Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

SO MUCH SAUCE.  How was my weekend? Fruity. Saucy. And that does not describe my grand-daughter or any of the other folks I've had around me.  OK, bad jokes aside, I polished off those three (!) wash-baskets of apples and pears. One large slow-cooker apple crisp (yummy), spiced with a special blend of baking spices that Meg found at the Old North Church gift shop in Boston: it is purported to be the particular favorite of Abigail Adams. I concur; it is lovely. And then I got peeling and dicing, stewing and then stowing, and we ended up with sixteen pints of various incarnations of apple and pear sauces. These joined the ones I put in the freezer last weekend. We will not have scurvy, anyhow. And there's still more cooking and freezing to do... I ran out of oomph. The next project involves herbed butter, and that really does not take a lot of time, other than the prepping of the herbs. I'll cut those probably Tuesday, and see what I can do about getting that done. I have the

Today's readings for church all focus on one main idea: good works must be attempted and accomplished, and we can't wait for God to do it while we sit idly by. In fact, in the first reading from Numbers, Moses answers the people's concerns that others are prophecying with, "Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!" (Numbers 11: 28-29). And in the second reading, it is pretty clear that James has no use for the rich who have spent lavishly on material things, who have withheld wages from the workers, and who have "fattened [their] hearts for the day of slaughter" (James 5:5).  When we finally get to the Gospel reading, we once again see someone complaining that others are doing things they think are reserved for only the Christ. John tells Jesus that they've (the apostles) tried to stop those who are driving out demons in his name, but Jesus replies simply that, "whoever is not

Once again, I went to bed far later than I ought to have, but this time, it's because I got caught up watching a fun and fractured take on Jane Austen's P ride and Prejudice titled Lost in Austen . It dates back to 2008, and it was great fun to see Hugh Bonneville (of Downton fame) in a role that made him rather curmudgeonly. I wish the idea had been expanded further than the few episodes that exist, but it was an entertaining short series. I have one more episode to watch, and I'm sure the ending will be satisfying.  I love Jane Austen novels, and this series really requires that one has a solid knowledge of at least the one novel, but it works even better if one has a good acquaintance with Austen in general. As I said, there is plenty of room for expansion in this series, but it is sufficiently fun as it is.  This, of course, is likely my brain's reaction to the passing of Dame Maggie Smith, an actress whose work I admired greatly, and whose screen presence will be

I went to bed a little later than I'd planned last night; this time, not because I fell asleep watching TV but instead, I went down a "rabbit hole" of my own making. Literally. Or, literature-ly . I have a chapbook in process (not the one that is supposed to be out and about in the world in October). I was not happy with it, and indeed, it has been gently rejected already by one would-be publisher. So, I went back to the manuscript, and I'm retooling it. I'm revising individual poems, pulling out some, putting others in -- more than tweaking, more like re-visioning. Which is to say, working on it with intention. It's kind of exciting.  I know it needs more prodding and rearranging. I have an idea what I want the narrative arc to be, but I'm not sure the poems all serve that vision, and if they do, then the order of poems feels hiccuppy. The deadline for an open call for manuscripts is October 31, so I have time. And that's just it-- finding uninterrupt

Rain, rain, rain.  We haven't had any since the end of August, so I can't whine about it. September weather has been glorious, really-- quite warm, and not difficult to work with. It started raining yesterday, though, and it's pouring still. I am hopeful that this welcome dose of wet will help my latent squashes along-- there are two pumpkins and two butternut squashes hiding in the tall grass down by the bee yard. And I still have hope for the tomatoes that climbed up the cherry tree. I can see that they are starting to turn yellow, so maybe they'll make it. I hate to pull up plants that are still trying, so they'll stay there until we have an actual frost-- which, I hope, is still a ways away.  Speaking of hope, I still hope to spend some time on the deck with a book. I can't seem to find a stretch of time anytime that I don't feel guilty just sitting, until it's after dinner and all the things that need doing have been put to rights. I have friends wh

Huzzah! Today, G goes back to work part-time. He's got his knee scooter, and I hope that's enough to keep him off his foot. He's excited. He'll be home before I will today (staff meeting, so I am there til forever), but it's a big step. Did I sleep better last night? Sort of. At least the dreams were only confusing, not stressful or chaotic. I'm not well-rested, but I'm rested enough. Coffee will be my bestie. Several of my sophomores are on a different field trip today, so I will likely have a pretty quiet class to start with-- not bad. We'll chat about the play we all saw yesterday, and maybe move on to some fun stuff. We'll see who shows up. I didn't follow a lot of news yesterday, so I don't have much to comment on in that regard, but I did hear about the "invention" of yet another immigrant-blamed situation in yet another town in the USA, this time, Aurora, CO . Total invention. I'm very troubled by this push to demonize im

Today is the day of the big theatre field trip to Weathervane Theatre in Whitefield. There will be almost 100 of us from Lisbon attending a modernized production of Romeo and Juliet ; this has been a huge undertaking with a few difficult hiccups along the way, but Heaven Willing, we'll all be comfortably seated at 9:30 am, and the show will go on.  I'm tired, but I think it'll all be fine. Lots of folks at work have stepped up to help and to give really helpful hints, so that's been great. I am grateful, and I'm glad it's almost in the rear view mirror. R and J is not my favorite Shakespeare play, but seeing it live, and trusting the Weathervane's professional company, will make it worthwhile.  Why is it not my favorite, or even in the "top three" for me? I think it's because it has been overly done for too long (like, 500 years of sappy). It is not a play about two teens defying their parents; when the play was written, there was no such dev

Wow, what a busy weekend in the kitchen. I'm surprised I didn't dream about peeling pears and apples, or chopping tomatoes, or baking bread. And G picked another three baskets of pears and apples for me to work through, probably next weekend. I have to get more freezer containers. And G found that we have a small harvest of Asian pears-- I honestly didn't think the tree produced anything, but there were about ten small fruits hiding among the leaves (they are gold colored). What a pleasant surprise. I won't be cooking those-- just for eating, and they will be a delight. That said, I had a dismal night of busy stress dreams, so coffee is my best friend. I hope there are no more hiccups involved in my field trip situation today, and that tomorrow's trip goes well. Maybe then I'll sleep? Who knows. That all said, it is Monday, 39 degrees, and harvesting is going apace. I have papers done and grades to enter. It's a new week.  I sure hope that your day goes well

After I did the errands/grocery-getting yesterday morning, I spent the larger part of the day processing produce. I cut up a whole bunch of tomatoes, and simmered them down with shallot, garlic, fresh basil, a small yellow squash, and about a glass-worth of red wine. After it was reduced down to tomatoey goodness, I added tomato paste and s/p. Thus, three 3-cup containers are going in the freezer today. While that was cooking, I cut up a whole basket of pears and added some apples-- all ours-- and made two batches of spiced apple-pear sauce, lightly sweetened (a glug worth) of locally-produced maple syrup. Most of that is headed for the freezer as well. Today, if all goes well, I'll be baking sourdough bread, banana bread, and making the apple-crabbie sauce.  How domestic, eh? I am not a person who does a lot of "putting by" but this year, I have managed to freeze green beans and cherries, and now all this. I'll count it as a win. I need to take stock of what is in th

Saturday, and it's been a pretty busy week with a lot of stressful ugh-ness. That said, we made it! The field trip is, I think, fully figured out. G is in the process of figuring out how work will go forward, but at least he can, part-time for now. And so, I'm facing a pile of apples and pears, tomatoes and laundry to sort and deal with. Ah, huswifery.  I'll hie me off to the grocery this morning, and then hunker down and get things prepped and cooking. I have a beef stew in mind, but I forgot to defrost the stew beef. It might become tomorrow's fare, instead. Which would be fine, given I will be using pretty much all of the burners on the stove anyhow. Tomorrow's idea is baking bread, so maybe stew and fresh sourdough bread works. In the meantime, I'll ponder on what to do about dinner. Not a huge feat, given I'm headed out to purchase foodstuffs, so we'll see what looks good. Maybe chicken.  Yes, I've been avoiding talking about the media...but I f

Finally Friday, and a cricket is stridently chirping right outside the window. We have a lot of crickets, but this one is really hoping to be heard. I surmise it is telling me that it's time to get some stuff done. I used to love autumn, and in some ways, I do still. The leaves changing, the wisp of woodsmoke, the wool sweaters and heavy comforters all have a place in my heart. But this year, not yet. I don't feel ready. There's still so much to do, and I can't do it. That said, we'll figure it out, but I feel like I'm weeks behind, and I likely am, in all honesty.  Each day, I set myself tasks to accomplish. Mostly, I get them done, but others keep getting moved further and further along the calendar. It's not like I'm procrastinating because I have more exciting things to do; no, it's because there is so much to be done. And I'm not talking about such esoteric things as switching the kitchen linens to the fall ones, or swapping out the dishes f

Well, G can go back to work, as early as next week... with restrictions, and only for half-days. But it's a monumental step for him. Now we have to figure out the details of all that; the paperwork for the short term disability folks (they may still help with the gap in income), and the required this and that to get him back on the books. In the meantime, we will stay the course and he'll keep working like hell to continue to heal. We ordered one of those knee scooters for him, because that was one of the conditions of return. Let's hope it all goes smoothly. Speaking of smoothly, the wrinkles in my field trip situation have been ironed out, and we'll proceed, but on a different day. So, 90 or so of us from my school will be going to Weathervane Theatre to see a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet on Tuesday. That's pretty cool. And a huge undertaking, with all the associate headaches. But I'm moderately excited; our kids don't get to do "big things&q

It's my "second Monday" of the week, since I spent a really great day with Holly yesterday. So be it. It will be a very busy day: work until 2:15, home, then my plan is to go to the installation Mass for our priest.  In the meantime, I have to move forward with the slightly revised field trip plan, and rework my plan book... all the paperwork.  One of the things I don't much like about teaching is the ancillary paperwork; talking to kids about their writing and about what we are reading is great fun, but this required hoorah is boring. And I'm getting too old to be bored. That said, G's appointment at Dartmouth went well, or so he reports. Today, he has another appointment with his primary surgeon. Pray hard. He wants to go back to work. OK folks, have a good one, C

Today, I am home with Holly, because Meg has to work, and G has two appointments, back to back, one in St. J and one in Hanover. Tim will be chauffer. We are running out of personnel. And I honestly do not mind; there's been a major wrinkle in the field trip I have planned, so this will give me a little time to figure out a pivot for that. And I had crazy, chaos-laden dreams that involved shooting and me protecting Holly in my car-- luckily, the shooter who aimed for us had loaded his gun with rock salt. Weird, and very distressing, to say the least. I am ready, past ready, for all of the stressors in my daily life to chill out. So I hope we have a pleasant day, Holly and I. There will be art projects and baking and probably going outdoors for a bit. We'll see how her mood is-- but I have no other plans, really, other than focusing on her today (and that field trip issue, but that's something I need to manage on the sidelines).  I woke up to the news that there has been a &