Hanging my head in shame, sigh, oh brother. It’s Passover, I did the big one you’re not supposed to do and it’s so silly how it happend!
One of the rules with Passover is not eating bread and I have been good this week, until last night…There’s actually no bread in the house, for my fabulous breakfast egg sandwich, I have been having it on matzah and it’s actually yummy. Every year, when Passover rolls around, I actually try to stay away from bread for a while, see how long I can last, go healthier, sometimes it works, sometimes…
So…last night we went to yoga, then decided to go to dinner and found a place with a veggie burger, let’s go! It was the Three Kings Public House, and it was pretty good. We started off with one of the best bowl of brussel sprouts I have ever had! I think they were blanched first, they were tender and not very bitter, then they were sauteed in homemade garlic oil, topped with parmesan cheese, candied almonds, and sweetened dried cranberries. It was fabulous! I could have eaten the entire bowl!
PSM ordered seafood stew and I ordered a veggie burger, which turned out to be a spicy black bean burger, of course, but I had dinner! It came with lettuce, tomato, and pickles, and avocado, along with sweet potato waffle fries, unfortunately with waaayyyy too much salt, but put enough ketchup and mayo on almost anything, problem solved. After I ordered I smacked my forehead and thought, duh! When the waiter came back, I asked him to lettuce wrap my burger, that threw him for a moment, but it came out just as I ordered.
When we were finished, PSM decided he was in the mood for something sweet and we ended up getting the dessert menu. The only thing on the menu I could eat, because the other two items: chocolate and cheesecake, no thanks, was bread pudding, sure, let’s get that. Not thinking in the least. It came, it looked good and it tasted alright, it was a little dry, but enjoyable and I haven’t had bread pudding in a while. I’m actually picky about my bread pudding, it’s always hit or miss when I have it.
There we are, munching away and half way through, I had put my fork down about a minute earlier, I had a total D U H moment! I smacked my forehead and exclaimed “Seriously?! O M G! I just ate BREAD pudding! It’s Passover, what’s ONE big thing you’re not supposed to eat? And it’s in the NAME of the dish!” I couldn’t believe it! I have been so good, then I do something like that! It’s in the name!
The Court Jester is one of my all time favorite movies. I know, I know, I’ve said that before, but if you have spent any time with me and my family, especially when I was younger, it was Danny Kaye all the way.
I truly have been a Danny Kaye fan most of my life and one day I’ll tell you all about the other movies of his I love, like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, yes, before Ben Stiller‘s version, White Christmas with Bing Crosby, A Song is Born, the list goes on. But…today, I’m going to tell you about a movie that myself, my dad, my sister, and my mom all loved. When we were kids, we spent our summers in Mastic Beach, NY, which is on the South Shore of Long Island. We had a VCR, for those of you under 45…ha ha, that’s a video cassette recorder, you would put the cassette tape in, watch it and then have to rewind it before you took it back! and we would bicycle or drive to the library and get movies out.
Two movies that my sister and I absolutely adored were Walt Disney’s Cinderella [1950] and The Court Jester [1955] with Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury. Some of you will know who all of these people are, but I’ll give you other references if that helps. I told you about Danny Kaye, but…you might not remember that he played Dr Burns, the dentist on The Cosby Show. Glynis Johns was also the mother, Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins and the grandmother in While You Were Sleeping, she used to come into the deli I worked in, in the Hamptons! Basil Rathbone was most famous as Sir Guy of Gisborne in The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn and personally, I think he was one of the best Sherlock Holmes. Lastly, there was Angela Lansbury, Miss Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast, and probably most known as Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote. Ok, now you’re caught up on some of the bigger names in the movie.
The tagline in IMBD: A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King. That pretty much says it all. It’s an action/adventure story, with a little swash buckler thrown in, romance, intrigue, all wrapped up in a musical. What more could you want?!
Danny Kaye plays Hubert Hawkins, he’s part of The Black Fox’s band of merry men, gives you a Robin Hood type of vibe. His role is to entertain the merry men, but he wants more, he wants to be out there, on the front lines, fighting, but The Black Fox feels he is best suited where he is. King Roderick I is on the throne, but not by birthright and he is constantly looking over his shoulder because there is a rumor that the royal baby was missed, the rightful heir to the throne and he can’t have that!
His righthand man is the evil Sir Ravenhurst, who does the kings bidding. Basil Rathbone can play a mean one, he can. Little known fact, he is best known for his fencing skills as the greatest swordsman in Hollywood history, what do you think about them apples! He really was great, it was a treat to watch his skills with a blade! What he did made Danny Kaye look good in their scenes.
Something happens at The Black Fox’s camp and Hawkins has to go with the Maid Jean, Glynis Johns, who happens to be The Black Fox’s Captain, to deliver the royal baby to the castle and take the throne back for the royal baby. Along the way, they meet Giacamo, King of Jesters and Jester to the King, and Hawkins takes his place when he gets to the palace, perfect cover!
Throughout the movie there is laughter, silliness, sword fighting, poison, intrigue, romance, spells, threats, singing, dancing, and to top it all off, a baby with a royal birthmark. What more could you want?!
The songs are clever and fun, with Danny Kaye, you know there has to be hillarity, some of the best scenes are where he is being a total goofball. The best scenes also have the most tongue tying lines! “The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.”
Here’s a quote from IMDB about that line: Danny Kaye’s daughter, Dena Kaye, said for the rest of his life, when people recognized Danny in a restaurant, they would walk up and spout the entire “brew that is true” speech.
I mentioned romance, right? Hawkins is awkward around women, and when he appears at the castle, Princess Gwendolyn’s handmaid, Griselda, who is also a witch, puts a spell on Hawkins to romance the princess to save her own neck! She makes him braver than he ever was!
The reason I’m telling you all about this movie and these memories is I has it on as background while I was working today. There are certain movies and tv shows that I have seen so many times, I don’t have to actually pay attention to them, I can have them on in the background and still get work done. I might sing along, maybe to The Maladjusted Jester, or Life Could Not Better Be, or any of the songs he sings. When GES and I watched this movie, the same thing with Cinderella, we would watch it, rewind it, then watch it again, rewind, watch, repeat. We don’t have to say much more than one of the lines and we’re off and running, quoting lines and laughing with each other.
Today, while I was watching it, I actually recorded the Pellet with the Poison scene and sent it to my dad and sister, sent good vibes into the universe and got them right back.
My hope is that any one of the clips I posted has maybe piqued your interest just a bit, maybe you’re curious to explore the world of Danny Kaye, even try to find The Court Jester and check out all the merriment. Even if you just watch the clips, maybe look for additional clips and laugh, I’m good with that!
Get it. Got it. Good. Yes friends, if you’ve ever heard me say that…now you know where I got it!
Sounds like the perfect Sunday to me, right?! It’s the second night of Passover, but the seder isn’t until the evening, so we planned a motorcycle ride with some of the guys from our group and another group.
It was supposed to get warm, up to about 57 today, sounds good. I layered up, had my Cuddl Duds on under my jeans, high-top sneaker knee socks, a long sleeve Indian Motorcycle shirt, my Looney Bin zip up sweatshirt, it’s not a thick sweatshirt, but it fits under my Indian Motorcycle Jacket. I wore leather gloves and covered my face with the neck gaiter I got at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. You’d think I was warm enough! Think again! O M G!
The wind, which was not supposed to come in, came in, and oh my word, it was frrreeezzzing! My legs, arms, and chest were fine. My feet and hands…let’s just say when I got off the bike at our first stop, I had trouble walking my feet were so cold and I stayed in the bathroom a few extra minutes, under the warm air dryer! PSM had even given me glove liners, didn’t help after the first 20 minutes!
We had met two of the guys at the usual starting point, then we rode into Illinois, it was about a 25 minute ride, met the rest of the folks that were riding, everyone one geared up, leather chaps, heavy winter coats, face coverings, the works. Mother Nature was trying to beat the tar out of us! She was succeeding. We left from the parking lot and rode to Grafton, only about a 30 minute ride from where we were.
At that point, after I came back from the hand dryer, which I considered taking with me! PSM and I decided we couldn’t keep going with them, they had about another 60 or 70 mile ride. On any other day, I would have been with them, I just couldn’t do it. I was also feeling the weight or in this case, the lack there of, of my bike. It’s a heavy bike, it weighs just under 600 pounds, but what this wind was doing, I was fighting some times to keep her straight, I was never in danger of falling, it just took a little more to keep her upright.
So…we bid everyone a fond farewell and headed back into town in search of breakfast. I will tell you, PSM was texting with one of the guys, they all felt like they had gotten the you-know-what beaten out of them! I think we made the right decision. Before I do another ride like that, much warmer gear!
We rode into Grafton, IL and looked for a place to eat. Google Maps listed a place that said “Great Weekend Breakfast”, perfect! We parked and went in. Guess what they didn’t have. Really? We looked for a few options and settled on the Alton Village Inn Pancake House, sorry, I could only find their menu online, the other links wouldn’t help you if you were interested! It was warm! They had hot tea and decaf coffee, we were happy! The service was pretty good and we were feasting on a veggie omelet and hash browns in no time. Ahhhh.
Eventually, begrudgingly, ha ha, we got back on the bikes and headed home. After getting the pups out of the crate, I headed in one direction…the hottest, steamiest, hottest, did I mention hottest? shower I could take! I took a few extra minutes in there, it was hot and steamy! And I finally started to get feelings back into my extremities again. Warm clothing on, we did stuff around the house and relaxed and eventually, it was time for second night seder with PSM’s family.
I was also able to sneak in a Zoom hello with my family, that was dad, LaLa, my sister, GES, my b-i-l ACS, and my nieces, EJS, and MGS. They were also zooming with extended family friend, I haven’t seen them all in a while, it was great! This was while we were on a break from PSM’s family. Tonight went a lot quicker than last night, less people so less technical difficulties, still a lot of fun, stories, laughter, and love, and food, always food. We went through the exodus out of Egypt, drank our four cups of wine, but…BTK, who wrote up the virtual haggadah added two extra blessings over the wine for PSM and I, hmmm…broke matzah, brought it together again, let in Elijah, and were blessed, what more could you want?!
We started with a ride and ended with a seder, life is good!
Tonight is the first night of Passover or Pesach in Hebrew. The story of Passover is the Jews exodus out of Egypt in the time of Pharoh. There are great stories associated with Passover, the exodus, Moses, Pharoh [they weren’t all bad!] and I’m sure we’ve talked about them in the past, check this one out A zissen pesach [I actually titled this post A zissen pesach, imagine my surprise when I found my past post A zissen pesach! Here’s another A Happy Passover. The links I added can give you lots of insight! into the holiday, but that’s not what I want to talk about tonight.
Passover is actually one of my favorite holidays, in case you didn’t know! I’ve loved it since I was a kid, mostly because it’s the time my family gets together and spends time with each other, shares stories, food, friendship, camaraderie, and love. What more could you want?! We started at my grandmother’s house in Brooklyn, NY, then moved it to Staten Island, NY, where I grew up, then my sister’s house in Boston, MA. When I met PSM, we did the divide and conquer, First Night Seder with my family, second night seder with his family, win-win!
Even though our families and some of the traditions are different, the basics are the same. Similar seder meal, same prayers, maybe not said or sung the same way, but the same, and rules, rules for what we eat and how we eat it, some of the foods are the same because they are part of the story and seder, the haggadahs, the prayer books, might not be the same, but you could almost interchange them. But the one thing that is the same, the laughter that happens, no matter what.
Some great things came up today. First…my dad texted and asked where we should stop for pizza before the seder. This made my sister and I laugh. The tradition was…when we had seder at my grandmother’s house, my mom would spend the night before in Brooklyn with my grandmother prepping and cooking for the seder. The afternoon of Passover, my dad, sister, and I would drive into Brooklyn to my grandmother’s house, but first, we would stop for a slice of pizza. Even when we moved Passover to Staten Island, then Boston, we still had pizza as the ‘last meal’. I say last meal because it’s the last time we would have leavened bread, bread that rises, is made with wheat. Starting with the seder, we eat unleavened bread or matzoh.
I texted with a few Jewish friends today and one of my friends, one of my oldest friends from high school, CGS told me that she had been thinking about seders at my grandmother’s house, which made me smile, especially when she told me they were her first seders. As soon as she and I became friends, she was instantly a part of my family, and I became part of hers. She remembers how much fun and silly it was at my grandmothers and the best…she said she was thinking about my dad and the reclining chair!
The tradition stems from wealthy people in olden timesreclining in their chairs when they ate meals. Not exactly the most comfortable thing today, but…it’s a tradition. Now…some people would use a pillow to recline, the thing that CGS reminded me of was the chair at the head of the table at my grandmother’s, it was actually broken and when it came time to talk about reclining, my dad would take the back off the chair and literally recline! That really was one of my favorites, and what a memory to share with friends! Thanks for that.
There were other traditions that we shared, and I could go on, but this post would go on for days. Tonight begins the Feast of Passover and I wish you a Zissen Pesach.
We found a new place to go in St Louis that is not vegan, but has vegan offerings and guess who’s happy about it! Well, both of us! First, the food was really good and second, there is something or lots of somethings for both of us! Almost all of their offerings had a non-meat version! Wow!
We were looking for some grub and I went to my happy place, Happy Cow, and found something that was still open, not too far and had vegan options. The vegan restaurants were not close enough, and everything was closing in about an hour, and…dine in isn’t everywhere. So…I found DD Mau: Vietnamese Eatery, not far from where we live and we both wondered why we don’t go to that area very often, we definitely will rectify that.
The place is simple, a bunch of tables, spaced out socially distant, the centerpieces consist of a glass with three pieces of realistic looking, small fruit, an orange, lemon, and a lime. On the walls, now, that’s my favorite part…there was a mural of St Louis, hand drawn, but the other things…right up my bad pun alley…frame pictures of food items with cheesy puns. Two burritos dancing “Epic Wrap Battle”! A bowl of raman with two eggs on top “We are so eggcited to see you!” A head of lettuce “Romaine calm: There’s plenty to go around!” Have you met me?! I La La La Love that! The menu looks hand drawn and super simple and classic.
We each had a bowl of pho, mine was vegan, with vegan beef and PSM had seafood. We also got spring rolls with vegan shrimp and peanut sauce. These were the spring rolls made of rice paper. Now, don’t think I thought either of these vegan options tasted anything like the real thing, it’s just fun to have protein based options and why not. I do wish they had mock duck, one of my favorites.
The food didn’t take too long to come out, the spring rolls did come out a few minutes before the soup, which was nice. As we were eating, we enjoyed chatting, talked about some upcoming motorcycle rides and trips we are hoping to take, if…we can ever travel again. And…we remarked how good the food was, how close it was, and how we will definitely be going back. I am definitely looking forward to it, they have bánh mì, bao sliders, and tacos, how can we go wrong!
I told you we really like our neighbors, well, most of them anyway. Tonight was no exception. We got a text from next door about 5:40p inviting us next door for some food and drink and to enjoy the weather! How could we say no?!
We got the text “Hey everyone (orthogonal neighbors of ours), we’re grilling a bunch of food and enjoying being out on the patio for the nex thour to 90 minutes. Feel free to come over and enjoy some food and drinks if you’re feeling up for it 🙂
First…I have no idea what orthogonal meant! I did ask when we were over there! I didn’t have time to look it up, we had just finished work, we were feeding the dogs, grabbed two chairs and headed over. It basically meant the neighbors on either side of them and to the back. Hey, that’s a $10 word! It took me a minute just to pronounce it!
It was a feast! There were veggie kebobs, yahoo! Grilled chicken, shrimp, hot dogs, corn, potatos, and pineapple. I was a happy camper! The corn was fabulous, the pineapple terrific, grilling it took some of the citrus bite out of it, the potatos were perfect, and the kebabs, y u m!
We sat, ate, drank, chatted, sat, ate, drank, chatted, kind of a wash, rinse, repeat, but it was the best kind. Our hosts, have two girls, the youngest is adorable, has four teeth and she is using them! She hasn’t been on solid foods long, but she was loving everything she tried, chicken, potato, corn, peppers, you couldn’t stop her! Her big sister is a trip, bright, curious about everything, and so sweet, and…has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, it’s so precious to watch. M&KR are our neighbors, K’s dad JS was there as well, always great to see him. The neighbors on the other side of M&KR were there with their new baby A, so stinkin’ cute and loves when dad carries him around like a football, didn’t like it when he changed positions.
It really was nice to be outside, the weather was perfect tonight, most of today, actually, but really enjoying the time outside tonight. We talked lawns, grilling, home repair, Spring, families, movies, tv, blogging. MR had started a blog and stopped, she’s thinking about going back to it, I hope she does, I look forward to reading it if she does.
And true to the text, about an hour after we got there, it was time to head home, they had wee tots to get into bed. All in all, a joy, just what we have wanted when we move somewhere, looking forward to many more nights like these. It seems the fog is lifting.
The day started like any other Saturday, up too early to go to yoga, par for the course, but then…it stalled, but turned out alright, what more could you want?!
We went to hot yoga, it was good, I think, to go back, I hadn’t been in almost two weeks due to busting my ankle, all good now, promise! It was my second class and just a twinge here and there and I modified what I was doing, I was careful. After yoga, headed home and while we were relaxing and waiting for the weather to warm up, we were going for a motorcycle ride…I told you, if it’s above 45, we’re on the bikes! Or the top is down on the car!
As we’re watching and getting into it, we hear and feel the boom, the dogs jumped a little, and at the same moment, total power out. We looked at each other and had the same thought…Squirrel Sacrifice or Squirrel Suicide, this is a common occurance, not only in our neighborhood, but across the country…these would be electrical distruptions caused by squirrel. This is a quote from September 2020: “The American Public Power Association says squirrels are No. 2 this year on its “Top Causes of Power Outages.” … According to the American Public Power Association, there were about 3,456 squirrel-related power outages that cut off the electricity of more than 193,873 customers in 2016.”
I honestly had no idea this was a major thing here in Missouri, but it seems to be, especially in our neighborhood. We met a neighbor when we first started taking walks through the neighborhood who told us that squirrels are a serious nusience in the neighborhood. Apparently, they like to get into the undercarriage of vehicles left outside of houses and unfortunately, into the transformer boxes. They are rampant here, torturing our dogs, and every dog in the neighborhood, but that part I don’t think is unusual. Last year, the power went out and we were talking to another neighbor who told us that they can get into the transformer cages and…
I checked with our nextdoor neighbor, same situation. I called the power company, they put in a ticket and assured me they would try to get someone out here within an hour, ok. So…we needed something to do, it was still early and too chilly for a ride.
Let’s call and combine our cell phone bills. We both have accounts with T-Mobile, we’re a family, why not a family plan. We had gone into a store and they told us they couldn’t do it in store, we would have to call, seems simple, right? Where’s the head banging emoji? After finally getting a person on the line…we talked to her for a while and the plan changed at least once, me going to PSMs account, then PSM going to my account. After talking to her for a while…we were transfered to another person…finally…and that took another forever.
The entire process, with no power and combining the phone lines took about two and a half hours. Ugh…so…waiting…waiting…waiting…now we’re free! Let’s go! It was about 1pm, so we didn’t want to be away from home for too long since the pooches need a walk and dinner some time, ha ha. We usually take them out about 5p, a little later is ok.
We headed out toward Washington, MO. We’ve been there before, on a ride with two of PSM’s co-workers, to Sugarfire Smokehouse, not my choice, of course, but killer cornbread! OMG! Anyhall, as my grandmother would say…we went to Washington, MO and PSM mapped a fun route that wouldn’t take us on the highway too much, which we both enjoyed, it took us about an hour, which was a good length of time, only because it was ch…ch…chilly, we needed to warm up.
We parked and found a place, right across the street with a great balcony called John G’s Bier Deck, which offered a great view of the Missouri River, score! We walked up the many, many, many steps, this city is on a hill, walked in and instantly warmed to the atmosphere. There were a lot of signs telling customers ‘Do not feed the dogs’, ok. One even above the very loveable looking golden shepard. Across from the bar was an area with tables, a fire pit, and blankets, and an audio set up, looked like for live music.
Outside, we walked down to the deck, half covered and half sitting in the sun, which was perfect, because it was still a bit chilly. We ordered some food and drinks and enjoyed soaking up the rays, trying to block out other coversations, watching the current move quickly, admiring some of the muscle cars and trucks go by and occassionaly, a cargo train would go by. This was the way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
After a bit, we walked down the street to see what it looked like, went into another bar for a drink and then it was time to head home. It took about an hour and a half, the sun finally started to warm things up, sort of, but it was a great ride. PSM, being our Ride Captain, he tries to find us routes that avoid the highways, which is nice, makes for a longer ride, and we get to see things we might not have seen before and…some of the roads, great curvy, leading to long stretches, sometimes the curvy ones are down tree lined roads, gorgeous!
We got home, took care of the pups and hung out. After the hiccup in the mid-morning, it turned out to be a really nice day. Can’t wait for our ride tomorrow!
The rain was predicted, but held off! It held off for the day, it had been raining the few days before, but not today! So…what should we do?! Go for a ride! It’s chilly, but we’re in riding season!
Now…I’m not a hard core rider, I don’t ride when it’s below 48, I might put the top down on the Beetle-Bug when it’s in the high 30s/low 40s, but the bike, nope. I don’t have the fancy stuff on my bike to keep me toasty, like butt warmers in the car, you’re kind of exposed, so…bundle up. I was fine on the top, but from the thighs to the ankles, a little brrr. Next time, Cuddle Duds under the jeans. Such a chance from last weekend, when I could have gone out in a sweatshirt!
We decided to ride to Grafton, IL, I don’t think I’ve mentioned Grafton yet to you. Its a small town in Illinois on the Missisippi River, turns out it’s the oldest town in Jersey County, IL. It gets crazy crowded in the summer and it’s a known spot for bikes, motorcycles, that is. Someone told me about it as a nice ride and one of the biker bars, the Hawg Pit BBQ, it made it an easy destination to put in the GPS.
It’s about an hour ride from here, so not too bad, and a nice destination, as I mentioned. You can go by the highways, yesterday, PSM took us on some alternate roads and it was nice. We eventually connected with the main drag that takes us over the Clark Bridge to Alton, IL, the middle of the bridge is actually the state line, pretty cool. It really is a pretty bridge, I have yet to take a picture of it, we’re always on the bikes. Alton is a cute town, we haven’t explored much of the town, there is a cobblestone street where they have a few restaurants with tables set up outside, which we’ve eaten at, it’s charming.
It was a bit chilly on the ride, so we decided to stop in Alton, but inside, ha ha. We stopped at The Old Bakery Beer Company, as the name says they have beer, tee hee hee. It’s a certified organic craft brewery with food options. We were going to get lunch in Grafton, so I settled on a cup of tea. I would like to go back, they had a nice looking menu with vegetarian and vegan options. It’s a warehouse-like open space, exposed beams, streams of edison bulbs, with tables, spaced appropriately socially distant, mask mandates, hand sanitzier, just like most places. It had a nice open, welcoming feel. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.
After warming up a little inside, we walked outside to the bikes getting ready to head towards Grafton, it seemed to have warmed up a little, outside. One of the things we love about having Indian Motorcycles are the conversation starters. When we came out, a woman was in her car looking at the bikes and told us she was just sitting there admiring them, which was nice, and a guy came up to us to talk about our bikes, he’s thinking about joining the club! We would welcome him! He was wearing a great utilikilt, we’re getting near St Patrick’s Day, people were out celebrating. A utilikilt is a kilt made for every day work wear.
We got to Grafton and pulled in to the parking lot and walked into the Piasa Winery and Pub, we were there for the view, not the food. It was a seafood restaurant, they had some other things, but it was mostly seafood. PSM had a fried alligator, I tasted it, I was curious. I’ll just say, aside from the spicy batter, which I wasn’t crazy about, it still tastes like salty chicken, didn’t make me change my vegan ways, ha ha. For me, I had the grilled pear salad, it was quite tasty. A variety of greenery, grilled pears, glazed walnuts, and cranberries. We sat on the deck and there were heat lamps warming everything up, we needed it. Even the table was warm, I was happy!
After the winery, we went to the Gold Bar Saloon, there was a bar with a few stools, but the true gem was outside, well, sort of outside. There was a building next door with fire pits, that was fabulous. We took our drinks in, took off our jackets and sat on one of the sofas and just enjoyed ourselves. There were a few other people in there, but they were each at their own set of sofas and firepits, awesome! The music was country, but classic country that everyone seemed to know, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Boz Scaggs.
After a while, even though we had just eaten, we were slightly peckish and all I wanted was french fries. No idea why, I haven’t eaten or craved french fries in a long time, they just don’t agree with me, so I try to avoid them, but I was craving them, so off we went. We walked…next door, ha ha, to the Grafton Pub. We ordered fries, when I asked the cut, I was told they were somewhere in between steak fries and Burger King french fry. It was funny, when I asked what the cut was, she looked at me funny, so I explained the different cuts. We also ordered guacamole bites, which are a bit odd, but we were curious. We were told they were like wontons with guacamole in them, and fried. Ok…let’s just say, they were hot as all get out, to me anyway. We’ve had them before I realized, and let’s just say, not ordering them again, not everything tastes better fried…The french fries on the other hand, were tasty, if you could get past the coarse salt and pepper they put on them, seriously?! Just not my cup of tea honestly, I forgot to order them unseasoned, which would have meant fresh out of the frier, nothing extra, which would have made them perfect, they really were good fries, good size, perfect crunch on the outside, texture and taste of potato, I know that sounds weird to some, I’ll explain in a later post.
The Grafton Pub is also on the water, and Grafton itself it really is a pretty place in the Spring and Summer, especially with the trees in bloom and boats on the river.
After our snack, it was time to go. Interesting thing…until we sat at The Gold Bar Saloon, we didn’t see another motorcycle all day, then there were a few, it was nice to see some other cold weather riders like us. We got to the bikes, met another group of admirers, theses folks were slightly closer to inebriated, they were getting into the St Patricks Day mood, but still admirers of our bikes, which we definitely appreciate and welcome the conversation. After that, on the bikes and head back down by the river, over the bridge, on the highway this time and hello puppies.
The sun pretended to try to peek out, but aside from that, a great day overall. What could be bad, motorcycle ride, good company, laughter, the wind in your face, as I’ve told you…wind therapy! Wonder where the road takes us next…
From Wikipedia: International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence against women.
What I truly enjoyed was seeing all the fabulous posts online, LinkedIn [I’m sure there were quite a few on FaceBook, I’m just not there very much, sorry], and so many places just celebrating women. With everything going on in the world, it’s comforting and empowering to see us lifting us each up in positive ways, isn’t that what we need more of?
This year’s [2021] theme: Choose to Challenge! Change comes from challenge, “A challenged world is an alert world”. Wow, how powerful is that?! It makes me proud to be a woman!
Can we keep this up? Not just today, but everyday. For my friends, family, nieces, daughters, granddaughters, seestah-friends, I wish only this and so much more for us. Let’s keep lifting each other up. I wish you love, strength, and peace.
I think I told you last week, while I was in Colorado, that there was a group ride on Sunday, and here we are! I told you that PSM and I went out on the bikes to get some dinner last night, after we both got home and it was brrrr…chilly! Today, the official group ride. Wah to the hoo!
We belong to the St LouisIndian Motorcycle Riders Group, or IMRG. When we lived in Hawai’i, we joined the IMRG HoloHolo chapter, well, we actually still belong to the group, we have the 2021 patches to prove it! Man, I still need to get a vest to put my patches on! At this point, I need two vests or something to put the patches on. I absolutely LUV my motorcycle vest so much, I don’t want to put anything on it! Is that terrible?! I’m looking, I’ll do it eventually, promise!
We got up, took the pups for a walk, had some breakfast, geared up, well, you have to put your gear on, every super hero does! ha ha. Because we’re riding, we start with jeans, I’m sure you’ve seen people wearing shorts on a bike, not me, ever. Ok, I can’t say that…the last staycation we had in Hawai’i, we went to the Big Island and rented motorcycles. The last morning, when we were returning them, we both wore shorts the 2 block ride to return the bikes, but I promise, there is no way I would ever ride in anything by jeans. Short sleeves, definitely, especially when it’s hot, and I’m usually wearing a vest that helps protect my chest, but my legs, no way! I have to tell you, I was so happy to be completely covered the day I wrecked my bike, years ago! Wow, digressing now! You wanted to hear about our lovely ride!
So…back to our apparel. Jeans, long sleeve shirt, thin sweatshirt I got last summer at the Looney Bin Bar & Grill. I will be telling you all about it this summer when we go on our annual motorcycle ride with the guys in New Hampshire, cannot wait! Then, I have a heavy denim Indian Motorcycle jacket, it’s quilted on the inside, so it keeps me warm, but it’s not too warm to sometimes wear in the summer. Yup, I wore my Chucks, and got grief from our Ride Captain, it was awesome! I showed him the picture I shared with you from KN, “How to spot a biker chick”, he still rolled his eyes at me! I had my black gloves with red trim that I got at Harley Davidson in Seattle, WA, I had to go a long way to find those and those…saved my hands when I wrecked, I will never give them up! Neck sleeve that I got with sunflowers that got at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, headphones, goggles, and helmet…we were good to go!
We met the group at the designated QuikTrip, gives us a chance to greet each other, this is the first time a lot of us have seen each other since the last ride in the Fall, I think it was October, get something to drink or a snack, gas up the bikes, and get our riding instructions. When you’re riding in a group, it’s important to know the rules and hand signals, all that good stuff to keep everyone safe. There were about 25 of us, it was great! There are male riders, female riders, as you might guess, couples, Indian motorcycles and two Can-Am Spyder Roadsters.
After all that, we were off. We ride side by side to get started, then we ride in staggered formation, you’re on the left, I’m behind you on the right, and so on, and in some places, depending on the road, we ride single file. It’s quite the site to see a line of bikes coming down the highway. We try to stay together, when we’re at stop lights and stop signs, acting as a tractor trailer, so to speak, trying to keep any cars from getting in the middle of our group. That’s common for most group rides.
We rode to Sandy Creek Covered Bridge Park, a beautiful park with, you guessed it, a covered bridge. It looked like a great park for walking, together, with the dogs, a picnic. There were signs telling you the history of covered bridges and where to find Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites, something to strive for. And every ride…a group photo, have to commemorate the ride!
After the ride…lunch! We rode to Cafe Smok N Pi in De Soto, MO. I always look up the restaurant we are going to go to that day to see if there is anything I can eat, I finally got smart! This time, I really got smart, I had made myself a sandwiche to bring with me. It was a cute place with character and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Cafe Smok N Pi was our final destination and some people took off after lunch. The rest of us went to the Dew Drop Inn in Bloomsdale, MO, PSM said they were known for their bloody mary‘s, but did he have one? Nope, but the ones I saw, wow, they were like a whole meal! Celery, bacon, pickles, olives, pulled pork, really? Wow!
We had a great time, drinking, laughing, telling stories, getting to know each other, making new friends. The biker community is like no other, when you have a bike, you respect each other and look out for each other. If a biker is on the side of the road, other bikers will stop to help. I remember one day, I was coming out of a gravel parking lot and my bike dropped, immediately, bikers pulled out and stopped traffic in each direction and two bikers helped me pick up my bike and made sure I was set and the bikers stopping traffic waited until I was back on the road before they started moving again. It really is something.
After the Dew Drop Inn, we got back on the road and headed home. I have to tell you, it was a little chilly in the morning while we were going to meet the group, then it started to warm up when we got to the Park, some people started taking off their jackets as we were heading to lunch, and progressively, it headed up to almost 70 degrees, it was fabulous! It started to even out my sunburn!
How fabulous, skiing on Thursday, convertible Friday and Saturday, riding a motorcycle on Sunday, my life is full! I can’t wait for the next ride!
Peaches Prattlings 