first Sunday of 2026

Our last day of the recent rains, as it turns out - I woke this morning not to the rain that had been in the forecast but to skies that were clearing and surfaces that were drying.  Ah well.  Good to get the rain we had.  So yes, yesterday was the last day of the rains, and I spent almost the full day inside.

Conrad had told me that we could go for a walk before the rains resumed when I first woke up, but he wanted to get a bit more sleep.  So I let him sleep, and sleep he did.  It was quite a while before he got up, and rather than walk without him, I caught up on things online before eventually deciding to get into the kitchen.  When he came downstairs at last, I was well into making the filling for what turned out to be pot pie. 

I'd had some leftover meats from making brodo weeks before (I'd frozen the meat), and I added in some Christmas ham and some veggies, making a gravy to bind them and a shortcrust pastry to go over top.  Not my best effort, I admit, but it was a way to use up some stuff in the freezer and have meals for the week ahead ready to go.

The day otherwise was pretty easy.  Coffee and some reading, a nap.  I wish I had been more active, but ah well.  I've had a more active day today instead.

Yesterday evening we joined Conrad's colleague and friend Rick and his wife Jacque for dinner.  We've been socializing more with them in the past couple of years, and I'm happy that Conrad has a peer his age at the Pasadena office, one whom he's become friendly with.  They are lovely people, and they like a good meal and beverage.  The five of us decided to go to Smitty's Grill, over on Lake.  That was my suggestion, and it was deliberate.  You see, the first weekend of every month, Smitty's has liver as a special.  Van and I are both big fans, and you can bet that was my meal last night.  I did ask about it when I sat down, and the server told us that they had run out.  But then she came back from the kitchen and corrected what she had previously said.  Enough for the table, but only Van and I had it.  Tasty! 

We had a nice meal together, hearing about the holidays, and I capped it with a chocolate martini that I let everyone try (and that Conrad probably had 1/3 of).

After we got home, I was in bed and asleep earlier than I had been for days.  A good way to end the first Sunday of the year.