No aloha

The youngest was meant to perform her solo routine at the World Skipping Championships in Ottawa yesterday.

It popped up in my phone calendar: “CANCELLED: Junior World Skipping Championships”.

We were supposed to drive to New York tomorrow to fly to Hawaii for a week.

No aloha for us. Damn you, COVID-19.

We had a week booked in an Air BnB apartment near the beach. The youngest was looking forward to working on her tan, her mother was looking forward to sipping Mai Tais by the pool as a three-piece band in white suits played “Blue Hawaii” and a hula dancer swayed.

Instead, I’ll be huddled over a bar heater tapping away on the computer as dog farts drift up from beside my feet. And the youngest is heading to an Air BnB on the Hawksbury River with her dad instead of jetting to Oahu with me.

2020 has been annoying like that.

It’s not all bad, I think the builder is starting work on my deck in the next few days. I will finally be able to walk out through the french doors in my kitchen!

And the youngest is still cooking up a storm – I tasked her with making quail breasts marinated in pomegranate molasses for dinner last night.

The recipe for making the molasses was very involved. The first step said: “To make pomegranate juice, place the arils (from about 8 large pomegranates) in a blender and pulse just enough so that the arils are broken up. (Do not pulse so much that you blend the bitter white hard part into the juicy red parts.) Then strain through a fine mesh sieve.”

Bugger that, I bought a bottle of pomegranate juice, ain’t nobody got time to be de-ariling eight large pomegranates.

As for the resulting dish … let’s just say I’m  doubly glad there was no de-ariling in our day.

Today, the youngest is trying her hand at making her own Chinese rice cakes to stir fry.

And I am hoping that I feel a little less weary – sadness has a weight to it.

PS The main photo is me in Hawaii for the first time at age 21. I also went with my mum (not pictured) …

Song of the day: Elvis “I can’t help falling in love with you”