Three Beautiful Things 06/03/2021: Sitting Still, A Stroll Before Dinner, Trees in the East, Partying with Debbie

 1. After several days of being in nearly constant motion, flying, driving, riding, walking, eating out, and trying beers, today I mostly sat still and committed a healthy chunk of the day to writing in this blog and drinking coffee.

2. Debbie fixed a delicious meal of mashed potatoes and sliced sausages fried in chopped onions with a fresh green salad. Before eating it, I drove over to Foodtown and bought us some groceries and then Debbie and I took Gibbs for a walk on one of the routes Debbie likes to take. This neighborhood features houses on pretty good sized lots, none of them very close to each other, and an abundance of deciduous trees. I began coming to this part of New York, just north of NYC, near the Hudson River, back in 2015 and whether the leaves are green, the leaves are sporting their autumn vermillion and gold, or the trees are bare, I love the trees. I loved them in Virginia. I loved them in Maryland. I loved New Jersey. Earlier this week, I loved them in  Massachusetts.  I love them in New York.  

3. After dinner, Debbie wondered if I'd go to the liquor store and buy her a bottle of wine. She also requested that I bring home a surprise. I made sure she meant a "liquid surprise" and she did and I knew exactly what I'd do. I picked up a bottle of Tanqueray gin and one of dry Vermouth. I didn't know about Debbie, but I was seeing a dry gin martini in my very near future.

The liquor store didn't sell olives, so I decided that I would gladly drink a martini without olives -- or, I'd use whatever olives were on hand back at the house.

It turned out that there were black olives available at the house. I've used them before in a martini (some would call it a desperation martini!) so I mixed myself a cocktail and decided to go all the way with something little different and made the martini dirty with black olive brine.

Debbie asked me to pour her some gin over ice and so I did.

We enjoyed our drinks while talking with our niece Danielle on FaceTime.

Then Debbie and I settled into having ourselves a party, our first in nine months.

We talked a lot about how the summer might play out, without arriving at any certain conclusion, but we have some solid ideas before us and a lot more to discuss while together here in New York.