managed to score a parking spot right in front of the establishment. Gary parked a little further up the street and made a dash for the nearest awning. From there he could pretty much stay undercover the rest of the way. Ellie pulled up the hood of her rain jacket as soon as she got out of their car and she was fine. Mike and I walked under the umbrella and as soon as I got Mike to the front door I went out for Margaret. That way she wouldn’t have to juggle trying to get out of the van, not letting her door hit the adjoining parked car and getting her umbrella open all at the same time. Besides, mine was already wet. No use having two wet umbrellas when one would suffice.
“How was Tucker’s?” you may be wondering and I’m going to be honest with you.
“We wouldn’t expect anything less of you, Peg,” you say.
Yeah, honesty isn’t my problem, tact on the other hand…
Mike ordered a fillet and was happy with what he got. I got a prime rib. We both had smashed potatoes because baked was not on the menu. The fresh steamed veggies were crisp and good although were almost cold when we got them. My prime rib was good too but there was no horseradish sauce.
“You can’t have prime rib without horseradish sauce,” our very handsome youngest son said when Mike told him.
I know! Right!
“If we don’t have it I can get you some horseradish,” our waitress Anna Marie said when I inquired.
What I saw coming across the table to me when our food was served was a portion cup full of horseradish.
Can I get some sour cream? was on the tip of my tongue to ask when Anna Marie, volunteered, “I’ll get you some mayonnaise for that,” and she was gone again.
Mayonnaise? Who makes horseradish sauce with mayonnaise? then it dawned on me, maybe it’s all they have. If there are no baked potatoes they probably don’t have any sour cream.
A few bites of prime rib later and my mayonnaise was delivered. I had to do some mixing and tasting but eventually I got the mixture to the point where I couldn’t taste the mayonnaise anymore and the horseradish wasn’t so strong I could still eat it.
Margaret and Gary both ordered an appetizer as their entrée. Scallops. They got 6 of them on a half shell, they weren’t very big and were like, totally stuck to the shell. Margaret really struggled to free hers, leaving some of the scallop behind.
Ellie ordered Irish Nachos which are a like regular nachos only served on potato slices instead of tortilla chips. “They were all right,” she said when we asked.
“Hey! Didn’t they put sour cream on the nachos?” you ask.
I guess I was resigned to my fate and never gave it another thought because now that you mention it, it seems like it did. Maybe I should have asked for sour cream instead of assuming. That Assuming! Boy! I’ll tell you what! It seems like Assuming is always getting me into trouble!
The building itself is brand spankin’ new. They have designed it with garage doors which allow them to open up almost the whole front wall thereby utilizing the patios for revelers. Unfortunately, and as I have already said, it was raining and it was chilly and just plain raw and the doors were open. “I feel like I’m sitting outside,” I said even though we weren’t.
Soon after, on one of her trips past, Anna Marie asked, “Is it too cool for you folks?”
Mike, in just shirt sleeves, was the first to speak up. “It’s a little chilly.”
“I’ll shut them for you,” she said and even though she did I still left my sweater on the whole time we were there.
That was an easy fix for one of our problems but something she couldn’t fix was the noise level. The place was loud with music and echoey and that made it hard for us old folks to hold a dinner conversation.
The garage doors are all special made with lots of glass and while we sat at our table not talking to each, I gazed out. That isn’t quite true. I was gazing out the windows but Mike sat directly across from Gary and they were managing some kind of conversation.
On the hillside, across a little cove of the Lake, I see the pretty color of plum blossoms. As I scanned the surrounding landscape to figure out where they were, I see what looks like Gary’s workshop. I know where that is! If the rain stops I’ll walk the girls down that way and take some photos.
“Peg, you can’t just go walking wherever you want,” I could hear Mike in my head, “you have to get permission first.”
“Gary?” I interrupted his conversation with Mike. “Is that your workshop over there?” and I pointed across the way.
“Huh?”
“Is that your workshop over there?” I asked louder.
“What?”
He couldn’t hear me, but Mike did and he knew the answer. Leaning in closer to me he answered for Gary, “Yes. It is.”
“Can I get to those pink trees from there?”
Gary was across the table from me, one place to the right and he couldn’t hear me. “WHAT?” I could tell repeating ‘what’ was aggravating him. “Wait until we get outside then ask me.”
Once dinner was over and we went out, I asked if I could get to the plum trees from their property and would they mind if I walked down and took pictures. They thought I could and they didn’t mind.
The next day the rain quit long enough for me to hook Ginger and Itsy up and take them for a walk in search of the plum trees. And that, my loves, is the long way around to my current desktop photo which is one of those photos.
The rain was causing the petals to droop and knocking a bunch of them to the ground.
The blossoms aren’t as pretty as they could be but I love the little ladybug and that’s why this one is on the desktop.
I hadn’t known he was there when I took the photo or I might have tried to get a better photo of him like I did this one. Well, I think it’s a pretty decent shot of a ladybug and I like the softness of the background too.
Some of you may recognize the photo as being one I posted online but not all of you are online and I wanted to share the shot.
I also posted a photo of the moss doing whatever moss does. Does it seed or flower? I don’t really know. But here is moss of a different color (than the one I posted online).
Something else I want to share is my photo (I always want to type that with an f and often times I do, then I have to backspace and start again. Sigh) but I want to share a photo of a rain droplet on the redbuds and tell you why I posted a photo that wasn’t quite in focus. (LOL. I almost backspaced to change that f to a ph.) Posting out of focus photos is something I try to avoid.
I have been trying for years to get a reflection of flowers in a rain droplet. While photographing the redbuds, I came closer than I have ever been and I was delighted with the reflection.
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The droplet photo is a tiny little part of this much larger photo.
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I know the reflection isn’t perfectly focused, I have to be four feet away to focus at all and redbuds are little, but I was still pleased.
Let’s call this one done.
Lots and lots of love,
Peg and Mike
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