Summarizing June 2021

Listen to hear me refer to the June summary as the May summary two-thirds of the time, find out why I think In the Heights was such a success, and learn why I have the same movie in both the Skip and the Good category.

Things mentioned in this post:

Created by women: In the Heights was written by Quiara Alegría Hudes, Life Partners was directed by Susanna Fogel and written by Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz, and Away We Go was written by Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers.

Matt’s Birthday: Heat and Spanakopita

We are in for some craziness the next few days. Even in the very hot summers of my Boise years, the temperature never got very far above 105 degrees. But Matt’s birthday forecast is 107 and the two days after are in temperature ranges I’ve never seen, ever.

Matt wanted spanakopita for his birthday celebration and so I got the recipe from my Aunt Pat.

Here is my spinach.

And here is the finished product. It wasn’t a winner. There was way too much moisture coming off of the pieces.

The diagnosis: don’t cook it in a 9×13 inch pan with sides (what I think of as a 9×13 inch pan) but use a flat cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. My aunt uses a nice round sheet.

SKS Postcard: Two from Black Oak Coffee Roasters

This is postcard 1 of 3 of the coffee trilogy, which means I’m missing one. Happily, I have received 1 and 2 in the lineup, so can read two-thirds of the message.

Sara reports that they are home from Napa (see previous postcard) and stopped at this coffee roaster because finding good coffee or tea is a challenge in their area, but this is a good place.

Sara also reports she potentially has jury duty this week. We shall see if she gets called.

Overly Cautious Pharmacy

Sentinel’s medicine comes from a compounding pharmacy in Wilsonville. This hits the trifecta of things I’m not overly thrilled about: 1) Having to use a special pharmacy to keep my elderly cat in somewhat good shape 2) Not being able to use a pharmacy in the neighborhood and 3) The amount of energy it takes to transport a tiny vial of pills to me (they do this via courier.) (It does seem to provide a steady job for the courier, who is the same one every time and a very nice man, so that’s a plus.)

Usually the pills come in a floppy plastic envelope (another thing I don’t like). Today, with record-breaking heat forecast, the pills came in this.

Which unpacked to this:

I was initially very confused by the packaging as I don’t refrigerate this medication, but I see that they were worried about it not being able to maintain room temperature.

After removing the pills and the paper, I put the ice packs and the Styrofoam container out with a free sign and it was snapped up by someone who presumably needed it.

Corningware Displays for the Win

The Blythe Cricket in Joseph served us some delicious food. But even better, they had this tremendous display of colorful bakeware. It then became a conversation topic, as in, which of these items did you/do you have? I grew up with the blue cornflower square dish, and had one of those oblong tan dishes for a time. It was a gift from a woman who cleaned out her kitchen and gave me a bunch of her stuff when I moved into my first studio apartment.

I love the red, pink and green too. We also looked up when some of them were manufactured. The green in the 60s and 70s, of course. The pink and red in the 50s.

In an upper nook was all the brown corningware.

This was a fun trip down memory lane.

Dinner at 6 Ranch

Mom and I made the drive out to Enterprise to visit 6 Ranch and eat a delicious dinner.

Here’s the family homestead. Note the cattle dog sitting in the shade.

Here’s another house in Liza Jane’s family. This one is not currently occupied.

Liza Jane’s son tells us about the work they have done to improve the river and the watershed.

Liza Jane herself.

And now we journey to Liza Jane’s watermelon house for a wagon ride and a dinner.

We had a fun ride through the pasture.

Liza Jane’s son-in-law and grandson came to hang out.

Our dinner menu, featuring 6 Ranch beef.

Our dining area.

The dinner was amazing, and I had fun chatting with the other attendees.