New Year’s Day

I woke up on New Year’s Day about 4:00 a.m. I read my book until the news came on.

I putzed around the house, straightening stuff, vacuuming, cleaning up the mess from last night’s dinner, etc.

I started getting sleepy, so I set my alarm clock for 1:00 p.m. and took a nap. The alarm woke me, so I started getting ready for my trip to Saint Clair Shores and the annual Brother’s party.

I left a little after 2:00 p.m. It was damn cold and windy as well.

Sidebar: Why did I come back, again???

I got there first for a change. So, I visited with Joe and Kathy. I checked out their massive redo after their flood. Nice. The most impressive change (in my mind anyway) was the removal of the carpeting in the dining room and the living room and replacing it with a hardwood floor.

Then my Brother Jim pulled up. He had stopped to get both Jean and my Brother Carl. His wife, Coletta, was ill and couldn’t make it.

Kathy put out some snacks, including baked Gouda inside a pastry crust. She had all kinds of good stuff baking in the oven for our dinner.

We had the usual conversations, catching each other up on the latest news, questions about things and people past, inside Goerlich brother jokes and so on…

Then we ate dinner. We each made our salads buffet-style. Then Kathy started putting out food on platters. She had made baked salmon, baked chicken (if anybody didn’t like the fish), roasted asparagus with mushrooms and onions, cheesy potato casserole, homemade potato dinner rolls, and a dish of some ancient grain that I missed the name of.

I had everything but the chicken and the grain. The salmon was perfect. Serious good eats, all around.

Christmas cookies were the dessert, but I passed on them and had a cup of coffee, instead.

Finally, the grandfather clock chimed 8:00 p.m. and that was the signal to go home. It took me almost an hour, but traffic was light and I just drove on.

I treated Caley and then changed clothes. I rubbed the drawer front down with steel wool, wiped it and then added another stinking coating of the wipe-on polyurethane.

It was almost 10:00 p.m. when I quit for the night. I decided it was too late for TV, so I read a book for a bit. Then I went to bed.

Happy New Year to all my readers!