Early Riser

I had gone to bed early last night so I was awake at 5:00 am and I couldn't fall back asleep. So I cooked a big breakfast: a fat boneless pork chop, 2 eggs scrambled, 2 slices of multigrain toast, fresh broccoli, apple juice and coffee. It was quite good (as always). I ate it in front of an episode of "Take a Hike!"

 Then I went to the lake from 9:30 - 11:00 am. I walked my usual mile with SomaFM in my earbuds (Groove Salad 2). Then I read for a bit (Patrick Stewart's autobiography - he's a great writer too). It was a bit grey and a bit humid, but nice overall.

Lake Family

I went to the lake today at 11:30 am for my usual walk, and several Shampines were already there (on a weekday!), which was a shock, but a nice surprise. Helena was enjoying the summer air before a work meeting, and Jon & Hayden were 'working from home', while Milo, Pepper and Henley ran around, swam or snoozed in the sun.

I walked my usual mile first, and then Jon took me and Hayden to the Wachusett Brewery for lunch (see today's other post). On the ride there, Jon and I were able to clear up the incident from last August, which turned out tot not be such a big deal after all, just a series of misunderstandings and a selfish younger sister (his, not mine). That was a relief. After that I hung around to read for awhile, and headed home around 3:00 pm.

Wachusett Brewery

I went down to the lake today around 11:30 am, and Helena, Hayden and Jon were all there! Helena was killing time before a work meeting, and the other two were 'working from home' with three of their dogs in attendance.

After my usual walk Jon took Hayden and me to lunch at the Wachusett Brewery. No one else was in the outdoor brew yard, so we basically had a town fair-sized area to ourselves. I got the buttermilk chicken sandwich, which came with amazing french fries, and was very good. The beer I had was a Great Fruit IPA, which was decent, but nothing to write home about. It was nice to hang out with them (I was at the lake until 3:00 pm or so), and also nice to get out of the house to somewhere else besides a relative's home (haha).

Omaha Steaks

I cooked two of the Omaha Steaks burger patties in the oven tonight. I ate them with American cheese, mustard, pickles, and tomatoes on 12-grain bread. They were fantastic.

 

 

 

Lingo Deer Progress

Since my DuoLingo expired Monday, I am going to focus on Lingo Deer until I can afford a language app again. Its free version is far more flexible and useful than DL's. Today I hit another milestone.

Add a Little Bacon

I had some spicy kimchi ramen for dinner tonight. And I added in four thick-cut slices of leftover bacon. Ridiculously good! I also had fresh pea pods and iced tea with it.

Another Lake Day

Another typical day at the lake, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm. A walk, some photos and a book ("A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"). There were boats, so the lake was delightfully choppy.

Mike and T's

I had dinner with Dad & Ma tonight. We got pizza from Mike & T's (called Town House of Pizza for the last few decades, but my childhood pizza place will always be the former to me - haha!). I got my usual: extra cheese and anchovies. Their cheese hasn't changed since I was a kid, and anchovies are my thing.  

SO GOOD!

 

Anniversary

 

Reunion-ish

Today a big chunk of the family met down at the lake, a reschedule of a day that was supposed to happen last month while Jason & Stacie were here from California, but which got cancelled by bad weather.

So:

From Ma's side of the family it was Jean Marie and Judy.

From Dad's side it was Aunt Carol (and Bob) and Leanne; Uncle Fred, Aunt June, Katie, Ginny and her daughter; Mary; Wendy and Ted.

And my siblings & their spawn: Kevin, with Jared; Sarah and Jon (with maybe Hayden, Celia and Helena stopping by much later, but I wasn't around to see).

I was there from 2:00 - 4:00 pm, with a 20 minute walk to and from the Gatehouse in between. I brought iced tea and a Black Forest Ham and Swiss sandwich on good white bread with butter, which were both perfect for the hot and humid weather. I also brought some chocolate graham cookies to share, but they melted on the table (haha). It was great to see everyone, and two hours was the perfect amount of time, since no one was swimming and most of the younger generation weren't around.

July 5th

I was headed to Dad & Ma's anyway, so I stopped at the lake first to walk and look around. SOMAfm and the mile, and then to their house to hang out for a couple of hours. I might go back down either Tuesday or Thursday to clean up the water area seen in the last two photos. It has potential...

Korean Learning

I've been lax in posting my Korean language learning milestones and progress. As of today I have 352 days in Duo Lingo and 208 days in LingoDeer. I am understanding spoken words more than ever, and I can recognize many of them on-screen or in print, but I still need a good conversation program to make it more about real-world usage rather than just book learning.

 

 

 

A Re-Read

Since I've been getting a lot of "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon" stuff in my Instagram feed lately I decided to reread "Fire & Blood". It's been a few years, and the pseudo-history of Westeros and  beyond is pretty cool. Recently I began a few other books, but haven't been able to stay with them (not from lack of interest, rather just more interest in the "Running Man" series and the two "I am Solo" shows on my phone at night - haha). But this book is always a page turner.

I always remove the dust jacket before I read a hardcover.

The dates are logged each time I've completed the book. Usually I just write inside the back cover, but the artwork for this one is too nice, so I used a leftover Christmas sticker.

"First Edition", baby!

Breakfast

9 mornings out of 10 I have cereal (shredded wheat or wheat flakes). 

Today I had mini-donuts with my coffee.

Three Hundred

As of today, I have been using DuoLingo for 300 consecutive days to learn how to speak Korean. It's been fun all the way through so far, but I know I can do more (and better), once I can afford to have live conversations, either through Lingo Deer (156 days in on this alternate and supplemental platform) or some other service (or just travel to Boston to the Korean businesses located there). It's been a fun and productive challenge, especially the way I can make out more and more words as I watch shows such as "Running Man", "I am Solo" and its spin off, and all of the K-dramas I watch, the most recent being "Can This Love be Translated?" with the absolutely beautiful Go Youn-jung. Only 65 more days for it to have been a full year!

Udon

Today's big meal was udon noodles stir fried in sesame oil, boneless pork all soy-sauced up, sauteed mushrooms and fresh pea pods. I love udon, but cleaning the wok is such a pain in the butt that I don't cook it very often. At least not as often as ramen or rice. But sometimes it's definitely worth it.

Rice-O-Rama

Tonight's dinner: Basmati rice, with fresh broccoli steamed over it, sauteed mushrooms, and boneless pork marinated in soy sauce. Plus rehydrated seaweed on top. Always good!

Tuesday Afternoon

A nice sunny day at the lake, with very little wind and beautiful clouds. On the way down I listened to Pete Yorn's first album, "musicforthemorningafter", which turns 25 this year, and which has been in heavy rotation for most of my life since its debut. It was fantastic to listen to it as I drove down the sunny highways and roads on the way to the lake. The walk was great (SomaFM as usual), and I am glad I brought the rest of my coffee with me. I got a good first look at Sarah & Jon's new travel trailer, and they parked it in a very good spot.What a nice afternoon, with great scenery.