Odd Christmas

Back safe and sound from the wilds of Virginia. It is really strange going for three days with no cell phone and no instantaneous access to the internet. I did discover that one of my Mom's neighbors had an unsecured wireless network and yes I did use it do a little surfing. If it will make you happy, I did feel bad for stealing the bandwidth but not that bad. If the unknown contributor to my delinquence didn't want to share his/her network then he/she should have secured it.

Anyhow, nice quiet Christmas. I did some cooking in the tiniest kitchen you can imagine and didn't ruin anything. Christmas was the classic prime rib and Yorkshire pudding even. Of course all food stuffs were imported from here and Whole Foods. The only "real" grocery left within about 40 miles is Wal-Mart and I will starve before I shop there. The quality of food you get at Whole Foods is such a level of wholesomeness above the industrial foods at Wal-Mart that is not even a valid comparison.

We did get to meet my Mom's new suitor. Dad finally succumbed to MS about 6 years ago and since that time my Mom has been pretty much a home body. She spent the better part of 30 years taking care of him while he slowly died from the ravages of MS and the attendant problems that come with immobility. Anyhow, she now has a new beau and it is rather shocking to see a 76 year old woman act like a school girl in a lot of ways, and let me tell you that it takes some getting used to to see your Mom playing lovebird with someone not your father. The guy seems nice enough and apparently dotes on Mom but it still is a little hard to deal with. We shall see where this all leads. The only thing we are going to have to deal with is that he is a deacon in the Baptist church I am going to have to really watch my heathen mouth around him. I am quite sure he is already a little freaked that he sat at the same table on Sunday with someone who was drinking a very nice Bordeaux with the prime rib. I did spend almost a $100 on that hunk of beef and I sure as hell was going to honor it's sacrifice with all proper due. Great beef(properly cooked I might add) deserves only the best wine. The potatoes Lyonnaise did go over well though. I did feel a little guilty about the menu when he mentioned the 5 bypasses and the pacemaker. Mom might not forgive me for toasting her new beau on the first day. There was only a half stick of butter and a pint of cream in the potatoes after all. I did serve a salad and I greased the pan for the rolls with margarine. It was light in it's own way.

Barely snuck out this morning ahead of the snow. Only occasional bands of light snow from just south of Bluefield, WVa until we got south to Knoxville but no real problem.
Glad to see home and all the familiar stuff. My Mom's house is actually one half of a duplex and not very roomy, not to mention that my mother is one of the worst housekeepers in the world. The clutter and well....yes dirt make Mrs. Fallenmonk insane and she usually starts cleaning the moment we arrive and continues right up until departure. So my Mom's kitchen is measurably cleaner. I don't think I killed her new squeeze and I didn't have a 10 hour drive home in the snow. A strange but interesting holiday interlude if you know what I mean.

Happy New Year.