30 May, 2008

Obstacles

Yesterday was one weird day, not the smooth-sailing one I had planned; to be sure. A series of challenging obstacles were placed, strategically, smack dab in my path.The Quilt Ministry Pot Luck picnic was scheduled here at Chez Goodneedle for 11 AM. An annual event, signaling the beginning of our summer break time, it is usually a time for relaxed fellowship, fun and food. The house was clean, the floors were mopped and my dishes were prepared. A quick look out my front window as the pick-up trucks poured into the driveway at 7:30 AM were the first indicators that the BEAR was stepping into the river, so to speak. I spoke with the job foreman and he confirmed that they'd be working at our house all day; replacing our front steps, this after three days of complete inactivity. Bricks were to be delivered and the driveway was effectively being blocked for guests. OK. I looked the bear straight in the eye and called the church office, sure... we could move the picnic down there. Nothing that a few dozen phone calls to the attendees couldn't remedy. No bear's standing in my way; no sirree! I loaded up my car with everything that makes serving at home so much simpler and easier and drove to church, the ever-determined hostess. When I arrived it became abundantly clear that the bear was getting comfortable in the water, settling in for a spell. Other situations demanded my immediate attention there. I politely cut an impromptu meeting as short as possible to fix tea and lemonade for the picnic downstairs. As usual, despite the change of venue, the food and fun were paramount but that pesky bear refused to be ignored. Halfway through the picnic, while we all ate and relaxed, shared stories and recipes, a huge CRASH interrupted the reverie. An otherwise well-behaved and oft-used Pyrex oven dish decided to explode, sending glass and casserole contents all over the table and floor. Thank goodness no one was standing near the table at the time! We all counted up our abundant blessings, yet this incident became the talk of day. Why did this happen? No one knows*. The dish had been prepared in an oven at home, carried by automobile to the church, rewarmed and placed on the buffet table. We'd all served ourselves and moved out of the way... and then... ka-pow! OK, this bear was getting just plain annoying now. A quick shopping trip followed the picnic. The gift registry that I needed to consult couldn't be printed from the store's computer; paper jam. That bear thinks he's getting to me now. Uh-uh, no way, I can make a gazillion trips back to the computer monitor and check items; take that... ha!! One more stop, to visit the doctor whose appointment I had totally forgotten last week. I pulled my car down the familiar street but was unable to find the office sign I'd come to recognize. Was I in the wrong block? No... I was sure it used to be right there... but, no, it was now a Medical Lab. I called my husband to double check the address, he wasn't available. Time was a wastin'. I'd missed one appointment, I just couldn't be LATE for this one, arrggh. I called Quiltkeemosabe, she looked up the address for me; exactly where I thought it should have been, clearly the doctor's office I was looking for had moved! Great. I was beginning to think that the bear had won. I stopped and asked for directions, I was only one street away from the new location and arrived with minutes to spare. I received a clean bill of health and wasn't assessed for the missed appointment, either. The bear was leaving, going elsewhere; head down, defeated...

Life IS Good!
Go away, bear, I'm not afraid of you.
You're not welcome to wade here anymore!
* This wasn't my oven dish, but I use similar ones such as this all the time. After doing some further research I have discovered that this isn't an isolated incident. Apparently Pyrex glass oven bakeware isn't constructed with the same materials as it used to be. Pyrex has a safety 'use and care' tab on their homepage and suggests that a crack or chip would render the piece unsafe. This piece was certainly intact, and free of any known imperfections.
Be careful, it's a jungle out there! Lions and tigers and BEARS... oh, my!

18 comments:

Cheryl said...

You dealt with that bear quite nicely!! The exploding casserole is very troubling..wonder what happened??

SuBee said...

What a day! A lesser woman would have been whimpering after all that - you have a mighty determination there lady!
I had one of those casserole dishes explode on me one time - it's SO frightening, not to mention one heck of a big mess.

Stephanie D said...

WELL! The NERVE of that bear!

Guess I'll stick to buying vintage Pyrex only. Good to know.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Fabulous post ~ congratulations for surviving with your spirit intact! Your wit and grace are priceless... thank you for sharing yourself!

*karendianne. said...

Good Lord! That is one heck of a day but I love the way you tell a story.

Great read.

Quilting Memories said...

I talked with Quiltkemosabe this afternoon and she told me to be sure and read your blog, that ya'll had a rough day yesterday, glad no one was hurt with the pyrex and all is ok otherwise also. Some days it just doesn't seem worth the effort to get out of bed. Sure am glad you did and that you "whipped" the old bear! J

Salem Stitcher said...

Just remember not all bears are bad...but you do have to keep your eye on them.

Bear Hugs,

Candace said...

Glad you didn't let things get you down, and glad that no one was hurt. Life has a tendency to teach us what I call wiggling. You have a problem, and you just have to keep wiggling until you find the solution. May not make sense to anyone else, but it does to me.

Val said...

I love the bear example! I always say this is a test, it is only a test. I enjoyed visiting with you.

Lindah said...

Whew! What a day!My husband is fond of saying that one must be "flexible." You are one flexible lady! :-)
About the Pyrex. I believe I read somewhere recently...could it have been "Cooks Illustrated" maybe...that Pyrex ware should not go from hot oven to cool surface. Best put a hot pad or towel between it and the table. Hard to remember that after all these years of otherwise.

Mama Spark said...

What a day you had! Glad to hear you perservered!

MARCIE said...

Wow, what a day! So glad you came out unscathed! I had a large Pyrex lid explode in my kitchen a while back. The dumb cook left it on a burner and then turned on that burner rather than the one in front. We won't mention the dumb cook's name, but luckily I was on the other side of the kitchen when it exploded. Sometimes I am my own biggest "bear".

Libby said...

Good that you were able to overcome all the obstacles that you faced . . . I don't know if I would have had the 'stick-to-it-ness' to do the same *s*

~Niki~ said...

thanks for linking to justusquilters. I require a recipricol link back. Please read my posts under the justusquilters blog. If you have problems, please let me know. Thanks for signing on! quilty hugs.

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

I had a Pyrex dish explode in February - blessings that everyone was out of the kitchen - it would have been exactly eye level with Little Boy. It exploded EVERYWHERE and we had to throw out all the uncovered food in the room as there was little glass shards in everything, but that was really nothing compared to what could have been. Happy to hear that no-one was hurt in your case as well, phew!
Sounds like you had a very busy day, but all ended well - AND maybe your front step is done too!?
Cheers!
Evelyn

meggie said...

What a day!!
I used to really like Pyrex, but heard of several exploding incidents, & have reverted to pottery bakewear.

Unknown said...

I loved this post - that's just how so many days go isn't it. As for the pyrex dish, how bizarre - my dishwasher nips chunks off the edge of pyrex for a pastime (I've never quite figured how but short of sitting in the dishwasher as it does it's thing I guess I never will) so I reckon the whole family had better don tin hats and flak jackets at mealtimes don't you?

Nan said...

I love this post! That pesky bear has been visiting me quite a bit lately, and it's nice to be able to see my trouble-making "friend" for what he is. I love how you dealt with him, too - good for you! Thank goodness no one was hurt when the Pyrex flew apart - how frightening!