Hi there!

Over the weekend, I worked (volunteered) 2 more events, one large on Saturday, and one smaller one on Sunday. I think I'm just getting too old for this! LOL! I am tuckered! But just two more events to work this month, then next month looks lighter in the volunteer department.

Even so, I still had to make up something for lunches this week. I opted for the easy route for most of it. So, our lunch selections to choose from include:

• pumpkin muffins
• blackberry-applesauce
• egg salad for sandwiches
• pbj's
• carrot sticks
• apples
• crabapple-apple sauce
• crazy soup leftovers (all the odds and ends of cooking and salads from the last month, cooked up with a pot of lentils -- interesting flavor!)
• leftover cookies from the weekend

I finally finished off cooking up the crabapples. I made one more large pot of crabapple-apple sauce, and another container of crabapple juice for making jelly later this fall/winter. And I went ahead and picked the figs, although not ripe this year. I'll make these into fig jam.

Our freezer is so packed that I'm trying not to buy anything that needs freezer storage, so I'll have room for turkeys and hams next month. It's a good thing to have all this food in store!

At Saturday's event, one of the ladies brought in some beet pickles and corn relish that she had made. I didn't try the beet pickles, but did the corn relish and it was delicious. The interesting thing was that she just used canned beets and canned corn for these "preserves". The corn relish would be especially good on the Thanksgiving table. All she did was cook some vinegar, sugar, pickling spice, salt, water, red and green peppers, and onions for a few minutes, then added a can of drained corn. Very simple and it was ready the next day. I'm thinking of adding it to our Thanksgiving menu this year.

One other interesting thing I noted last night. We had a beautiful and warm day yesterday. After dinner the air was still quite warm, so I went out for an evening walk through the neighborhood. Since when did Hallowe'en become a season?! About a dozen houses were elaborately decorated for Hallowe'en. Even though I don't have trick-or-treaters in the family any more, I'm thinking it might be fun just to go out that evening and see all the decorations and kiddies.

I hope you're all having a great week! I'll be able to write more very soon! Take care, all!

It's soup-tober!

I've been super swamped with stuff lately. It seems there is a dearth of potential volunteers in our church these days. I'm doing what I can to help fill some voids, but it takes it's toll. And I think I'm still finding my groove with my daughters' uni schedules, trying to balance with my own pursuits and studies. But life goes on. . .



October is the shoulder month for us. here in Seattle. It's just chilly enough that we could use a bit of heat, but not so cold that we absolutely need to turn on the furnace. Mid-October, our house hovers around 62 to 63 degrees F.

We must be the very last neighbors on our block to turn on our furnace, full-time, every fall. Each year, we challenge ourselves to wait just a little longer. Last year, we made it to October 22. This year, we're hoping to make it to about the 25th.

How do we keep from freezing ourselves silly? Besides wearing multiple layers of clothing, using lap throws and staying physically active, we eat soup for lunch and dinner almost every day. Soup is a very warming meal. Even if I'm just reheating a bowl of soup or chili in the microwave, I feel warm just holding my bowl.

To supplement both the soup meal and the heat in the kitchen, I also plan some sort of freshly baked or toasted bread product to go with dinner. I time this to come out of the oven minutes before we sit down to eat. The kitchen table is just a few steps away from the oven. We enjoy the bread, and some extra heat. Breads might include: biscuits, Yorkshire pudding, muffins, cornbread, or garlic bread, all quick and easy to put together in the late afternoon/early evening.

I'm thinking of charging rent for that chair at the kitchen table that is closest to the oven.