1. Here it was, Tuesday, and Debbie and I hadn't really cleaned up the kitchen yet after hosting family dinner on Sunday. Oh, well. I got going on that task late this morning and was so motivated by cleaning that I removed everything from the refrigerator and cleaned its interior and now the icebox is bright and cheery when we open its doors.
2. I don't regret heading uptown with Debbie to have a Coke at the Inland Lounge before heading over to the Elks. But, by doing so when we did, I missed the second half of St. John's valiant comeback against Butler. When I left the game at halftime, Butler held a comfortable 37-16 lead. The Johnnies were in deep trouble. But now I know the Johnnie's mounted a stirring comeback -- it might have been a frenzied comeback given their style of play under new coach, Mike Anderson --; now I know they even took the lead late in the game, but ended up losing by two points 60-58.
After about an hour at The Lounge, Debbie and I waded into the packed Elks Club where Jake and Carol Lee and Al's band, Remember When were knocking out nostalgic tunes and the dance floor was full of what might have been the happiest bunch of people 50 years of age and older in all of North Idaho. We managed to squeeze into a spot around the table where Ed and Al and Peggy were seated and took in the mirth all around us in the entire room.
3. We didn't stay long at the Elks, though. Debbie and I got a message from Christy that one of Everett's daughters was having a medical emergency, had been in ER, and was now a patient at Sacred Heart in Spokane.
Debbie texted back, wondering if Christy and Everett would like us to come over to their house. Christy said they would like that and so we left the Elks at around 8:00.
I immediately popped into our kitchen and made Christy, Everett, and Debbie each an Old Fashioned, delivered them next door, returned to our kitchen, and stirred myself a gin martini. Christy explained what was happening in Everett's family and told us that she and Everett plan to go to Spokane in the morning.
Once we all knew the situation in Spokane, the subject changed and we enjoyed our drinks and talked about a lot of stuff and had a good family time together.
Debbie and I returned home and stayed up until well past midnight. I mixed her a Manhattan and I enjoyed another classic martini followed by a small dirty martini and I called out songs for Alexa to play.
It all started because Debbie had been talking to a youngster at 16 Tons in Eugene who knew the wife of one of Debbie's longtime musician friends and Debbie said something made her think of the song "Handsome Molly". I didn't know if the late Bill Morrissey's version of "Handsome Molly" would be available to Alexa, but I called it out and it was and that led me to have Alexa play a string of songs by Stan Rogers -- and, serendipitously, when 2019 became 2020, Stan Rogers was singing his inspiring and very moving song, "The Mary Ellen Carter" and so we started 2020 with Stan Rogers singing these words:
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
That this song of defiance and resurrection came on at midnight was an accident. It was just by chance, in fact, that I noticed the time while it was playing.
But, it seemed right.
Debbie and I listened to more songs. We listened to Gordon Lightfoot, Leo Kottke, Jim Croce, The Band, Neil Young, and probably others, a great party kicked into gear by Debbie's 16 Tons story and her allusion to "Handsome Molly".
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