What a Glorious Weekend it Was!!

The weather was perfect, the outings were few, the roosters were crowing and the horses showed up too... ha ha I'm a poet and didn't know it :)

Wally stained the cabin and the porches so everything looks shiny and new. We haven't put everything back on the porches yet because it just looks so pretty the way it is. I'll have to have my little table up there and a chair or two before too long because the weather is just too nice to be sitting inside. I even found it difficult to stay inside and watch the race and football. I managed to be both inside and out for the better part of both Saturday and Sunday.

Friday we chilled out at the cabin. I put away some stuff that had been piling up on the bar. It's so easy to just walk in and set stuff down and then it's so hard to get back to it and actually put it away. I find it's always better for me to put it away as soon as I walk in. Otherwise, it just might not get done for days... I'm pretty good at that procrastination thing :) You probably noticed that by the way I was able to put off shopping all this time, lol!

Saturday morning we were on the road by 7:15-7:30 am. We dropped off my car for an oil change and went down the road a little ways to the diner where we had breakfast and watched the morning news. The weatherman said it could get up to 84 degrees. I had the tenderloin with two eggs over medium, wheat toast, bacon and grits. Wally had the same except he had the country ham instead of the tenderloin.

After breakfast we went to Tractor Supply for dog food and sweet feed for the horses. I looked at coats but they didn't have any in my size that I liked. We had to go to Wal-Mart...ugh ugh ugh so I could - once again - check for contact lens cleaner. Finally, they had some. I grabbed about 6 boxes before anyone else could get them and then picked up a few other things we needed while Wally waited in the truck. I was glad to be out of there!

On the way home we saw a guy in a truck, on the side of the road, selling hay bales. We stopped and picked up a couple more to go with the ones Kurt and Darryl had brought me last week. Neither of us felt like being out any longer so we made for the cabin.

We took a whole bunch of pictures - sorry I can't post them until tomorrow. I brought Wally's phone with me but the stupid battery died right after I got to work this morning. So we got home and I started gathering up all the stuff with which to decorate the hay bales. I had a bunch of pansies I picked up at a nursery in Fairview and while we were in town, we picked up a couple of orange colored mums. I had some copper colored flower pots that Wally drilled some holes in for me and a bag of potting soil and I was ready to go!

I planted the mums in the planters Teri sent up (that had tomatoes, squash and cucumbers in them) and the pansies in the copper colored planters. Wally stacked the bales for me so that they are 2 high and 2 across. You can kind of tell that in the picture, can't you? So from there I set the pumpkins on the top with the mums on either end. The pansies are scattered. A couple of them are on the top stack of hay, a couple more are on a board that runs between the stacks. Wally had an old milk jug (big, metal thing) that we set between the two stacks and it has a Pansy up on top of it too. There's an old fashioned gas can sitting on the ground, on the left, and a galvanized bucket turned on its side, on the right. Everything is on the back side of my little flower garden where I hope to see hollyhocks, allium and other flowers come springtime. 

It doesn't sound like much but it was actually more work than I expected. I had to rearrange it a couple of times before it suited my eyes and of course I had to keep looking at it to make sure everything was evened out :) can't be having a lopsided fall decoration - good heavens what would the neighbors say???? lol as if we have any. ha ha ha ha ha

I took the picture but it is too dark - sorry. On the bright side, the picture of the yellow tree came out really good. The other side of it has already dropped its leaves and it will likely be bare upon my arrival this afternoon.

The oranges, reds, yellows, golds and even browns and greens are all coming on strong right now! Every eye out the window is a picture waiting to happen. Too bad I have to watch the road and drive darn it. I have pulled over a couple of times as you'll see when the pictures are posted. The way I see it is if people plant those beautiful trees in their yards, they should expect other people, like me, to stop and take pictures of them. They are simply irresistible especially when I see a super orange one next to a lighter but brighter yellow one with a green one in the middle that's just starting to change. Oh they make my eyes so happy.

I do feel sorry for anyone who happens to come up behind me, not that that many cars do, but they just have to wait until I get my picture. I'm quick and I don't stop often unless there's a driveway- lol! 

Smokey seems to be warming up to me, not many can resist my charms for long (ha ha!), as he comes to the gate now when I call him. If I'm hanging out clothes on the line, he'll whinny at me from the woods. It's tempting to just quit with the clothes and go see him but he has to wait until I'm done. The theory is that he should come when I call him and not the other way around.  He'll come eat from my hands and he lets me pet him all the time now.

We fed them some carrots the other day and my hands were covered in carrot juice and horse slobber. The horses aren't as slobbery as the dogs when fed by hand but you still get some tongue stuff on your hands no matter what. Rebel will practically lick my hands clean in his effort to ensure every single, itsy, bitsy morsel goes into his mouth. Wally gave him a carrot and he took the whole thing without even breaking it in half. Usually when they get a whole carrot, they'll break it in half on the ground. Not Rebel :)  Smokey is a calm eater compared to Rebel.

Ah yes, the basket from last week...did I already tell you about the huge sweet potatoes? I took a picture but you know the drill on that. One sweet potato was cut into four sections and it was still too much for the two of us. We ate it two days in a row and we still have one section left. Dang, now that I think about it, I should have brought it for lunch. Oh well, there's always tomorrow :)  I got a bunch of radishes, two of which went into today's salad, scallions, mixed lettuces, sweet and hot peppers and a bunch of stuff that is similar to the Bok Choy but with a slightly different flavor. I thought it was Bok Choy when I first saw it. I cooked it the same way and it was pretty close to the same. Today I pick up the first of the last five baskets to come.

What to do then??? Where do I get my fresh veggies??? Well, remember all those bags and jars I was putting up all summer long, yep - time to get them out. By mid-November I'm told I'll be ready for a little jar of sunshine in the form of my Zellwood sweet corn - compliments of Dizzy Debbie! Maybe she'll make it up for a visit before too long and we can eat a jar together :)  You're invited to come too!

I have summer and zucchini squash, cooked and raw okra, cooked and par-boiled green beans, cooked and raw turnip greens, canned corn, canned green beans w/potatoes, canned salsa, canned Bloody Mary mix, canned summer squash with onions and dill, canned pork and canned chicken. I have a jar of pickled okra left and a couple jars of the refrigerator pickles (of which Neccy has already claimed one). Don't forget the quince! It'll be just like summer all over again except without the 100 degree and above temperatures. Looking back I guess I was pretty busy in the kitchen this summer. I sure did enjoy myself too. I hope you enjoyed reading all about it.

"The book" was amusing today when it directed the wise homemaker to remember to keep some food items cool prior to serving while others should be warmed to room temperature. It says that a "mechanically cooled refrigerator" is the best way to keep food cooled but in the event one isn't available in the household, "chopped ice in a bowl will serve just as well." There is no picture of said mechanically cooled refrigerator but there is a picture of the chopped ice with a serving bowl tucked into it :)  I'm loving this book!

I guess way back then molded (as in a jello mold not the mold teenagers grow in their rooms for science projects) salads were all the rage. There is an entire section on what all types of foods can be molded (spaghetti - who would have thought?), how to get them to mold and how to release the food from the molds when ready to serve. It even tells how to decorate the plate depending on what type of food and get this, when the molded food is to be served. Apparently parsley is okay any time of day but mint, basil and chervil should be reserved for luncheon or dinner settings. Did you know that? lol I didn't! I've been racking my brain since I read it, trying to remember if I committed this grave error in plate presentation... ha ha!

In case you were wondering, yes, I did cook this weekend. I made an onion tartan which is just a whole bunch of onions (eight in all) sliced up and layered into the cast iron skillet with a couple tablespoons of butter. The onions saute in butter until they just start to look clear. If you taste them at this point, they are quite sweet and just tender enough where you don't hear a crunch. For me they were perfect at this point but the recipe calls for more ingredients and additional cooking time so on we go... I added the requisite 2 cups of heavy cream (I didn't say it was a low-fat dish folks) and simmered the onions until the cream had reduced by about half. The recipe said this would take 15 minutes. My cream didn't reduce for a good 1/2 hour so keep that in mind should you desire to try this one. From here, I added black pepper, homemade whole wheat bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese all over the top. It goes into the oven for 20-25 minutes and when it comes out it is almost too pretty to dig in to. But we did and you will. It's hard not to.

The breadcrumbs and cheese made a crunchy, crispy, golden brown crust. The creamy, sweet, tender onions mixed with it made for a warm bite of onion-y goodness. Yeah - that's what I'm talking about! We had ribeyes and the huge sweet potato for side dishes... ha ha ha! It was that good, really.

Saturday we had worked so hard all day cleaning up around the house, getting the decorations set up, laundry, etc., we didn't feel like having a big meal. I thawed out some tilapia, sliced it into sticks (because it doesn't come that way from the water, right Neccy?) and fried it up with my favorite fish seasoning, "Louisiana Fish Fry with Lemon." That was it. That was dinner. It was steaming hot out of the oil, just salty enough and a little bit spicy from the seasoning. We loved it and proof of that was in the fact that we ate every last piece! Not a single morsel was left over. We watched an old episode of Iron Chef and hit the sack.

Sunday was another gorgeous day so we spent quite a bit of time outside. We got on the 4 wheelers and hit the trails. Wally hung some "Trespassing by Written Permission Only" signs while I took pictures of the leaves that had already changed colors. We rode all through the trails and he showed me how to find my way through the woods to the holler and the way out to the driveway. It'll take another trip or two for me to learn them all but in the meantime it was a perfect day for being in the woods, seeing how pretty everything is, watching the birds fly through the trees and the turkeys wandering around picking up all manner of turkey food from the ground.

It was warm enough for a t-shirt and cool enough for jeans. Don't you just love it when the weather gets like that? You could almost put on a sweatshirt but you know you have to save it until after the sun sets or you'll be a wee bit on the warm side. Well, we wore ourselves out and took it easy for the rest of the night.

We watched the race (for Joyce & Wally - - - GO TONY!!) and then switched to football. I'm still driver-less since Dale Jarrett quit racing...:(  I wasn't too sad to see the Busch boys do so poorly (sorry Kris) as they need to really get over themselves. Poop happens - grow up and race. There's no way to know what's going to happen during these last races so there's no reason to go getting a little-whiney-babyhead-attitude. They remind me of Rusty Wallace way back when.

The Titans surprised me with a win over Dallas and the Cardinals really, really surprised me with their win over the Saints. I guess everyone was a little surprised at those and you're probably all getting ready to watch Brett Favre as he leads the Vikings tonight on Monday Night Football..."Are You Ready for Some Football?? A Monday Night Party??"  I probably won't be able to watch... Indeed, I'll just suffer through the anguish of not knowing the outcome until, with great anticipation, I hear it on the radio the next morning. Unless Wally happens to wake me with an update at some point during the night... lol!

Hey, while I'm thinking about it, Avon has a new moisturizer under the Moisture Therapy collection. This one has shea butter in it and it is wonderful for extremely dry skin. I've been using it every day for about 4 or 5 days and it is so helpful in keeping my skin moisturized without feeling greasy. So many labels promise but don't really come through. I put it on once a day and I can still tell it's there when I get home in the afternoons. It's very lightly scented, in case that bothers you and right now I believe it's on sale. Check with Lisa Adams if you're interested. I'll be keeping this lotion on hand for the bitter, cold weather to come as my wimpy, Florida skin is simply not used to it.

As the horses coats grow thicker and the squirrels busily gather and bury their acorns, I too am feeling the subtle and slow moving changes in life outdoors. My birds have taken flight for warmer temperatures and the allium bulbs are sprouting the green leaves they'll show throughout winter. I'm ready for this new chapter in my story as days go by here in Tennessee. I hope you'll hang in here with me, vicariously enjoying all my new antics and adventures of wintertime :)

"Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. " ~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn