Something SPHINX in Here

Now that Cappy's den is empty of grandchildren, he has once again ensconsed himself in his 'captain's chair' (immediate foreground), for a well-deserved rest and is watching his favorite subjects on the History Channel. He is an history buff, and one of the things he loves learning about is Ancient Egypt, and more particularly, pyramids, newly discovered tombs, and mummies. Although our tastes vary widely, I think that, since he's away on his towboat for weeks at a time, with hardly any tv time, that when he's home, he should have full control of the 'clicker' and watch whatever he likes. He also loves to have something cooking on the stove while watching his programs. I was being a lovingly dutiful wife; I swear, trying to muster enthusiasm, watching the tombs being pawed over and excavated. Occasionally, I ran and stirred the thin strips of onion which were caramelizing nicely in the black iron pot, making a wonderful, dark, rich onion gravy (etouffee). I cooked some rice for the ettouffee, then made a salad. We decided to eat on tv trays, while continuing to watch. Finally, I gave him a bowl of the rice and dark brown gravy, which, by then had chunks of stew meat clustered around in it...Yummy! I took a forkful of the stringy mahogany onions and was about to put it into my mouth, but just as the fork passed in front of the television, there on the screen was the same colored close-up shot of a mummy, looking, for all the world, as though the scientist was picking up pieces of my ettouffee from off that mummy with a pair of long tweezers. The dark stuff dangling from those tweezers looked identical to the dark stuff dangling off the end of my fork. I looked at the stringy mummy...I looked at my plate of stringy onions, and swallowed a gag which had clenched in my throat. Cappy was having no problems at all, and said, "This is really good". I didn't say anything, but as discreetly as possible, I sidled out of the den and brought my dish into the computer room, while I puttered around checking my email, reading the online newspapers...stalling; waiting awhile til I thought I might be able to swallow anything ever again.

Cappy is such a sweetie and I'd never want to deprive him of something he really loves, so I watch with him as much as I can, don't when I can't...but never make etouffee while the Discovery or History Channels are on. (Giggling)...He's out there calling, "Hey, Baby! I think you'd really enjoy this!!" That's how I got the picture above...Uh Huh.