Saturday, July 21, 2007

Another Day In Paradise.....

The curtain rose on lunch at 11.30am, to much applause….reluctantly the curtain came down shortly after 6pm, again to applause. However, our steps weren’t as sprightly as they were at the beginning of the afternoon. The reason…we were weighted down by the intake of food! This, of course, was balanced by the ingestion of champagne, wine…and Tia Maria coffees.

The sun made its path across the sky, suspended like a pendulum, but we were ignorant of its presence. Whatever happened in the outside world this afternoon affected us not. Engulfed we were by what was in our immediate surroundings. One could not blame us for such lack of interest in what was happening elsewhere. We were far too intent on what we were doing within these four walls.

A small antipasti of char-grilled eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated artichokes, feta-stuffed large green olives, black olives, dill-pickled cucumbers and puff pastry squares filled with a mixture of blue cheese, shredded Parmesan, grated mozzarella, ricotta and diced bacon began the indulgent feasting. With these tasty tid-bits we sipped on sparkling rosé, followed closely by a bottle of champagne.

Entrée and main, as I mentioned in a previous post, consisted of Prawns and Calamari Creole and Veal Oscar. By the time we’d ploughed our way through those two courses, the sun was on the wan and our bodies were screaming for a break! Heeding the request, as is my may, time was allowed to drift away between courses, so dessert came….much later.

During the planning, preparing etc., my plan fluctuated and I finally decided upon rhubarb and apple crumble served with hot custard for dessert. After all, it is winter and the days have been pretty chilly of late, so a hot dessert seemed very appropriate. Not to mention, rhubarb grows here on this property where I live. Oh! Dear! I did mention it!

By the time, the Tia Maria coffees were presented us three were beyond hope or caring! So, too were our stomachs! What fun! What the hell! You’re dead a long time and these small pleasures should be enjoyed now…while they can be enjoyed! That’s my philosophy and I’m sticking with it!

Full of good cheer and good manners, my two guests left. Having bid them farewell, I came back inside, pumped up the music. I filled up the kitchen sink with soapy suds, a few times, and my attack on the dishes had begun in earnest. It’s amazing how quickly one can get things done while urged on by the sounds of Shel Silverstein, The Marshall Tucker Band and Bruce Springsteen and Gram Parsons!

Presently, I sit here, sipping on Tia Maria. All is washed sparkling clean (except me!). Of course, nothing is put back to its rightful place. Damn that…they can drip-dry until morning, The final step in this exercise will be done then. I’m not that organized or particular! Who cares, anyway? It is me who has to do it and I don’t feel like doing anything more this evening other than to enjoy the music and this drink by my side.

It was a wonderful afternoon. I don’t know what we talked about, but we discussed it all in depth, whatever it was, with much laughter and little pause to take a breath. The problems of the world we did not solve, but I’m sure we could have done so, and could do, if anyone ever listened intently to us.

I’ve had good years. I’ll have many more, I hope. I’ve had soft places to fall. I’ve fallen onto hard places. Sometimes they’ve come up to meet me or arrived uninvited, but I’ve never let them defeat me. Hurdles I have jumped over deserving of Olympic Gold. I’ve picked up the pieces, glued them together and started all over again, many times. Between happy times, the sad times sneak in, between anger and frustration come understanding and empathy. The splendour of life wins, every time.

And then at the end of the stroke of midnight, a new day begins. This my 501st post, so that also means I've begun my run-down to my post Number 1000!!

Take a deep breath everyone!

18 comments:

  1. And a fitting 501st post Lee, loved the poem in your 500th too.
    Gympie has been showing her winter side to us lately 3 X -3 and now -4.3 that's getting too dam cold for Queensland I reckon, I would imagine Mt Tamborine gets a bit cold too?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:52 AM

    Please don't say run down to 1000. Say run up. Running down has the tone of ending. Running up will go on forever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Lee ~~ Glad you and your friends had such a great day, and the dishes are done. Glad you enjoyed the few
    old photos. We sure were little innocents in those days. A pity to
    change into what we are now.
    I have tagged you with an award, that Peter tagged me with (as well as the usual few insults). Take care Lee,
    Love, Merle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, it gets cold, too, Peter, up here. We're always a couple of degrees or so lower than other areas...normally, anyway. Gympie used to have those kind of winter temps when I was a kid growing up there. I remember at Gympie
    Show time in May, always rugging up for Show Day and for the nights. Particularly over the south-side, it used to get bloody cold. Frosts were a common thing in those days but winters became milder and milder, and our memories of how cold it used to get faded. This, to me, is how it used to be. As my Nana used to say, "We need a few good frosts to kill all the germs!" :)

    You took the thoughts out of my head, Steve. I almost editted the post into saying something along those lines, but decided to read the comments first. Great minds think alike! ;)

    It's a pity children of today didn't remain as innocent a little long, Merle. Brothers are there to be insulting...just give back as much as you get, Merle. Hehehehehehehe! ;)

    My thanks for your comments, one and all. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sound delicious. I wish I could send you some sun. Very delightful here today. I wore a dark shirt - a little too dark but I'm too stubborn to change. I'd rather sweat.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats on the 500th post. You're more prolific than I. I believe I'm at 200 or so.

    Another delicious read. I liked the imagery too, e.g. "a soft place to fall." I guess as I get older it's what I wish for as well.

    I liked your comment about death too. It's like they say . . . it's not that life's so short, but it's that you're dead for so long.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sun we have plenty of thanks, CD...it's just not warming the place up much! lol Clear blue skies abound!

    Hey Dave...500 posts! I can't believe it myself...I must have diarrhoea of the fingers! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gidday Lee,
    500 posts hey, gee I only have 400 odd to go. Congrats on some (a lot) of fine, well written, enjoyable reads Lee.
    Picture Homer Simpson droolng then picture Wazza drooling....yum rhubarb
    my favourite. I have rhubarb on my cereal every morning and whenever I'm up at Mt. Tamborine I always go alooking for some fresh rhubarb.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We had apple and blackbery crumble this weekend. I toyed with using rhubarb instead of blackberry but wasn't sure if Elder Son liked it. He and his wife were visiting for the weekend. I love crumble; you can't beat it, can you?

    Dishes and Springsteen. I'll go along with that.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks, Wazza. You would have loved the rhubarb. I served it hot with hot custard...yum! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Liz...you snuck in while I was replying to Wazza. I made the crumble with toasted muesli, brown sugar, coconut and condensed milk this time, for a change and it turned out great.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fabulous. Lee. You describe exactly how the cook feels - or should feel - after a successful, long, leisurely party. - Just get mellow, have another drink and who cares if there are dishes to be washed up tomorrow? The rhubarb crumble sounds wonderful!
    I know you have had some very bad times, my friend, but you have a good, philosophical attitude to them. Like you, I am a "caroe diem" sort of person, not because I am shallow, but because I know now to value the good times. So here's to you, Lee, and roll on the 1000th post! Auguri from Simi and me xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sounds like the perfect day, Lee. Good friends, good food, good drink ... what more could a girl want.
    Congratulations on 500 (and one) posts ... great job. I'm only at almost 350 ... still a ways to go !!
    Hope you have a fabulous week.
    Take care, Meow

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks Welsh & Connie...my Sunday was spent very leisurely. I had two weekend newspapers to read, so feeling no guilt whatsoever, I read them inside out, upside down, front to back.

    ReplyDelete
  15. And a great time was had by all! Glad you had such a wonderful time, Lee...and the food sounded absolutely delicious. I'm not proud, I'll have any left-overs but it sounds like there probably weren't any..that'd be right!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Actually, there were some left-overs, Robyn...I'd also made a caramel-chocolate slice but didn't even cut into it...by that time we could hardly move and there was no way more food could be ingested! So the slice is in my fridge, yet to be unveiled!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Congratulations to you on your 500th post, your blogging is like those delectable meals you keep serving up to your lucky guests. I think maybe it’s somewhat agreeable to you and from my perspective easily digestible as I like the way you are open and honest about your life with its ups and downs, to combine with the good stories that bind them together. Bon life appetit !

    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you, Lindsay...I'm a little late in catching up...but better late than never, as the saying goes. :)

    ReplyDelete