Garden of Thought

Looking out the window at my firs swooshing in the autumn-leaf-speckled wind, the bamboo bobbing along in agreement off behind them. Rain spatters on the windows and overhead I can hear the occasional thump-bumble-bumble of pinecones rolling down the slope of the roof.

Pi Cat literally is on a heavy rotation schedule from becoming lightly dampened on her all-weather pillow outside and being inside where there is always the potential for kitty treats if she's lucky. She peers at us through the sidelight on the front door (aka "the catwindow") and goggles in the bevel so it looks kind of crazy, signaling she'd like the door opened pretty much every time she catches anyone's eyes.

Time to get out "the cat towel" - an old towel that serves to mop wet paws and dry off a wet kitty when she comes in during the rainy months.

Yay! I landed a nice fire pit online when the Labor Day sales were going by and it arrived this past week.  It's a 'heat wave' which is a portable fire pit with wheels and a top lid, something very important here where the continually falling fir needles and rain are an issue.  Also, if we move I can take it with me that way.

Now that they are unfortunately made in China they do take some extra tweaking - I replaced the cheap hollow plastic wheels with nice steel ones (reviewers said the wheels MELT), and sprayed it with 2 coats of high-heat bbq paint (otherwise it will rust away, apparently).  Drilled drainage holes in the bottom also (this is Oregon here...) and got a cover for it.  Added L brackets to raise the cooking grill to a level it can actually be used, though I don't really plan to use it for cooking, as otherwise the grill would sit right on the firewood.

Then there's where to put it - Spent a couple days leveling a nice space in the yard with my son's help and placed pavers to make a mini patio for it to sit on. Got paver sand packed between the pavers. Whew! 

Been a bit of work, but now it's ready to go - once the current batch of rain goes by - maybe have a nice fire to sit around in a couple days.  I've always wanted one of these, so happy to actually get one. Ah, ambiance and camp fire smoke!  Marshmallow roast, anyone?   ^_^

One thing about having a smallish number of relatives is every time we get together for a major holiday (I'm looking at *you* coming up, Thanksgving) it always feels like there really ought to be more people around, like a poorly attended party even though everyone invited showed up.   You know it's a bit pathetic when you try to have a board game going and if a couple people wander off to the kitchen or something you no longer have enough people to play.  :-p 

My eldest says she hopes she will get to marry a man who has a HUGE family so she can finally enjoy the chaos that comes with lots of cousins and aunties and so on at a holiday gathering.

Oh well. Back to buying the small ham and and teeny turkey for now.  Hope your own holiday plans are going well!

Just got back from a run to Trader Joe's (gosh I love Trader Joe's....) and found they were going seriously into the realm of "let's see how many things we can make that taste like pumpkin!"

Ended up with pumpkin cookies and pumpkin flavored corn chips - picked up pumpkin biscotti and managed to put it back down.  Thankfully the pumpkin mochi ice-cream balls were gone or that would have been my doom (the cashier assured me they were 'inspired' and he had ripped through an entire package of them in his short commute home). 

Yoooom yom yom num num num.

Started thinking of what we could do for small summer trip in celebration of my daughter's upcoming high school graduation and ended up picking the Oregon Shakespearian Festival (which is quite good, but expensive and far away from me so I haven't been since high school m'self) - wow, I'm thinking as I preen myself,  I'm ahead of the game! I'm gonna get us something nice this summer because I was clever enough to think ahead! 

*goes online*....*discovers LOTS of people are waay more ahead of the game than I ever will be and everything suitable is booked up and/or sold out* 0_0

BUT - I was not foiled! At least not entirely.  After much virtual hunting and gathering yesterday, voila - we have a nice setup with four great plays and a cottage coming up, I just had to shove it all the way past summer into September to do it.  What a novelty, we get to go somewhere in September, as for the first time in 20 years we won't have anyone needing to be in school - what a grand (and alien) feeling!

It inevitably happens to all of us (some more often than others), but when autumn comes around, the leaves begin their sprinkles and dances through the air and the hunt for the fluffy robes and slippers commences along comes the craving for what we like to call 'Comfort Food'.  This is nicer to our ears than 'Hot Starch with Plenty of Fat Please' and aids in rationalizing it well.  My son making up a huge pan of mac-n-cheese 'Dayglo Noodles' is one of the penultimate's of that category for us, right along with tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Today the air is nippy and after being outside cleaning up half-dead daylilies, the drooping, freckled remains of peonies and the squishy, be-browned blobs-on-stems that used to be my asters I reached a point where I could barely feel my nose and went inside.  The natural next step in that parade is some Hot Starch with.... er, I mean Comfort Food.  I managed to keep it 'healthy' this time by noting that the piping hot pan of Mexican Spoon Bread I shortly pulled from the oven had eggs and milk and corn (hey, it's a vegetable, right?) in it.  Mmmmmmm.  Snarf.  Nom nom nom.  Now to roast the cornish rock hens I have bobbing about as they thaw in the sink, at least they aren't made of starch too.

What are your favorite Comfort Foods?  Do you ever eat them in the summer?

As the Autumnal weather here turns from crisp, colorful confetti into the cold rain and soggy leaf phase, I've had to finally give up on my cherry tomato plants actually ripening any of their many remaining fruits... cleaned them all out of their planters along the deck, then went down to gather up the bodies for the yard debris pile. Little green tomatoes, so many! I hate to see anything go to waste if it's edible so I hauled them up to the bird feeder station and scattered handfuls of tiny green tomatoes over the ground. All around me the excitement in the trees became intense - "She's THROWING SOMETHING on the GROUND!" screeched the jays and thrushes and all the little birds agreed it was VERY exciting! What could it BE?"

As soon as I pulled the remaining greenery off to the sideyard I peered back at the feeder. Sure enough - jays, thrushes and a woodpecker were already checking it out, though only the jays gulped some down. The others considered it then decided while they were there they'd just have an enthusiastic go at the suet instead. The LBJ's (little brown jobbies) will get their turn once the Big Boys are done. After squirrels come through, I think they'll be gone... saw a squirrel this morning running along the side of the driveway with a mushroom cap bigger than his head, lol...

Here comes winter!

We had a thunderstorm move through this morning, the muted sunlight and contrasts were stunning, we all just stood out on the deck and gaped and "ooooh"ed and wished we had a better camera. The pictures I took are mere shadows of the reality, but I thought I'd share a glimpse with you. If I could gather up the scent of the rain and the leaves, I would keep it in my home forever.

( Four snaps of a rain-washed autumn )