1. Not only do I enjoy watching Villanova's men's team play basketball, I really like the way the name VILLANOVA looks stretched out across a gray sweatshirt. A while back I ordered myself a gray Villanova sweatshirt from their university's bookstore, but it hasn't arrived yet, so as I settled in this morning to watch Villanova play Texas, I happily wore my St. John's hoodie!
The game itself kept me on the edge of my seat for the duration. Texas entered this tilt undefeated. Their squad is experienced, especially at the guard positions, long, tall, and versatile up front, and the Longhorns playswith fervor. Villanova matched Texas' intensity, made two or three decisive defensive plays late in the game, and made most of their free throws late to ice a demanding 68-64 win over the Longhorns.
2. I poured myself the cocktail that Debbie and I call the Yuse -- short for "the usual" -- a blend of bourbon, Cointreau, sweet vermouth, and orange bitters (regular bitters also work) and flipped on my ZOOM app. It wasn't long before Bill, Diane, Bridgit, Val and I were in my living room and all in each others' homes. As we always do, every two weeks, we dove into a wide range of subjects -- we talked about current events and the divides that exist in the USA, our country's history, poetry, music, Christmas lights, and other stimulating and delightful things.
I don't know if I mention this often, but when I think about all the things I can do on my little MacBook Air -- talk to friends on Zoom, watch videos clips from Laverne and Shirley -- like Lenny and Squiggy as contestants on The Dating Game--, read daily missives from Heather Cox Richardson, listen to lectures and poetry readings, devour clips of Larry Bird dishing out spectacular assists, enjoy conversations with friends on Messenger, and a wide range of other things -- it fills me with gratitude that while I mostly confine myself, day to day, to staying home, I enjoy infinite riches that make their way into this tiny house and make my time of solitude more than just bearable -- it's more often than not stimulating and enjoyable. (And I didn't even mention what's available on my good old Vizio!)
3. Christy, Carol, Paul, and I gathered at chez Roberts this evening and resumed our invigorating habit of joining together for Sunday family dinner.
Earlier in the day, I made a quick shopping trip to Yoke's. Back home, I halved cherry tomatoes, chopped one and half cucumbers, cut up about four green onions, and chopped up a red bell pepper. I combined these ingredients in a bowl and dressed them with a combination of crushed garlic, olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and some dry oregano. Having dressed this Israeli salad, I seasoned it with some salt and pepper and some Za'atar. Lastly, I made an executive chef decision, strayed away from the recipe, and sprinkled slivered almonds over the salad. I think the salad worked.
Our time together for dinner was awesome. We learned how Christy spent her first week without Everett. I already knew that Carol and Paul helped brighten up her home, inside and out, with Christmas decorations and lights. I also knew she'd taken Riley out for some exercise. I didn't know about phone calls she received and made, the visits of friends, more visits planned, and some of the business matters she tended to right away after Everett passed away.
I also appreciate the cooperation my sisters, Paul, and I share. I've read and heard several stories, especially as Covid cases have increased this fall, about what I think of as accidental exposures to the virus -- exposures that happened at family gatherings or other private get togethers that were small(ish) and involved people who had no idea they were carrying the virus, who assumed being with each other was safe.
We have our family dinners at Carol and Paul's because they have a roomy living room and we can spread out. One day we'll return to the dining table, but it'll be a while.
So, even though we would be at a good distance from each other this evening, I asked my sisters and Paul if they would agree to join me in wearing face coverings when we weren't eating or drinking this evening.
No problem.
They happily agreed. I can't speak for Carol, Paul, and Christy, but I can say for myself that our joining together to protect each other made our time together more relaxing for me and I appreciated in a huge way that we agreed to this arrangement so easily.
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