1. It was like one of those animal kingdom shows when we see an aerial view of a lone, say, wolf on a long unbroken tundra, walking by itself, leaving a long trail of its own footsteps in the snow. I looked out behind the house to check on Charly. She had decided to take a walk through the unbroken snow all the way to one of the planters in the very back of the yard. I wasn't sure, given her limited mobility, if she would be able to make the return journey. She did. Charly is a determined Corgi, animated by a hardy spirit more powerful than her weakening rear legs. I could hear the somber narrator's voice: "Alone, undaunted by the vast landscape of snow crusted with ice, the elderly Corgi, enfeebled by her failing rear legs, dragged herself to her destination and back home again, a profile of valor."
2. I kept a close watch on reports about travel conditions between Kellogg and Spokane today. Since they were favorable, I revved up the Sube and headed to the Riverbank Tap House at the Northern Quest Casino just west of Spokane to join Mary and Kathy to play trivia.
Earlier in the day, after having been thinking and writing about fennel, I looked into licorice flavored liqueurs and I looked at the Riverbank cocktail list. The Riverbank serves a sazerac -- a cocktail I'd never tried before -- and so I had decided before I left Kellogg to try one.
This sazerac combined rye whiskey, absinthe, Peychaud's bitters, simple syrup, and lemon peel. The flavor I was least interested in was the simple syrup and, for my taste, this cocktail was just a wee bit too sweet -- nothing cloying, but I wondered if the flavors of the bitters, rye whiskey, and absinthe might have come forward more with less simple syrup. So, sometime in the future, I'm going to buy some absinthe and see if I can find Peychaud bitters and experiment with this cocktail at home. It could be that, if I order this drink again, I'll request one with less sugar. Or maybe none.
3. At the Riverbank, the trivia game consists of five rounds of ten questions each. Kathy, Mary, and I were leading the pack after four rounds -- which meant we were ahead of the team of young guys whom we've never outscored. They won last week. We finished second.
The final round exposed what the three of us know is an Achilles heel for us with a Harry Potter question and a Marvel movie question.
The team of young guys knows Harry Potter, Marvel movies, and, I might add, video games (another of our weaknesses) inside out and they squeaked ahead of us.
We finished second again.
We were happy with one another's efforts. We had a fun time together and will continue to live in the hope that one of these Wednesday nights we won't be asked any Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/video games/Superhero movie questions (I might add pirates and zombies, too) and find a way to triumph over our most worthy opponents -- well, they are more than opponents -- over our nemesis!
I should add, for the sake of accuracy, Kathy has come through and offered up correct answers to video game questions. All the same, none of us considers ourselves very strong in this area of trivia.
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