Storms and Steam and Scrumptious Satiety
I'm in Nashville at my parents' house and having a great time. As always, family meals with Southern comfort food have featured prominently in the fun. We had pulled pork barbecue on Thursday followed by homemade lemon meringue pie, for which I now have the recipe; cornmeal-fried catfish and pecan pie on Friday; and tonight we grilled flank steak and had corn salad and butterscotch brownies (aka chess cake). I'll have to let out my belt if this continues, but it's so worth it.
We would have grilled tonight's steak on the back deck, but there were thunderstorms here this afternoon and evening, so during a break between squalls we moved the grill out to the covered front porch. At the height of the storm, rain was coming down in sheets and the street was a minor creek; the Cumberland River is already insanely full, making everyone who suffered in Nashville's May 2010 flood rather nervous. I heard it was expected to crest at forty feet, which is above flood stage. The TV news showed high water inching up the stairs in the riverfront park. Luckily my parent's house is on high ground.
My sister and I went out on the porch to enjoy the electrical storm for a bit before we started cooking dinner. The thunder was really super loud, and the lightning strikes were close enough that my stepdad advised me to stop sitting on the porch swing with its metal chains, lest I suffer the fate of Uncle Olin, who was once knocked clean off a porch by a lightning strike in South Carolina. He survived because he was a cussed old soybean farmer and a charming gentleman, who was made of sterner stuff than any lightning could dish out. I know my own fortitude and gentlemanliness are not nearly so robust as Uncle Olin's, so I took heed and got off the swing. Actually it was so hot and humid, despite the storm, that we gave up soon thereafter and retreated to the air conditioned splendor of the house.
We actually have the May floods to thank for the air conditioning: my parents' basement flooded, which destroyed the old furnace and AC. FEMA actually cut them a check for about a third of the cost of replacing the ruined equipment, and the new one is a thousand times quieter and more efficient. The old one was so very old (my parents bought the house in 1977 and never replaced the AC or furnace, so it's at least that old, and the house itself was built in the 1920's) that the furnace installer guys who came out to replace it were all searching (without luck) for a date on the thing to see if it was the oldest unit they'd ever worked on.
We've played a lot of dominoes, which I have lost repeatedly. Tonight some family friends came over, which was especially awesome, and we played a seven-handed Mexican Train dominoes game with twelve-spot tiles. I came in dead last, but didn't mind. Well, okay, maybe I minded a tiny bit. My sister was keeping score, and she won by a wide margin. Not that she'd fudge the scores or anything, of course... Of course she wouldn't! Anyway it was really nice to see the Buxcampers and visit with them, and a good time was had by all.
Tomorrow I'm going to church with my aunt and uncle, and then spending the day with them at their house. I've ironed my purple dress shirt, but I'm a little apprehensive about my clothing choices. The shirt's long-sleeved, and all I have for lower body are jeans, because I don't feel comfortable wearing shorts to their church, and it's going to be 95°F (35°C) tomorrow with 90% humidity. Going outside is like stepping into a sauna. Today while my sister and I watched the storm, we could see steam curling up off the damp concrete when the rain started. Maybe I'll take a change of clothes with me for after church.
That's all the news that's fit to print at the moment. Or not. But it's late and so I'll save discussions of family genealogy, musings on sleeping in the room I inhabited as a pre-teen, my mom's cancer, and other heavy topics etc, for another post.
Ah home. It's good to be home.
We would have grilled tonight's steak on the back deck, but there were thunderstorms here this afternoon and evening, so during a break between squalls we moved the grill out to the covered front porch. At the height of the storm, rain was coming down in sheets and the street was a minor creek; the Cumberland River is already insanely full, making everyone who suffered in Nashville's May 2010 flood rather nervous. I heard it was expected to crest at forty feet, which is above flood stage. The TV news showed high water inching up the stairs in the riverfront park. Luckily my parent's house is on high ground.
My sister and I went out on the porch to enjoy the electrical storm for a bit before we started cooking dinner. The thunder was really super loud, and the lightning strikes were close enough that my stepdad advised me to stop sitting on the porch swing with its metal chains, lest I suffer the fate of Uncle Olin, who was once knocked clean off a porch by a lightning strike in South Carolina. He survived because he was a cussed old soybean farmer and a charming gentleman, who was made of sterner stuff than any lightning could dish out. I know my own fortitude and gentlemanliness are not nearly so robust as Uncle Olin's, so I took heed and got off the swing. Actually it was so hot and humid, despite the storm, that we gave up soon thereafter and retreated to the air conditioned splendor of the house.
We actually have the May floods to thank for the air conditioning: my parents' basement flooded, which destroyed the old furnace and AC. FEMA actually cut them a check for about a third of the cost of replacing the ruined equipment, and the new one is a thousand times quieter and more efficient. The old one was so very old (my parents bought the house in 1977 and never replaced the AC or furnace, so it's at least that old, and the house itself was built in the 1920's) that the furnace installer guys who came out to replace it were all searching (without luck) for a date on the thing to see if it was the oldest unit they'd ever worked on.
We've played a lot of dominoes, which I have lost repeatedly. Tonight some family friends came over, which was especially awesome, and we played a seven-handed Mexican Train dominoes game with twelve-spot tiles. I came in dead last, but didn't mind. Well, okay, maybe I minded a tiny bit. My sister was keeping score, and she won by a wide margin. Not that she'd fudge the scores or anything, of course... Of course she wouldn't! Anyway it was really nice to see the Buxcampers and visit with them, and a good time was had by all.
Tomorrow I'm going to church with my aunt and uncle, and then spending the day with them at their house. I've ironed my purple dress shirt, but I'm a little apprehensive about my clothing choices. The shirt's long-sleeved, and all I have for lower body are jeans, because I don't feel comfortable wearing shorts to their church, and it's going to be 95°F (35°C) tomorrow with 90% humidity. Going outside is like stepping into a sauna. Today while my sister and I watched the storm, we could see steam curling up off the damp concrete when the rain started. Maybe I'll take a change of clothes with me for after church.
That's all the news that's fit to print at the moment. Or not. But it's late and so I'll save discussions of family genealogy, musings on sleeping in the room I inhabited as a pre-teen, my mom's cancer, and other heavy topics etc, for another post.
Ah home. It's good to be home.