fun in threes, sometimes fours
babcia and dziadek
Whenever Papa comes here to help, I often end up helping him. It's always been that way.
It was no different with Dziadek and the smoker.
So now the smoker's almost done, but not tested.
That's tomorrow. And next weekend, the first adventures.
"There's no good sandwich meat in America!"
Dziadek has stated several times. And that's critical, for sandwich meat -- cold cuts, in other words -- is a cornerstone of the Polish diet.
What else are you going to eat for breakfast?
Nothing fills you up for the day like, say, a head cheese (which, for the uninitiated, is pretty much what it sounds like) sandwich with a cup of hot tea.
What are we left to do? Dziadek decided there's only one solution: make our own cold cuts -- which requires a smoker. Which requires a cinder block foundation and a 55-gallon drum. Yes, we're going high class.
Yesterday, we dug out the foundation, mortared the cinder blocks together, began making the necessary modifications to the drum, cut down a dead oak, and went to Home Depot at least half a dozen times.
Today, we build the fire pit and attach the drum to the base. And eventually paint it.
Aesthetic concerns aside (how much does that privacy fence cost again?), I'm looking forward to having homemade ham.
Last weekend we were in Charleston. Fun city -- European, old, classy. At least that's what I heard. I didn't get to see much because the Girl decided to get sick, and I stayed with her in the hotel.
Dziadek and K went to see the USS Yorktown
And Fort Sumter
Looks like fun.
Meanwhile, L and I sat in the hotel room, playing games, laughing, napping, and having a generally nice Saturday.
It's been some time since I posted any videos. That's because it's been a long time since I had access to the computer on which I edit them. It's in the guest room, which is now Dziadek's room, making the computer Dziadek's computer.
I'm so far behind, it's not even vaguely amusing. Still, I had some time today while the Girl slept and K and Dziadek were out, so I went through the footage I had and put together a little something from Las Vegas.
On the way: Grand Canyon, Sedona, eating with a spoon, and more...
Well, it's my birthday too...
When I was leaving for Polska the first time, my parents played a little joke on me. I had an old, almost-working laptop that I was planning on taking, and one day, Mom came to me and said she'd bought me a battery for my laptop. "I don't know if it will work with yours or not, but..."
I looked at it and thought, "Oh dear. Mom's wasted money. I hope she can take it back." But I gratefully thanked her and said, "Well, you might be right. I don't know if it will work with that old lap top." At which time Dad blindsided me, putting a new laptop on my lap and saying, "It'll work with this one."
They did it again.
This time, with a saw and goggles.
"Dad's always wanted one of those," Mom/Nana said.
"I guess he has one now," I said, "With a place to store it."
Dziadek was equally impressed, but declared that it was not for a beginner like me. Probably not, but I'll learn.
All photos are links to more pictures at Flickr.
The main goal of our trip West was to see the Grand Canyon. Dziadek, having been a geography teacher, had wanted to see it for as long as he could remember; K and I, not having had a vacation for years (literally), were eager to take him; L really didn't care.
I first went to the Grand Canyon when I was eleven. During the intervening twenty-some years, I never forgot about how awe-struck I was when I first saw the canyon.
"I knew it was big, but that big?!"
K and Dziadek had similar reactions.
The GC in winter with a baby is a hectic schedule -- into the car, out of the car, into the car, out of the car, into the car, out of the car, into the car, out of the car, into the car, out of the car. Coats on, coats off, coats on, coats off, coats on, coats off, coats on, coats off, coats on.
It soon became clear to K and me that this was just a reconnaissance trip, for we must go back and hike the canyon.
A note to photographers: the rocks reflect a lot of light. We found quickly enough that it was necessary to underexpose most shots by 0.7 steps.
The cliche is that a picture is worth some ridiculous amount of words. That really depends on the author, I'd say, but all that notwithstanding, even pictures don't do the GC any justice. It's just enormous on a scale that is incomprehensible.
Two hundred and seventy-seven miles long. An average of ten miles wide, with the shortest trail from rim to rim being twenty-four miles long. Five thousand feet deep.
Six million years old, with the oldest layers of rock being well over a billion years old.
It's like staring into infinity.
All the prep, all the cooking, all the cleaning, all the -- let's face it -- hassle, and what do you get?
First course: barszcz (beetroot soup) with "ears" (wonton-like dumplings)
Second course: wild mushroom soup.
Third course: pierogi (somewhat larger dumplings) filled with sauerkraut and mushrooms.
Fourth course: fried sauerkraut and onions.
Main course: baked salmon, served with roasted potatoes, scallops, and asparagus.
And after dinner, gifts, including a new book for L.
We woke up at some ridiculously early hour -- 3:00 a.m., I think -- on Christmas morning to pack ourselves into our little TDI and head to the airport to begin a week-long trip to the southwest.
We arrived in Las Vegas some eight to ten hours later: the beginning of a trip to include Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona.
But first, a trip to a casino for one of those world-famous buffets. Over-price, generally poor-quality food. Really shouldn't have expected more.
Then, a stroll through the casino.
Odd -- everyone seems to be so bored while playing slot machines.
Still, K, L, and Dziadek were amused.
We went out shopping yesterday. So did most of the rest of the city, which was foreseeable. Dziadek had never seen a mall; I think after seeing one, he’ll be content never to see one again. More importantly, we needed gifts, gifts, gifts — none of which we bought at the mall, because there’s only clothes and jewelry in the mall. And people, but they’re not for sale.
In these cyber days, a hunter such as I am (I don’t shop; I hunt) has a tough time justifying spending time fighting crowds for things that could just as easily be bought with a click of the mouse and a sip of coffee. Of course, you can’t really have your picture taken with Santa when you’re shopping online. On second thought, I’m sure there’s a site out there that makes montages with existing pictures.
With the Girl down with a head cold all week (including last weekend), we didn't have much of a chance to take Dziadek on many field trips. Rather, any field trips.
Sunday, with the Girl still sniffing, we decided that I'd take him to the Georgia Aquarium.
As impressed as he was with the inhabitants of the aquarium, he was just impressed with the engineering of the thing. "Can you imagine the pressure this pane must hold!?" he exclaimed several times.