Usual Suspects

It’s been an unusually quiet few days here at the senior complex.

On Thursday, the pot house down the street, next to the vacant field, celebrated 4/20 High Holiday (“A day when college students gather in clouds of smoke on campus quads and when pot shops in legal weed states thank their customers with discounts”) with some sort of outside activity. Outside but within their gates.

Taking that photo, seeing the burned palm tree so close to the pot house, I gave myself the giggles thinking how much more interesting it would have been if the embers, instead of setting our carport on fire, had set the pot house ablaze, sending fumes to give the whole neighborhood a contact high.

At any rate, I’d expected the usual suspects -- Big Linda and her neighbor friend, the two who complained and police called the previous pot house out of existence but who now have no control over the new one because the law has changed, to once again be up in arms and complain about the pot house’s 4/20 Event at Thursday afternoon’s Residents/Management meeting, as if management has any control over the business. Oddly enough, it never came up.

Instead, just before the meeting began, Big Linda and another outspoken resident got into a debate as to whether Aaron Hernandez committed suicide or was murdered.

I don’t know, both are possibilities, but I know better than to get in between Big Linda’s opinionated self with anyone about anything, so I kept my mouth shut and out of the debate, as did everyone else present while we waited for the debate to spiral out-of-control and for Big Linda to begin yelling. She didn't. It ended peacefully with the other woman just giving up.

Both are nice women, but Big Linda is not one to spar with when she's not on her meds.

Since I'd become so annoyed by the braggadocios performances of two neighbors at the last meeting, I’d deliberately seated myself as close to the exit door as possible so, if I felt a headache coming on, I could ease on out and head back to the peace and calm of my unit.

I did have to ease out early, but not for the reason you think as the meeting was a snooze fest, with the biggest issue being a petty complaint about people not cleaning the laundry room lint trap.

I left early because, just prior to the meeting start, management set up an ice cream sundae bar and, though I probably would have been okay with ice cream alone, I indulged myself with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, nuts – things I knew I shouldn’t have because of my sensitivity to anything containing high fructose corn syrup but thought I could get away with because it was such a tiny amount.

Tiny delicious amount or not, my gut began to react about half an hour later and I had to ease out to lay down until the episode passed.

Now that residents seem relatively happy with management, and there’s no new information coming out of the meetings, I’ll likely not bother to attend another.

That Chicken Curry with Lentils recipe I tried, unlike last month’s loser Chicken Cacciatore, came out a winner.

However, the Chicken Cacciatore wasn’t a total loss because, inasmuch as I had gluten free masa meal and corn husks on hand, I drained the liquid and turned the dish into tamales, which tamales are always a good idea, no matter what you use as filling, and provides meals for day.

On tap for today?

Was planning on heading out to Trader Joe's for supplies, but the Activity Calendar indicates Bingo at 2:00. Supplies can wait until tomorrow.