At Long Last, Lobster Bisque!

I have a small group of friends who are united by our love of the Nittany Lion Inn's world-famous lobster bisque. There are six of us, and we are hard-core bisque lovers; we call ourselves the Risky Bisquers. For several years, we've gotten together roughly once a semester over bisque.

The problem, though, is that the Nittany Lion Inn's dining room is closed. It was transformed into a sort of hospital/triage unit in August 2020 for student Covid cases, and then became student housing. So alas, you cannot get the bisque there.

We learned recently that Nittany Lion Inn lobster bisque may be obtained at Legends, the bar at the Penn Stater. They only have it available on Fridays, though. So, our group decided to get together and try for a bisque date. The last time we'd been together around a nice bowl of soup was in February 2020. I brought home a small container of it, which I heated up the next day, only to have it explode in my microwave. Bisque . . . denied!

Finally, the big day arrived! I went to the Arboretum first, and on my way there, I ran into a dear old friend on her bicycle. We stopped and had a chat. And then I visited the Arboretum and saw lots of monarchs again; this time, the big hit plant of the day was blazing star liatris; the monarchs just adored it, and were all over it. There is still one small, last lotus bloom on the lily pond.

And then it was bisque time! I met my friends - only one was unable to make it - and we each had a big bowl of orange goodness that is the bisque, except for Maggie, who had "just a cup."  We had six chairs around a table; T. Tiger kept the seat warm for my friend who was unable to be there. What a good Tiger!

I retired in December, but they are all still working, so there was some work talk, about how it is to work in the time of Covid, and how some people have gone back to the office already while others have not.

And they asked me how it is to be retired, and I told them that overall, it is pretty darn good. On days when we feel like going somewhere, we do; and when we don't, we don't. We don't have to ask anybody's permission for anything. And we get in lots of outdoor time, and we don't set any alarms for waking in the morning. But I miss my work friends, for sure!

And then - too quickly - the bisque time was done, and we were heading out to our cars, and stealing surreptitious hugs as we went, sort of hugging from the side (while masked, of course), and not breathing while doing it. Forbidden hugs. It has been far too long, we said. And how glad we were to see each other! And didn't bisque sort of make everything just a little bit better? And yes, of course, it did!

My soundtrack song is this one: the Turtles, with Happy Together.

P.S. You may see my fellow Risky Bisquers in the extra photo, with T. Tiger next to me, keeping the seat warm for my friend who could not make it.