A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

The 4th of July That Wasn't

As old Will Shakespeare might have said, "To go or not to go...that is the question?" We had our hotel reservations, we bought our fishing license, we had the food ready, the car was gassed up, our clothes were packed and yet there was this gnawing feeling that maybe we shouldn't go. Well, common sense won...we didn't go.We followed our gut on this one. Two old people traveling miles to celebrate the 4th on the hottest 4th in history just didn't make sense. My kids understood and I got the feeling that they were relieved to hear that Mom and Joe had changed their minds. Two kids, during the weekend, called to "check on the old people" like they were told to do on TV and found that we didn't go.What did we do, you might be wondering?  

We woke early yesterday and did our normal morning things. I had been up earlier to put something in the slow cooker. No cookout here over the holiday. I fixed something really delicious.

I cut up 6 Yukon gold potatoes and scattered them in the bottom of my slow cooker.
I added one medium onion sliced. 
2 cloves of garlic.
1 6lb delicious precooked ham.
1 can of chicken broth
salt and pepper and parsley
Then just as I started to put the lid on ....I saw some ears of corn in the fridge. I thought..why not cut these up and add them to the mix? I cut up two ears into 8 pieces and scattered them around inside the pot. Then I covered it and let it cook for 7 hrs.. Halfway through, I took a chunk of butter and buttered the tops of the veggies, sprinkled the top with fresh parsley... and closed it up again to cook for the rest of the time. The house smelled delicious and Joe didn't have to stand out on the hot deck and grill. In the middle of the afternoon we had our dinner along with some tomatoes and peas. I love my slow cooker in the winter and again in the summer. The house stays cool and it isn't a lot of work.

We watched a movie and then later on had strawberry shortcake. I played scrabble with my daughter and she filled me in on what was going on with the family celebration. I think that they did a lot of eating too
Last night we watched a whole evening of special TV shows for the 4th. We could hear fireworks in the neighborhood, but for the most part our neighbors were home and doing pretty much the same thing as we were. It was not the 4th that we had planned...I missed seeing my family...this is always a special time for us. In years past there was croquet, fishing, preparing food together, special desserts, and just sitting on the deck and enjoying each other and then the fireworks in the yard... with the lake as a background. I'm not upset in the least that we didn't go...we heeded all the warnings and felt that at our age it was the right thing.
Balisha


3 comments:

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Proud of you.
Wise decision.
I have clean up
this morning :)

Barbee' said...

I totally agree with you. Sunday prior to the 4th, I made the same decision about joining our local gang for lunch like we usually do on Sundays. Husband thought I was silly, but I canNot tolerate heat. My thoughts were negative, I know, but I thought: what if I were involved in a traffic accident and had to wait for the police officers and the paper work, etc. while standing on a blistering hot road, or inside an oven-like vehicle. I would land in the hospital for sure. I can take cold much better than heat. One of our sons in another state did call recently and laughingly said: they say to check on the elderly, so I am. Just before he hung up he said: drink more water :) Balisha, you inspire me to get out my old crock-pot, I guess it would be considered a slow-cooker, and to start using it more. I love it when you tell us what you have cooked. I still want to try the pulled pork in my crock-pot like you prepared in your slow cooker.

Margie's Musings said...

You were probably wise not to go. As it was, you had a great day anyhow.