\nThose of you who are also recipients of Pam\u2019s Wednesday Whiner will have had her account of the Adirondack Adventure we enjoyed while visiting Sandy and Pam and the Lake. Penny and I had been in Hanover with Mom and Dad for a few days until Susie flew in on Thursday from Portland. On Friday we all drove over to the Lake \u2013 it was a glorious Spring day with bright blue skies although it was fairly breezy and, in the wind, pretty fresh.<\/p>\n
Sandy and Pam had arranged to prepare dinner for all of us on Friday so, soon after we arrived, they drove up to the Ritz to begin the festivities. Sandy lit the barbeque (the entr\u00e9e for the evening was his world famous barbequed salmon with pesto) and Pam began getting garlic bread and asparagus ready to throw in the oven. Just as she did so, however, all the power went out.<\/p>\n
Initially, Pam suspected that switching the oven on had blown the fuse but it soon became apparent that the power was out everywhere. What to do? What to do?<\/p>\n
Sandy, naturally, has a generator at his place as do just about all the permanent residents of the Landing. So, he went down to the Peter Pan to fire it up. Pam could then put her stuff in the oven there and we wouldn\u2019t starve after all. In the meantime, we had to stay up at the Ritz because it would have been somewhat difficult to transport the blazing barbeque down to their house without either burning ourselves or the forest.<\/p>\n
Naturally, the power outage had knocked out the heating at the Ritz and, as I mentioned, it was fairly fresh, i.e., f***ing freezing! And, we faced the prospect of a long, cold night without any heating. So, before we all retired down to the Peter Pan for dinner, Penny, Susie and I went around gathering all the blankets we could muster and putting them on the beds. The house was warm, of course, as the heating had been on all day but we knew it would get mighty cold by about three or four in the morning without any power. By the time we had finished, each bed had about eight inches of blankets and we felt moderately confident that we would, at least, survive the night.<\/p>\n
By this stage the salmon was cooked so down to the Peter Pan we all encamped and a fine feast was enjoyed by all. We ate, we sat, we talked, we laughed and finally, at about 9.30 it came time to face the music. We made our way back to the Ritz accompanied by Sandy who telephoned the electricity supplier once again to see if he could find out when the power would be restored. After navigating the labyrinth of options on the automated call system he finally got through to a human and, just as he asked, \u201cAny idea when our power will be restored?\u201d hey presto! All the lights blazed into life and civilisation was restored.<\/p>\n
There were those, I have to confess, who suspected that Sandy and Pam had staged the whole event just to give us a bit of excitement. After all, the power conveniently goes out just as Pam switches the oven up to supercharge; the power is restored just as Sandy is speaking with the operative asking when it will be restored. Coincidence? You decide.<\/p>\n
In spite of (or perhaps because of) the Adirondack Adventure, we had a great time at the Lake and a great visit all told. Of course, it all flies by so quickly \u2013 you\u2019ve barely got your feet under the table and it\u2019s time to go home again. Steph and Hope were great, Mom and Dad were in fine form, Sandy and Pam were welcoming (and entertaining) as always, and it was great fun to see our friends Chip and Leca who endured the long drive from Boston. And therein lies another coincidence:<\/p>\n
Penny had decided that we (i.e., she) would cook Chicken Basque for dinner on Saturday evening (recipe available on request) which was to be followed by one of the finest desserts known to man \u2013 strawberry and rhubarb crumble. All was duly prepared and we waited in anticipation for Chip and Leca to arrive from Boston. About 1.30 they rolled up and, as Leca got out of their car we could see that she was carrying something as an offering to the assembled congregation. Leca had very kindly prepared \u2013 strawberry and rhubarb crumble! As you can imagine, we had to compare and contrast the two recipes and I\u2019m pleased to announce a draw \u2013 both were absolutely delicious \u2013 each slightly different from the other but it\u2019s awfully hard to beat the combination of strawberries and rhubarb. My goodness we were full!<\/p>\n
And so we are home. I\u2019m delighted to say that we missed gallons and gallons of rain in our absence (although the hosepipe ban is still in force \u2013 apparently we will need several months of non-stop deluge to replenish the water table). The dog greeted us enthusiastically when we arrived home but her excitement may, in fact, have been a complaint that we were home at all \u2013 she had Penny\u2019s sister Judi to look after her in our absence and J is much more fun to be with than either Ms Playchute or me. Oh well, back to the grind.<\/p>\n
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