I did (barely) survive the remainder of my workweek. As you might imagine things are beginning to percolate with the pandemic planning. I anticipate there will not be much slowdown for either of my job descriptions in the mid to longer future. With today’s discussion of the need for us to occasionally be involved in meetings which are scheduled from 4 – 6 p.m. daily, I calmly stated “I’ll take my turn and begin my work day two hours later” which was met with surprised acceptance. Too early to create a precedence of working 12 hr days and getting paid for eight, I thought to myself although aloud I quoted the ‘sustainability factor’ in my agreement.
We had five house guests on the weekend. Daughter # 2 arrived from the city to assist with the entertaining duties and her cru amused themselves while she worked. It’s been quite a while since the spare bedroom, den and living room floor were all covered with young sleeping bodies in this place. One of the guests is hoping to be accepted to veterinary college next year and fell in love with the resident animals, especially Stanley offering to adopt him and take him back to the city. The life partner agreed and when I protested that the baby daughter would take exception to this as he is ‘her cat’ he reminded me that he has lived with us the past two years while she was in residence and even with the apartment in September he will still continue here because….not one but two of her roommates are allergic to cats and that he was not afraid of daughter # 3!! Poor Stanley, it didn’t seem fair to send him to an urban, rather unsettled existence, although I’m sure he would adjust. But his stalking of the dog with resultant whines as I write is causing me to rethink my intervention.
The end of last week was spent getting ready for our annual social event – the Moncada Day Pig Roast which we
are now recovering from. We fed (I think) about 45 people yesterday which is a smallish crowd by our standards. Thankfully the fog hung mostly offshore and there were a few brief glimpses of blue sky. The panic du jour was when I arrived home on Saturday afternoon with the pig (which the butcher had picked up in the Valley) only to have the pigmaster have a meltdown as both the head and skin had been removed. This led to a workaround on Sund
ay of tin foil wrapped around the pig which slowed the roasting and its removal which caused it to cook more on the outside with the result of a delayed eating time of an hour. The guests declared it the best pork ever and only the chef was stressed. His dark pronouncement of “you’d better hope that Rogelio doesn’t come to see this” unfortunately came true as we missed our Cuban friends and daughters (Cuban and otherwise) this year. I was inspired to hand my camera to a photographic friend and have done much better in the recording for prosperity department than usual, I’ll stick to the kitchen I think.I have made arrangements to take a vacation day on Wednesday as the weather forecast is for sun and in this dismal season of precipitation that has passed for summer that alone is reason enough to use an earned day. The fact that the shore captain has a fishery meeting in the city that day ensures my ‘staycation’ will not be preempted by domestic duties and my library book awaits. Best to take the time when I’m able and this will also break up my week into a possibly manageable four days to match the following one with its civic holiday. Yeah!
