Retired

                     

They make an attractive display, these tools from our past.

Yes, we actually used these things, once upon a time. The tobacco planter on the left had a reservoir of water so you could job it into the ground and release the seedling and a little water at the same time. (I wish I still had the cooked stick that I used planting our first crop.)

The tobacco basket was what we took our tobacco to market on. Hands (bundles) of graded tobacco were arranged in a circular stack on the basket. Horribly labor intensive and in the latter years of our tobacco growing, everyone had switched to baling the cured leaves--easier, but not so elegant.

The little wheel hoe/cultivator never got much use-- our soil was too rocky for it to work well. But I love the way it looks.

Old times they are not forgotten. It was such hard work but we we fortunate to have participated in a dying culture.

Ahhh!

Oh, the pleasure of a much-needed rainy day and a fire in the fireplace--not really necessary but a real delight.

Though we haven't yet had a frost, it's really feeling like fall. Now I need to go buy some decorative gourds . . .

 

How Low Can We Go?

 Pretty low, apparently. The news that the Pentagon plans to livestream an execution puts us in the company of North Korea and Iran and brings to mind archival photos of folks turning out for a hanging (bring the kids!) not all that long ago.

When this disgusting regime is finally gone, it's going to take more than bleach to rid us of the stain on our country.

October Gems

 

Paradigm Shift

Check out the black tee shirt. And the shiny black boots. I should have seen this coming when her new backpack was khaki, rather than the pink with unicorns and rainbows of previous years.

And the pierced ears. And the black hi-tops (with, however tiny embroidered flowers.) And now these boots! (Still untied--we have more work to do.)

Our little girl is growing up.

Can Doc Martins be far behind?

 

Sun Arise

                                            

Every time I watch the sunrise, I play host to an ear worm from 1963--the didgeridoo hit from Australia--"Sun Arise". You can hear it HERE.

As I watch the light fill the room, I'm hearing the twang of the didgeridoo and the simple lyrics "See the sun, come in the morning, spreading all the light all around. . ."

Apparently the lyrics were inspired by the Aboriginal characterization of the Sun as a woman, spreading her glowing skirts over the land.

Works for me.

 

And the Sky Was Carolina Blue

 

Dear Sirs

What has your party done to my beloved country? Your president is wreaking havoc on some of our treasured institutions. He is threatening journalists and endangering the freedom of the press. He attempts to bribe voters. He is visibly mentally and physically impaired. (He has always been morally impaired.) And now he is using TAXPAYER DOLLARS (yes, I'm screaming) to pay for propaganda style ads praising his regime. How is this even legal--how is any of it legal?

Meanwhile, children as young as 3 sit alone in court, being asked if they would choose to self deport. The thugs of ICE continue to terrorize our neighborhoods. The Trump criminal organization  family continues to enrich itself through self dealing disguised as diplomacy and investment in weaponry for a war of choice.

No, we are not great. Your president has turned his back on our historic allies to embrace dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un. His war and his tariffs have hurt our farmers, our builders, and, in the long run, all of us.

I am past hoping that you will do anything to rein in this obnoxious regime. I can only hope that the coming midterms will send a very strong message.

I can't wait to see the back of you.

 

Fall Comes Creeping

 Nothing spectacular yet--just a yellow tinge on Barnett Mountain and more and more yellow on the nearby trees.

The slow spread of fall color is fine by me--when we get into the bright reds and oranges, it's beautiful but over too soon.

There's still time (and favorable temperature) to sit on the porch and enjoy the slow progression.

Where Did the Day Go?

Sometimes I wonder if I'm accomplishing anything these days, moving at a snail's pace as I do. My morning started with laundry and housekeeping (cleaning the cat's litter box) then moved on to my mental calisthenics (Wordle, Connections, and Spelling Bee.) Read the two Heathers and the NY Times. Enjoy the Schmitt memes.

Breakfast then clean up the kitchen and water the porch plants. Dive into the refrigerator to rearrange the fruits and veg that got shoved in after shopping on Tuesday. Make and refrigerate a galette crust for an apple galette in the evening.

Put away laundry, make lunch. Eat lunch.

Work on the watercolor of agri dolci (sp.?) peppers and squash. Not finished but getting there.

Go pick up Josie. Take a deep breath and tell her that today we are going to learn to tie shoes. She tells me she doesn't need to--none, well, almost none of the kids in her class can tie a bow.

I am firm. We sit at the table and I try to demonstrate. She HATES trying to learn something challenging. There are tears and whining and refusals. I tell her there will be no tablet time till she has tied a bow. 

After a lot of time spent saying she couldn't do it, couldn't see what I was trying to show her, when she finally realized I was going to hold firm on the no videos thing, she suddenly paid attention and after a false start or two, tied a creditable bow.

Mean Meema. But she got to watch her videos and actually apologized for being so unpleasant (so toonky, as my late MIL would say.) 

By this time I had a migraine coming on and went and lay down. But the tied bow was the highlight of my day!

 

Black and White

These are Picasa edits from the past. Picasa was a free program that did lots of nifty things and I really miss it.

 

Rabbit, Rabbit Morris Dance

The Morris Dance is traditionally danced in May to welcome Summer. But Sir Terry Pratchett posited a Dark Morris for the fall, to welcome Winter. The Dark Morris has been added to the repertoire of a number of Morris sides (dance teams) and is part of Steeleye Span's Wintersmith album. (Thanks to Mario for telling me about this!)

 

More Ras El Hanout

According to Mr. Google: Ras el hanout is a complex, warm North African spice blend whose name translates from Arabic as "head of the shop" or "top shelf," representing a merchant's finest offering

 It delivers an aromatic, rich, sweet, and earthy taste with a warm depth rather than heavy heat.

 There is no single recipe; blends often combine a dozen to over forty spices.
 Core ingredients usually include cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and peppercorns.

We enjoyed it so much with the spinach and garbanzos that I decided to use it with chicken. I rubbed chicken thighs well with ReH and a little salt and browned them in olive oil. Then I removed the chicken to another dish and sauteed onions, sweet peppers, garlic. 

When they were getting soft, I stirred in a lot of cut up tomatoes--some cherry tomatoes and some regular and browned them a bit. I also added a bit more of the spice. When the veg began to get goopy, I returned the chicken to the pot, added a bit of hot water so that the chicken was half covered, put a lid on the pot and let it simmer about a half an hour.

I served it over noodles (though a grain would be nice too) and topped it with sour cream (yogurt would also work) and chopped up green onions.

Accompanied by a salad--spinach, plums, blue cheese, and vinaigrette--it was really good.