February moves along.
Today would have been Judi's birthday and it's also the day of my mother's funeral some six years ago. Wow...so long ago. My dreams have been vivid. For the last few weeks I've had a recurring dream of a huge, beautiful old three story house. We live on the first floor but I go up to the abandoned second floor often, trying to turn one of the rooms into my own space but it never seems to work. The furniture is too big or just won't fit. The house has a big square courtyard ringed with stairs. Sometimes I try to get up to the third floor where my sisters and I used to have rooms. Part of the stairway to the third floor is missing though so I can't get there. Last night Judi was there with me but we still couldn't get to the third floor. Then I dreamed my colleague got test results and she had capsicum cells throughout her body and her brain, and it turns out the capsicum cells weren't peppers but were actually cancer cells. I assured her she was o.k., that it was just like what Ernie had. When I woke up I felt grumpy and out of sorts, but then I kind of laughed at my busy little brain.
We had a good chicken and pancake night last night though and that helps too. I marinated the chicken thighs in Vietnamese chili-garlic sauce plus a bit of cayenne and salt and pepper for a few hours. Then I cut them into thirds and rolled them in seasoned cornstarch and shallow fried them. Leo, of course, was in charge of the pancakes. Owen set the table and supervised.
Despite it's surprises, and its missing staircases, life is good.