Thursday, April 14, 2011.
Queedle-Deep! Pad Thai. Last Shot.
Warning: some extraordinarily geeky stuff follows. My weekday morning begins with a wake-up call at 7:10 a.m. from the CBS Radio web channel for the World News Roundup. A living fossil, it's the longest-running network news show in America. It went on the air in 1938, when radio was a much more important news medium than it is now. Originally a half-hour, the Roundup was a fifteen-minute newscast for about fifty years. Now it's ten minutes--still more than double the length of any other network radio newscast. I like beginning my day with it.
I was still under the covers at the end of the Roundup today. Chilly last night--low forties. In the warmth and quiet, I heard a sound that made me smile. A bird I have never seen was singing the early-season, unrehearsed version of his unique, question-and-answer song. The question: "Queedle-DEEP?" The answer, two or three seconds later: "Queedle-DEE-doop." Again and again.
I have tried for years to follow the source of the song, but I have never seen the bird. Birders I know say it's probably the white-eyed vireo. Whatever he is (and we do know he's a he), Queedledeep brings me cheer from early spring through mid-summer, singing loudest in the morning, less so in the afternoon.
The queedle-deeps are running a little late this year. Last year I first heard the call on April 8. The two years before that, April 2. Welcome back, friends!
Mary Ann still fetches my spartan breakfast every morning. I've offered to get it myself, but she won't hear of it. This morning, she said she was in the mood for an omelette, and asked if I wanted one too. Why not? I knew she'd brown it on the outside (she makes her own omelettes actually crispy), but it was moist enough on the inside. Which enclosed mozzarella cheese, hot sausage, and fresh spinach. Very tasty!
MA still has not made gumbo from the turkey leg and the chaurice in the refrigerator. She had an errand to run anyway, and offered to pick up supper. I remembered that yesterday, today and tomorrow celebrate the New Year in Thailand. How about pad thai from Thai Thai? Ricky sent me a pile big enough for two meals at my new, revised portion sizes. I had to add crushed red pepper to bring it up to my heat level, but that's easy enough. Delicious.
A radio listener who heard me play the theme from Sea Hunt on the air a couple of weeks ago wrote to tell me that whole episodes of that 1950s TV show could be seen on the web. I downloaded one and watched it. The nostalgia of it washed my soul clean. I loved this program when I was a kid. First time I've seen it since then. Then, an episode of Sky King, another favorite from those innocent years. Wow!
This exciting (for me) day had a big finish: the final injection of blood-thinning medicine into my abdomen. I am ecstatic to be done with that nightly routine. Another corner is turned on my way to wellness. I notice that when I remove the moon boot, I can twist my foot around every which way, without even a twinge of pain. Still a little stiff, though.
Thai Thai. Covington: 1536 US 190. 985-809-8905.
