Picture Sunday

Hello, end of weekenders. Yes, it's that very bewitching time of night, the Picture Sunday.

Hope your weekend went well. Mine was more of the same, but fun because clarinet playing went well. No fights, no eye-poking, not a tear shed. Alice the kitty is doing fine, attacked my leg in the middle of the night but no blood, movies were watched, and as always, it all went by way too fast.

You know, there's a little Friday night tradition here at the Pod. Yes, it's Friday Chill Night, but that's just for me. For the other Poderosa residents, it's Game Night. Sometimes it's Chinese Checkers (Sherman always wins), sometimes it's tag (a knock-down, drag-out free-for-all). But sometimes it's hide and seek. And that's what it was this past Friday.

Now, I've been known to get in on tag once in a while, but I'm rarely successful, because I'm not a cartoon character. Cartoon characters can go airborne, run at warp speed, and pick up couches and kitchen tables to get where they need to be. I mean, who can compete with that? I rarely get into the hide and seek game, though. However, this week I took a few pictures.

Quick Draw McGraw is fitting in very nicely here since his Christmas arrival, and he's always game to join in on the fun. This week he picked out a hiding spot in my dishes.

























That red hat gave him away rather quickly, though, and he was out pretty early on into things.

Huckleberry Hound has the right idea. He picked a very good hiding spot. However, he always makes the same mistake, the mistake all dogs seem to make when hiding. He was sure he was all covered up, but, no.

























Good luck baby Lily is an excellent hider. This is because she is so small. She just picks a spot and tucks herself away, and often wins hide and seek because she's so quiet people don't realize she's still in her hiding place, and then days later she comes out, asking if the game is still going on.




















Mr Peanut isn't really the game type (other than Gin Rummy, which he gave up when he stopped drinking, just to be safe), but occasionally he'll join in the fun and frivolity. He picked a rather obvious hiding spot, and, well, I guess he should have removed his hat.

























Gossamer doesn't really understand hide and seek, nor any other game, I'm afraid. (Watching him play Chinese Checkers is interesting. Mainly he just eats the marbles.) He's usually the first one out, for rather obvious reasons.

























Sherman, my boy Sherman, is just a hide and seek wonder. See, he thinks about these things. He picks very inconspicuous spots around the house, and is without a doubt the second best hider at the Poderosa.

























(Everybody say, "Hi Melf!" Melf doesn't play, he just hangs around listening to everyone talk about what they might want next Christmas.)

However, I guess it should come as no surprise that the best hider, not only at the Pod but in the Free World, is Peabody. In fact, he's so good that at one point he wasn't allowed to play anymore. But now sometimes the others will let him join in the fun, if he's not too busy reading stock reports or doing his beloved Morris Dancing.

























Yes, Peabody is actually leaning somewhere against my living room wall. He picked out his spot earlier on Friday, then made up a special mud and mayonnaise paste to cover himself with. He won this week, which means next week he'll probably be Morris Dancing around the house while the others are playing games. He always likes to give the others a chance to win.

And now comes that time of night where we gird our loins (and get the Rolaids handy), the recipe du jour.

How many of you remember that old dish from childhood, Chicken a la King? Tuesday nights, pot luck buffets, church dinners, there it was, staring at you from the table like the barometer of fear it was. You don't hear a lot about Chicken a la King anymore, so I thought maybe it was time for a revival. So from the "Poultry Abuse" file at cardland, please say hello if you dare to Chicken a la Knave.




















It's OK, you can look. It's just a picture, it can't hurt you. Chicken a la Knave begins with some canned chicken, mixed up with olives, peas, a little ketchup, some basil in oil, and a sprinkling of cinnamon (those olives are salty). Then you make up some hollandaise sauce, stir your chicken mixture into it, and garnish the whole mess (and I mean that) with a couple of radishes.

You know, I have a theory about Chicken a la Knave. I have an idea that if eaten, it might be lost again quite quickly. And that when lost, it will take on the exact same look it had when it went in.

Happy week.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Watched the Super Bowl with one eye, mainly for the commercials. Didn't see one that was anything other than ordinary. It sure did rain, though. Made me wonder about Prince's performance. He didn't seem to be lip synching, but he had to have been, right? All that pouring rain, all those electrical instruments? Oh, well, don't care enough to ponder it that much.
* I went with bigger pictures in this week's PS. Better? Worse? Any opinions?