I've had to resort to putting videos on YouTube to post here. No matter which browser I use they won't post. All my troubles should be so small.

It's Autumn

I lit my first fire of the season yesterday. We were in the 50s F with rain all day. It felt good on these old bones.

These little fur balls agreed.

It's another dreary day although slightly warmer than yesterday. The equines are out enjoying the remaining grass in their pastures. I'm enjoying my coffee and all is well.

This little guy is not Gatto. This is Tabby. There must be some quirk in the brain of an orange cat, you want to lay on paper?

Good Sunday to you all.

 

True

 Right?

Mark often tells me about one person or another when he's out and about who holds up a line or some such thing, that it was an old guy. Almost every time it is followed by "I think I am older than him". I spent most of my 20s studying and working in geriatrics. A common theme amongst the people was that inside they were not old. 

It's part of the human condition, and not a bad part, I think. We, hopefully, gain wisdom and discretion as we age, but aren't we still 'us'? I still walk through the house breaking into song. I like to sing. I can't dance anymore but that doesn't stop me from making some ridiculous moves to music. I still groan at bad jokes as well as make them myself. I am me with more temperance. 

Calculation

Sizing up the risk.

What do you think old two-legger? 

Hmmmm, maybe.

She hissed. 

I'll just lay my chunk down here while she hisses.

I think I'll stay here.

Yes, this is my life.

 

Good Monday Morning

Still trying to get used to it.

I have another little something I should have posted Saturday regarding my sometimes loquacious child. When he was in second grade he came home from school beaming with pride. His teacher had asked them to write a poem about their mothers. My outside-the-box boy wrote "My mother is so very thin, that's cuz she drinks a lot of gin." Yep. I told him that it was very good, then went to stand in a corner for a while. That same year he decided to discuss the concept of infinity with me. Where he got that, I have no idea. What I did know is that I was in trouble. How he ended up in a professional kitchen is, well, got me.

Now the normal mundanity of life. Monday = laundry, so as I sit in my office typing I have the whirring of laundry equipment providing background sound. It does drown out the morning news Mark listens to in the kitchen. That's fine by me.

I made a pizza on Saturday. It's been some time since I had and the stuff was on hand so why not? Prosciutto, fennel, garlic (of course), spinach and mozzarella.

My pizza doesn't photograph well but fortunately it tastes quite good. So thinks us. 

Since little is happening around here I guess I'll post another food. I am not very good with casseroles. I do just fine with a lasagna, but otherwise, no. They taste good, usually, but they always look like someone flung stuff on a plate. I had a package of very thin asparagus. When you do a pick-up order the shopper isn't going to skip the asparagus because it's skinny. It became a casserole with salmon. It was good, so that is the important part.

It's chilly and overcast, which is just fine. I think I can take the fan off my desk and replace it with the heater. How quickly the weather changed. As you can read, I'm in a rambling on mood so I think it's best I just publish this now before I write a book. Ciao.

My Unusual Child

My son, the budding writer.

Matthew wrote this when he was about ten. Tillie was our Bulldog and Delicate Lady Tillie was her registered name. Matthew was around four when I bought her. A year or so later I bought Fallon, a four month old Afghan Hound. Do not buy a four month old Afghan Hound. Don't. He wrote one about Fallon, too, but I seem to have lost it. I found this as I was rummaging through papers. I think he probably took after his mother.

 

Gatto. Who Else?

If there has been any illusion of normalcy, even under the wide spectrum of "normal" regarding a cat, let me remove that thought. I, gasp, removed his donation box bed, you know, the one with the toaster and replaced it with a nice, soft kitty bed. It got a sniff and then a cold shoulder. For days he wanted nothing to do with it. One day I found him lying on some packing paper that was on the floor. I later moved that paper to the bed. 

The result.

 

Last week we went from a miserably hot summer to autumn quite literally overnight. From 90s F to 60s F, just like that. This had once been typical Minnesota weather. I'm doing my old lady version of the happy dance. Which you would not want to see. We've even had the long absent rain.

I checked this morning and see that my doom and gloom ponderings about blogger were, for the time being, wrong. I enjoy that I was wrong. We are a go for the unforeseeable future. 

Last evening we had pasta with a lemon and white wine sauce and leftover ahi tuna. It was really good. I marinated chicken in a balsamic/olive oil marinade for tonight. 

I'm still watching hoarders. 

Hello

This is the current look in my office. When you clean one area, another becomes a mess. The good thing is most of this is donation. Not the cane, vacuum or the storage bag on the right.

I have been missing for a while. Partly concentrating on my sorting and organizing, part medical appointments and part annoyance and worry about blogger. I have a connection to this community and am thinking Google is letting it go. I guess it's bound to happen, it doesn't make money.

On a brighter note. Boud posted a link to a blog a couple of weeks ago that had instructions on making apple cider vinegar, so here I am making apple cider vinegar. I like the idea of doing this and doing it with apple scrapes.  I feel my grandma smiling at me.

 

Blogger Trouble

I seem to be locked out of the reading list. It was this way yesterday and still is. Every post is at least one week old. I'm working through my blog list. I'll get there eventually.

Hello, It's Me

What day is it?

CATURDAY!

When I'm not disciplining (haha) a rogue cat I have been sticking to my routine. I have sorted and bagged lots of excess home goods. Of course in the process of pulling out and sorting and all that another mess always seems to materialize. Is this like a law of nature, or should I say, a law of accumulation?

On another note; the horses and two-leggers have been happily enjoying the cool weather we have suddenly been blessed with. Those old equines have a spring in their step. I wouldn't go quite that far with the two-leggers. More like a yippy-skippy, skipping the skippy.

*Footnote: I got to a couple of blog posts that are 4 days ago, then the list went back a week or more, meaning I can't read and respond to any of you. I'll check back later*

Glimpses Into Daily Life

How it does change

I was sitting in my office, doing nothing, so I turned on the tv and started scrolling channels. I came across the old series, Hoarders. Probably a decade ago I stumbled upon it and became pulled in. Not for the obvious reasons, which I may post about another time. Not at all about hoarding. 

Anyway. Seeing this show again has motivated me to break this acquired habit.

Could I open a drawer and put this away?

Or…..how about putting these things away?

I finished the kitchen floor in March, so?

This has nothing to do with the above mess but yesterday I went through drawers, shelves and closets for items that are definitely not used anymore or are duplicates. I have a lot of these insulated bags, something else I have kept, from Butcher Box deliveries. They have found a use for holding thrift shop donations.

This is to say I will be erratic on here for a while. To break habits, I  need to focus. I know pain and, therefore, lack of mobility have something to do with this, but if I can pull it out I can put it away. Slow but steady.

 

 

How you all doing? We have another morning of the temperature and dew point being the same. I believe I could put this on repeat and tap 'post'. As the country and most of the world is well aware of. You may call me Suzy, as in Sunshine. You are welcome.

I made these biscuits yesterday and found them worthy of not only a photo but of the recipe.

Biscuits

That's my story for this September Sunday morning. The horses graze, the cats annoy, the raccoon comes to the door for cat food. I drink my coffee and Mark chatters.

It’s Humid

We seem to have moved to the tropics. Our temperature currently is 72 F/22 C. The dew point is the same. Autumn, where are you?

We had a very good dinner last evening of steel head trout and fennel from my garden water troughs. Steel head is one of my favorite fish.

The day before I made a lemon ricotta cake. I don’t often bake but sometimes I just want something. I love a ricotta cake. I could sit down with a fork and just eat. This used the last of the three containers I made with a gallon of milk, each about 2 cups.

I’ve had a few days of more energy and therefore activity. No matter how long it’s been a reality, I am still surprised at how long it takes me to accomplish a single task. I have accepted this reality and feel good that at least I am doing something. Let go of who I was and accept and appreciate who I am now. I sound like a self-help guru.
 

Few Words Wednesday

Good Wednesday morning. Things have been quiet on the homestead. I have two appointments this month for epidural steroid injections. I will be relieved to have all of this behind me for awhile. It's been a long haul. It would have been nice to have arrived at this place sooner, but I didn't. The upper forward slump bothers my ego but at this age seems less important than the pain. I've had my grumble over the lack of interest from the medical professionals so it's time to let it go.

I made eggplant parmesan yesterday. I have always roasted the eggplant slices but this time I fried them and I have to say I like it better. Getting the slices crisp means after cooking in the sauce they are a perfect texture. Roasting is faster and less messy, but the result from frying makes it worth the extra effort.

That's about it. Medical issues and food with a dash of cat thrown in for good measure.

 

Goodbye August

Seeing double?

Tabby, outside, and Gatto doing what cats do only in almost synchronization.

Unfortunately we are once again in the hot and humid weather. I think I have been saying for a few summers that summer is the worst. Well, this, for now, has been the worst. Bah humbug. I feel like a cat.

Feeling so Great

Coming your way soon.

Lake Inferior

Bordered by two loser states. Minnesota and Canada.

What Can I Say

Signora, sono un gatto, capisci?

Although this doesn't necessarily qualify for an "now I've seen it all", it does come close in my world. He made himself a bed on a pile of oregano I put on this shelf to dry. I did name him Gatto. 

Grazie per le lezioni, Jean.

*Thanks for the lessons, Jean

Moments

So, another weekend is behind us. One more to go and we enter the season of autumn. I look forward to tolerable temperatures. Which we have actually had the past few days. Yippee.

Speaking of autumn, I have slowly started my annual ritual of preparing food for the winter. I bought what I thought were fennel seed plants but which happily turned out to be fennel bulbs. Fennel has been difficult to find and when I do the cost stops me. There were four plants, one died, leaving me three beautiful bulbs to pull on Saturday. I then made fennel frond pesto. I think I may be happy.

I put some of the pesto to use with last evenings' dinner. I have three thriving basil plants which I will start turning into pesto and frozen cubes for cooking.Those tomatoes were picked from my water tank garden that morning. Something else making me feel happy.

This morning I had another moment of happy when I saw Tabby calmly observing his domain. He and his three siblings were born in the barn to a stray mama on Mother's Day, 2015. Two boys. Two girls. Jigs became a permanent inside cat in 2016 after an injury. Tabs and his brother split their time between inside and outside. Mona wants nothing to do with the house.

 Seek and hold your moments wherever you may find them.

Update

Happy Caturday

I'm giving a quick update on the results from the torture chamber. The MRI shows arthritis throughout the spine. I have straight back syndrome because of this. I still have the fluid on both sides of the spine so surgery is not warranted at this time. I will be given some kind of injection in my neck then later in the thoracic spine when I see the spine doctor. I was told there are two each and they can last as long as a year.

This won't straighten me but it will take away or at least reduce the pain. The PA told me posture exercises after I have the injections may help somewhat.

So, finally, after five years, an answer.

Have a Greyt Friday

Smile

 

take the leap

and relish the day

More About Food

What can I say. It's my life. Yesterday I took a gallon of milk and turned it into ricotta. 

For slightly under $4 I get three containers of ricotta and four of whey. The whey can be frozen for use in baking when the weather turns cool.

Why so much ricotta you may wonder. One reason is these lovely things are starting to become ready to pick. I will also make a ricotta cake and perhaps ricotta gnocchi. Mark had not eaten eggplant before knowing me, being open to trying anything, he found he really likes it. Eggplant involtini and parmesan are on the menu. Mark loves eggplant "meatballs" so....... I'll likely indulge him.

Monday I roasted a small baking sheet of tomatoes. Last evening we had them for dinner.

 That's the skinny from the worlds end.

Kitchen Tales

We are in the part of summer where an abundance of produce appears, either in your garden or farmer's market. I started paying attention to preserving the bounty from my then huge vegetable garden about 20 years ago. I got involved in canning for a few years, but I one year I asked myself, why? It is an effort. It's hot. I had always froze things like green beans and such, why not the rest of my bounty. So I started freezing whole tomatoes, roasting and then freezing tomatoes, making pesto, making basil cubes, all destined for the freezer. My produce now grows in four 200 gallon water tanks, tomatoes, eggplant, fennel. I also have accidental celery (it was in with the parsley) and multiple pots of herbs.

I shred zucchini, roast and freeze eggplant. Slice and freeze peppers. The zucchini and peppers are from Neighbor Bill, who was going to cut back but didn't. We also get cucumbers from him. And tomatoes. I can't remember the last time I bought a can of tomatoes.

Last week I brought one of my remaining bags of whole tomatoes up to thaw. I leave them in the refrigerator until thawed, then I pop the tomato out of the skin like a pit out of an olive. Voila! Tomatoes to become sauce. No making and then canning a sauce. I make it as I use it. Yes, I am brilliant.

Or......not.

 

Into the Depths of the Beast

My Thursday afternoon adventure. Spending ninety minutes in an MRI machine. Ninety excruciatingly painful minutes. I cannot lay on my back, my bulging spine screamed at me the entire time. I was about at the end of my rope when I heard the nice young man say it was finished. I really wanted the results, so I sucked it up. I think I deserved a ribbon around my neck.