It started out quietly

Nothing on the calendar today, lovely sunshine, then I realized I needed to do the prep for the pumpkin. Also bake bread.

I toasted the pumpkin for an hour and twenty, at 350f, then let it cool, easy slicing and dicing and freezing.

Pumpkin Junction

The rinds in the bowl are now outside for the dining pleasure of the squirrels. Six containers of cooked diced pumpkin in the freezer.

Then a ring at the door and it was next door neighbors who've bought the house they were renting, and brought me a little gift. 

This is the lady we've been giving plants to for her collection. I think it's a phalaenopsis, but I have to check, ages since I had an orchid. If any blogista knows please say.

Then it was lunchtime and I made a wrap of tuna salad, Munster cheese and lettuce. I'm getting into designing wraps. I've decided it's a minor art form.

Then a walk. Then the mail and the day went sideways. Letter from the HOA about the upcoming long-threatened fence replacement. 

There were shrubs or something unspecified which had to be pruned or removed. One week's notice to attest it done or the fencing company would do it and bill.

Translation:  one week to remove my 25 foot native cherry tree which is growing from under the fence, planted by birds thirty years ago. After HOA radio silence for three months because the fencing was held up by the pandemic, which they never mentioned.

So I  consulted with neighbor who had heard nothing, he called the HOA on speaker and he's wonderful about getting information without pushing, uses great language.

The upshot was that we could cut out a section of fence to get access to the tree roots. Neighbor knew I couldn't possibly pay a massive bill for tree removal.

This involved the neighbors on the other side with a bit of the tree their side, who are the other side of the fence about to be cut into. 

Whereupon the y chromosome factor kicked in, neighbor two rocked the tree to show neighbor one it's unstable.

See the angle it's leaning over? This is after a lot of foliage was removed and tossed into the woods.

 Neighbor one has for years been resisting my pleas to help me remove it. He would only trim a branch here and there. He hates to cut trees. So do I but it was dead. Far beyond the lifespan of the wild cherry. 

Which I confided in neighbor two and wife while neighbor one went to assemble all the saws and chargers and pickaxes and who knows what. He winked and I had an ally.

Then I stood back while they spent a long time grubbing it out to the roots. I texted neighbor three who uses wood all winter, to offer them the wood. Cherry makes a beautiful bright fire. Mixed with oak it burns steadily, loads of heat. No response yet.

Explained many times to curious kids why we were felling a tree, asked accusingly. I explained it was dead and needed to go and they grudgingly accepted it then got on with their football game and bicycling.

Much sweeping and finding of tools strewn over both patios, found another charger plugged in and returned it next door, receiving in return an empty container which had held cake, and picking a handful of lemon balm for the other neighbor to start in water.

Many transactions today. Among all this I baked bread.

Whole-wheat, white, oatmeal. Two weeks supply.

I'm going to sit down now and bask in my lovely neighbors.

Thanksgiving plans and pumpkins

 Handsome Son visited yesterday with groceries, and we continued talking about how to do a safe Thanksgiving meal.  I'm a bit hazy on safety of food sharing from a common dish at this point, so we're thinking he will pick up individual prepared foods, ready to reheat, at the store where he works, so that will be minimal contact, but we can sit at either end of the table.  He estimates it at six feet distance, so that will work. One Christmas when I was too sick to cook, he picked up a lovely meal, first course crab stuffed flounder, next cooked turkey with some veg, forget what, and pie.  It was great, what I could eat of it.  So we're thinking of a version of that, for different reasons, we're both hoping to be well then.

When he visits and I serve him tea and a snack, I'm gloved handling his food, and we have separate teapots, milk, etc.  I also wash my hands before gloving them.

So yesterday we had the Victory Cookie and icecream.  They had to be separate because the cookie is crisp enough you need to pick it up to eat it. But we bravely managed anyway.  Handsome Son liked it enough to do this whole thing a second time.  And now he thinks it would make a great Thanksgiving dessert.  Fine by me.  One issue solved.  He really enjoyed this. And texted me this morning to say he's still recovering from the sugar overload!

Then, while we were in this high level conference, next door neighbor opens the front door, calls out here's the pumpkin I promised, and leaves this in the hallway for me.

This is part of the Pumpkin Exchange Program.  He doesn't like pumpkin, loves the seeds.  I don't like the seeds, like the pumpkin.  So when I had my mini pumpkin I washed and dried and gave him the seeds.  He's removed the seeds from this much bigger one, and it's now mine to cook.

It's better for soup or maybe cake than pie, not really a pie pumpkin.  And it's in the oven now roasting happily away for the moment.  I looked up recipes for roasting pumpkin, mainly to find out the oven setting, and found a major problem in all of them:  they all say to cut it down first.  But here's the thing: I can't possibly get a knife through this behemoth. I need to roast it in order to cut into it.  So I just went on in the way I think might work. 350F for and hour and 20 minutes. Since it's already empty, this will be an easy job to peel and dice. I'll let you know how this works out.  It's on the last 20 minutes now.

Beautiful weather suddenly, in the 70s.  I was sitting out reading yesterday afternoon.  So, the allergies made a brief reappearance in the middle of the night, had to get up and attend to my eye.  Better today. It's such a treat, though to be able to be out without a coat, if only for a few days.  Lovely walking, too.

New alarms about the GOP admin refusing to release funding for Biden's transition team.  This may be another, yet another, court case. She's claiming the final vote is not yet official. Except that every state with a complete count has called it officially. But I really won't be alarmed about this.  There will be a lot of deliberate obstruction, and we will have to overcome it.  Kamala is a topflight lawyer, she will know exactly the remedies.  And there's ACLU which has done wonderful work through this whole period.

Meanwhile, Biden's already assembling his Covid team for planning to handle the virus. A real team, this time, with doctors and epidemiologists and people who know what they're doing. So I'll try to leave it to them to worry about!

Today is walking and spinning and just enjoying the day.  Seize the day, as they say.  Carpe diem. Which does not mean carp all day long.

Food still happens, even when the republic is rescued

Misfits day victory supper

Salad of lettuce, very crisp, carrot dice, hard-boiled egg, avocado diced, dressed with a mix of olive oil, malt vinegar, dijon mustard, black pepper, paprika. All the veggies came in today's box.

Top layer

 My misfits box came today, slight mixup, one lot of mushrooms which I had plans for, missing, one avocado which I never ordered, present!  They're fixing it now, refund for the mushrooms, but they say they can't refund the avocado because it wasn't listed anyway.

I think that means it wasn't billed.  Well, no problems there.  I don't usually go much for avocado after a period of liking them all the time, but I don't object to the occasional unexpected visitor. As you saw from the salad pic above.

Next layer

Washing in progress.  There's a ton of fruit, for which I have plans. And the white potatoes will make a vichyssoise with the rest of the leeks in the freezer, and maybe some celery if there is any. The carrots greens will be in a green soup at some point. I also got chicken broth.  And  hand sanitizer.

I'm amazed I was up to doing anything today after the excitement. Everyone's so happy! Church bells ringing in Paris. Thank you notes from all over, because it affects a lot of people outside our country.  Much work to do, to repair, address the pandemic, replace the people in the cabinet with people who want the country to succeed. A president and spouse we can be proud of. Likewise a Veep and spouse, Second Dude. 

Next: Georgia. We're already asking Stacey Abrams how we can help with the runoffs.

Meanwhile, I think I'll lie down and read a bit. 

Then for my Saturday movie extravaganza, another in my Christopher Guest ongoing festival. 

This is Spinal Tap.

And this is a day we've been dreaming of and working for. Wheeeeee!!!!

Finally exhaling

 We did it.  We took back our country.  Biden Harris took Pennsylvania, and they're officially recognized.

I'm relieved, excited, and can't wait for decency and respect to return to the White House.  That and a woman, our first female Vice President.  A brilliant, funny mixed race woman.  That checks all the boxes.

I was putting together the grocery list at Handsome Son's request, and promptly added icecream. To go with the giant cookie we'll be plunging into.

Next we work on Georgia senate runoffs in January and see if we can't take back the senate, too.  

Victory cookie

 It's the biggest cookie in the world, and I think we've earned it.

As usual I had to sub, no chocolate chips, so chopped walnuts. And I added in a teaspoon of lime zest, from misfit organic limes, just to see.

I'm using a white flour which I never had before lockdown when I had to order online. It's a southern product, probably a different wheat, much softer than the other ap flour common here. And this cookie has a fine crust and soft inside, I'm guessing because of the flour. It's White Lily, works for desserts,  too fluffy for bread. I expect it makes great biscuits.

This recipe said 18+ minutes, but using these ingredients, nearer 25. 

It smells heavenly.

And here's the cook's privilege, first wedge. It's gone now. This is pretty rich and sweet. This size wedge is plenty. 

Hooray for us! We saved the republic, that is not an exaggeration. We earned a cookie.

Doings on the home front

 Since I can't be out saving the world all the time, there's stuff happening at home too.

The Tank Lid Caper

Early this morning my neighbor who's getting the plumbing overhauled, was at the door with the promised tank lid, which looks like a match for the broken one at the condo.

I texted Handsome Son to come and get it, since he's off today, and get a cup of tea.  Both of which he did, and graciously let me take a pic.

Final Garden Clean up for the year

The flowers are done, so the pollinators are gone, and I can cut and toss.

Russian sage and Montauk daisies

Thyme and Autumn Joy sedum

News of the indoor garden

The weather's suddenly mild, so I finally, years late, got to separating and repotting the aloe previously hopelessly squashed into too small a container. The pots and soil are out in the outdoor closet, so the weather's a factor, not wanting to chill the plants being moved.

One section now lives next door in my friend Amitha's rapidly growing collection. She had seen me at work on the aloe out on the path, came to ask a few plant questions. That's why there aren't any pix of the process. People first. So my attention was on her. And while I was at it, I offered her a division of aloe. She has one,but a different variety, so she was happy to house it.

Back home I now have a working kitchen aloe 

And upstairs a leisured aloe chatting with her friends. Once her shape has recovered from the overcrowding in her former housing, I'll see about another repotting.

Also downstairs, I noticed the sudden eruption of a long stem and buds from the spider plant I moved and repotted. First in years, so I think the repotting was a Good Thing tm.

Then a cabbage onion wrap, and a longish walk in the sunshine to prevent kinks in my back from the garden cleanup. 

And it's still early afternoon. I attribute this cheery energy to the sunshine, the neighbor coming through with remembering the lid, and with some political news, to wit:

Bucks County, Pennsylvania, home of the wealthy one per cent, reliably republican since the dawn of time, turned blue!! Overnight news.

Also georgia Dem Ossoff appears to be so close to the appalling Perdue in their senate race, that he might, just might, force a January runoff.  And also in Georgia sen. Loeffler, who enriched her enormous portfolio using inside knowledge about covid, is in a January runoff against a Dem.  Two more bites at the Senate cherry! We may yet get this, friends! 

Unusual to have both State senators up, but Loeffler was appointed, not elected and must run in order to secure the seat. And, as the count goes on, Biden, too,  is narrowing the gap in Georgia.

We should warmly thank Stacy Abrams for a lot of groundwork that brought us to this place. Her endless work to preserve the vote and fight vote suppression is a big part of why Loeffler and Perdue didn't just walk away with the seats.

Suppression is the reason Abrams is not currently Governor of Georgia.  Their actual governor, in an interesting bit of karma, is quarantined for covid-19, and because of the draconian voting rules he put in place, in continuing vote suppression moves, can not vote! Snookered.

The first of that man,  you know who's, lawsuits trying to void uncounted ballots has been thrown out this morning on the grounds of no evidence.

Pretty good day, all in all. From humble toilet tanklids to the future of our republic, you get it all here! 

Keep breathing, keep watching, keep calm.

Midst elections and pots of tea, we breathe

The bears decided today was to be a quiet patient time, with tea refills all round. Ursula got a diluted version.

And after waking at 5am, scared to check on election results, but did anyway, slept again after an early breakfast, not as good as hoped, not as bad as feared. In two years a lot of vulnerable gop senators will be up, and we have a chance there. Hope springs eternal. With any luck we may have levered the current occupants out of the White House. We'll see. 

Meanwhile, experiments in wraps. It seemed like a good idea to do something in the kitchen involving pounding and shoving and rolling, and wraps were it.

The dough didn't work exactly like the Polish lady's dough on YouTube, possibly Polish flour is different. I did end up adding a spoonful of water and a spritz of olive oil in addition to the recipe. And since I can not find the recipe again, fortunately I made notes for my Big Binder, I can only offer you the post-it.

I also got a lot more wraps out of it. She made four. I think I got about twice that. You mix the dough, knead, then let it rest. How come I do all the work and the dough gets to rest, I mutter.

Then, picking a bowl to mark the dough the right size for the pan, to cut around the circle and add the scraps to the next wrap.

And rolling happily. And stacking. 

And interleaving with parchment paper to freeze. Fast food for future use. 

And frying the dough. I wondered if it would be elastic enough to roll, it might just crack. But no, it rolled a treat. This is fun to do, like pancakes.

And here's today's lunch, stuffed with cabbage mix.

I'm thinking of stuffing future ones with spicy potato, dosa style.  Or various other ideas I haven't had yet.

I thank the friends who kept up a helpful email exchange yesterday, helping each other get along and breathe. You all know who you are!  Waving a wrap in your honor! And looking forward to when we can declare, about the election, "It's a wrap!"

Of door curtains, cabbages, cats, beads and other such things

I didn't include a picture of the door curtain yesterday, because by the time I thought of it, the light was too low for my modest camera equipment and ability.

However today is another day, or Day, and I'm busily doing whatever keeps me going.

I started with a chair yoga stretching session on YouTube, really good choice for today. I found how tense I was, and felt a lot better after the stretches. And I wondered about cooking something new.

I found a flatbread recipe, oil, flour, water, kneading, resting, rolling, and thought that might be good, best to stuff with something, but what? And while I was mulling about that I found a great cabbage recipe.

So I switched to that, for lunch.

I added in baharat because it seems to be good with cabbage. The recipe didn't specify salt so I went with that because maybe it would be fine.

That flour, Aurora Mills stoneground whole-wheat, from Maine, is expensive and worth it. I've made my best bread with it, so I'll see how it works with the flatbread.

Here's the YouTube source of the cabbage caper

Picture is of recipe cooked in Teflon, mine came out a bit different in castiron

Here's the second part, after I had to tip it out onto a plate then invert it to finish cooking. After the turning over is when the cheese is added. Then you cover it and cook a few minutes more.

As you see, the cheese is overdone but the inside cooked nicely. I think a lower heat next time. It would be prettier but probably wouldn't taste much different.

Lunch is served. Next time I will also add salt. It does need it. In fact I might saute the onions ahead with salt, while starting the cabbage, eggs and flour, then stir them in.

Anyway it's pretty good.

I also realized ah, here's what I can stuff that flatbread with. There's plenty, so maybe a couple of lunches. Which may be comfort food or victory food, depending on the next few days. Cabbage wraps. I might add in pickled beets. Or maybe on the side.

Cabbage usually gives me really psychedelic dreams, colors not on the spectrum, adventure narratives, last time involving white horses, so we'll see what tonight brings.

And about door curtains, finally I'm getting to the door curtains.  They're like this, at least mine are

Closed

Open

Not to be confused with portieres, which replace doors. Read on.

Here's an Indian wedding sari, a gift

An Indonesian artisan handwoven fringed length, a fair trade piece originally cream, which I dyed with I think onionskin dyes

And a purpose-made Japanese one, hand embroidered both sides in sashiko stitching. These are used in shop doorways to deter flies while being easy to stroll through, because of the divide. From a friend who got it in Japan, and I can't remember the correct Japanese name.

I expect you could have portieres that didn't originate in Asia, but I don't seem to have any that didn't. Funny, because Victorians were mad for them, making them of big handmade paper beads. I used to make paper beads, but not portieres of them. Because cats.

Why tear off doors? Two words: worktops, cats. When cats can come and go in closets without being shut in, needing rescue when you finally find them, or needing the door opened yet again, firm (loud)  requests on this point, you see the benefits of the portiere. The other word, worktops, is what happens to the doors. They end up in the studio with work all over them, cheap and sturdy.

I think I'll spin now.

Winterized. Hygge.

We had a wildly windy day, some people with power loss, but not this street. Drafty though, especially when my front door blew open, and was blocked by the door curtain, which saved the heat till I shut the door again.

Yesterday Handsome Son helped me change out the green and white striped canvas summer door curtain, which cuts the glare in the afternoon, and blocks the heat, for the big red felt winter one, which pools on the floor and is a good draft protector.  I keep the storm door in all year, not changing for a screen door, because I need the light from the front door, and it's the way to have the ac on and still get the light coming in.  Also I'm nosy and I like to see out.  I'm probably part cat.

I usually do the curtain change myself, but thought it would be wise to get  help this time.  It's awkward, involves climbing and wrestling with a tension rod and the curtain.  I did the climbing, just two steps, because I know how to install the rod without punching a hole in the wall, always an issue around here. He organized the curtain and held the weight off my hands, and stood close, while I slid the rings onto the rod, with much cursing. But it was a lot easier with the weight of the curtain held off my hands while I worked. That way I was able to get the rings on just once, not watch in dismay as they shot off again with the weight pulling them, while I frantically tried to stop it. And he was right there, in case I lost my balance.  I don't usually, but there's always a first time and it's best not to be alone on a stepstool at the time.

 Here's the last of the sun catching the treetops down the street.  Still quite a few leaves on the trees.

And it's time, reluctantly, to acknowledge that late fall and early winter are here. So I hauled out the cosy quilt throw for the sofa, originally there to keep cat hair off the furniture, but then left because it's warm and friendly.  And arranged the pillows around. And, folded there, the knitted blankie thing I made for Handsome Partner, for comfort in the wheelchair,  and have kept just because.

The empty plate held a muffin a while before this picture was taken.

The fake fire, with flickering flames is surprisingly cheerful, and I put it on for the first time yesterday for Handsome Son's benefit, which amused him quite a bit.  It has a heat function, too, which I don't use, since the thermostat is in the same room, and the rest of the house would be an icebox while the living room is cosy. What I think is too funny is that there's a remote for this.  You click your fire on!

He tested the beet banana muffins, two, split, toasted, buttered and with chunks of sharp cheddar, and pronounced them fine.  With the proviso:  I have to be in the mood to enjoy them!  Cracked me up.  But he liked them okay, just doesn't want me to wheel them out every time he comes, I'm guessing. Considering he hardly ever gets anything twice in a row, it's a bit over careful, to my way of thinking.

I heard from Handsome Partner that my mother in law was like that, if anyone was incautious enough to say they liked an item.  They'd get it morning noon and night.  I used to point out that if they'd appreciated her cooking, such as it was, more often, she wouldn't have been so amazed and so ready to repeat the dish.

She never claimed to be a good cook, but she faithfully churned out three squares a day for husband and sons.  I think it takes a bit of living alone for a guy to grasp just how much work it takes even to get the food from the store to the plate. And she was a skilled tailor, made most of the boys' clothes, so she was talented, just not in the food line.

I wasn't much of a cook in those days, before we were married, and I was still a student.  But I made her scrambled eggs on toast when we visited, and she was sooooo impressed.  I heard her telling the neighbor lady, "Ander (her nickname for him) found himself a braw wee cuik!" A fine little cook!  After she realized he would be cared for, she discarded her reservation that he was marrying "an English lassie" and we got on fine the few times I had the chance to meet her.

She's one of the few people I, a comparatively small woman, towered over.  She was well under five feet, as a lot of her Scots generation was.  I looked like a giant among her neighbors, because I was shock, horror, the same height as Handsome Partner, who was a small man. 

So this is all displacement activity to ward off the anxiety about the outcome of tomorrow's election. We shall get through this. One way or another.

White rabbits and bimblings

This is the Boehm bunny. In his hallowe'en costume. He went as a polar bear.  And this is posting late because it didn't publish when I thought it had! Blame the clock change.

 November suddenly, and this morning brought the latest Bimbling from Josie George, an inspired writer, who has a life as a writer  and single mother and long distance partner, despite massive physical issues. She's always an encouragement, and a thoughtful and funny person. She'll never fail you.

Go Here

And for encouraging thoughts and wonderful photography, go to Evelyn Swett's blog here

And Sarah Swett, weaver, spinner, teacher, cartoonist, all around good egg, go here

taking a leaf out of Mary Anne, of Mumblings fame, Here suggesting great sites to go and enjoy and get encouragement from.  Thank you!

I tested the muffins today, toasted, buttered for breakfast.  Okay. They'll do.