Sequestered in Seattle, Day 238: Birthday Special

Wednesday was another dark day, though warm, in spite of the rain and afternoon wind. I woke up early, having slept through the uncertainty, to find a mostly favorable presidential election map, but disappointing senatorial results. The situation continues to develop.

Back on day 16, I talked about how I was born into the counting of days, because of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. I suppose it's appropriate, too, that when it's a Tuesday, like on my first birthday in 1980, it's election day, another way it counts. I hoped, in March, that the sequester wouldn't last 444 days, like the hostage situation, but didn't weigh in then on whether it was likely to last until this birthday. I'm not sure whether I'd have been surprised to learn this.

Rachel asked to go for a walk just as I was settling into work. I decided that was a fine idea, and we made a loop in about twenty-five minutes so we were back in time for our meetings. I found a copy of The Three-Body Problem at a Little Free Library that I have added to my to-read stack, which is growing, but not overwhelming yet, especially with short winter days coming.

I had a second meeting right after lunch that stretched longer than scheduled. I finished up what I had been working on and left work a little after four. Not quite a full day, but certainly adequate under the circumstances. No one else was distracted by my birthday, but many co-workers were struggling with the incomplete election results.

I looked out the window just before leaving work and saw that Rachel's second sunflower had a broken stem. Perhaps the heavy wind had done it in. I went outside to cut it, and brought in the flower for Rachel to put in a vase. It's still quite nice, the faceplant notwithstanding. While I was out there, I had an idea for dinner. When we lived in Baltimore, we went to a Lebanese restaurant a block from our apartment for several of my birthday dinners. Back inside, I suggested Mediterranean to Nicole, and she found a cafe in Wallingford and ordered pick-up.

We got the whole family in the car to make the trip. When we arrived home, Eric was looking a little green. I decided maybe we don't need to take all the kids with us going forward. The other kids act like it's torture to leave their afternoon screen time, but for Eric the torture is evidently real.

On the way home from the restaurant, I fielded a happy birthday call from Evan and company, who were also on their way somewhere. Perhaps the barber shop? They sang a nice quartet.

The food was good. The spicy hummus was tasty, but the plain hummus was amazingly smooth. I see no reason to bother with the spicy in future. The eggplant pickles were excellent, and the stuffed grape leaves were top notch. Or maybe it's just been too long since I had them.

After dinner, I opened a few gifts. A new kitchen scale from Mom, a decorative Scottish dagger from my in-laws, and several nice cards. Nicole made two kinds of cookies and reserved some for me in a separate cookie jar for my desk. We ate two apiece for dessert, but first they all sang to me, accompanied competently by Colin on the piano.

I got some reading time for myself while Nicole did dishes, and then family reading time finished off The River, sequel to Hatchet.

I forgot to mention that I baked bread this morning. It turned out pretty dense, after not rising well. The water may have been too hot for my friendly microbes. It still made acceptable sandwiches for lunch.

The election has been such a distraction, I've lost track of the COVID-19 trajectory. I'm sure it will regain my attention before long. I'll try to resist the urge to watch vote counts trickle in, in the meantime. The news tonight is that the ongoing count in Georgia may lead to both their Senate seats requiring a runoff election in January. That would mean the possibility of a 50-50 Senate, with Senator Harris presiding as Vice President. It's a stretch, but not impossible.