You can't plan everything right

Sheila Donnelly

Everyone seems to be dragging and not be quite with it now that the holidays are over.

The holidays are such a busy time eating, visiting with friends and relatives that I think we need another week to recover from all the festivities.

Not everything went well over the holidays for my daughter, Molly, who was home from college for Christmas vacation. The engine blew out on her car on the last day of her vacation. She had forgotten to put oil in the car, and driving down the road the oil light came on, and then suddenly no more power. She told us she had tried to put oil in, but the cap was stuck and she couldn't get it off. She then forgot all about putting oil in.

Fortunately, she was close to home when the car died on her, so we didn't have to drive far to pick her up. The car is now on its way to the junkyard.

She was in tears about the car and felt very stupid. Molly is learning about life and cars the hard way.

I went to a party on Saturday night that the host was dragging at. First we all went skating at an outdoor pond. There were eight children and seven adults in the party. The host had a very bad cold and was not his usual social self. I wondered why they hadn't canceled the party, but he said he was feeling better than he had a couple days before and he was going to be serving us salmon that he had caught on a trip to Alaska. We headed back to the host's house after an hour of skating. We were all looking forward to the salmon after being out in the cold. At the house, chips and salsa along with wine, beer and soda was served first. The host's wife had gone upstairs to remove one of the layers of clothes she had on from being outdoors.

Her husband, the dragging host, put his prize salmon in the oven to bake.

When the hostess came downstairs, she told the women to follow her into the kitchen, while the men sat in the living room. The eight children were running in every room of the house. The hostess started to prepare a salad of mixed greens, when we women noticed that the kitchen was filling with smoke. The salmon in the oven had a sauce of mayonnaise, mustard, and lemon on it and the sauce was dripping all over the bottom of the oven. I realized then that the host, her husband, must really be out of it. His wife was preoccupied, but she did notice the smoke, but chose not to make a big fuss over it. Smoke was pouring out of all sides of the oven. The host must have anticipated that there would be smoke from baking the salmon, as he had turned the oven fan on before he went to the living room to sit with the men. I could see that there was really going to be a big mess in the oven. I got some aluminum foil from a drawer and placed it on the floor of the oven to catch the dripping sauce. This helped some, but the sauce kept dripping down and sizzling that finally the oven floor caught on fire.

I quickly got the salmon out of the oven, as it was clearly done baking and poured salt on the fire to put it out. There was quite a bit of smoke in the kitchen so the women opened the windows to get the smoke out. The host seemed to be numb to all that had happened and didn't even comment on the mess he had caused.

His wife, went with the punches, and served up the salad along with jello, banana bread, and soup. The kids at the party all got a kick out of the excitement.

The salmon tasted great, as did everything else. It was a fun party. It seems to me that some of the best gatherings I have been at are the ones that aren't perfect. When things don't turn out as planned it can be the best time for everyone.