Weekending in Michigan

Well, you left and the weather ushered in a decidedly different season. Goodness! I had a color tour paddling trip planned, but Mother Nature decided this was a good weekend for strong winds and gusts over 40 mph. Not exactly good paddling weather. Ah well, there's always this weekend to try again.

This is what the sky looked like for most of the day. It was beautiful while the clouds were whipping by, but you better have held onto your hat or it was gone in an instant.

I joined d-i-l and F.Y.S. at Sir S's football game. That boy is so intense when he plays sports, sort of reminds me of someone else, yes? He misses his dad horribly and is sure no one else 'gets' his football games the same way, but we try. I can't do anything to lessen the pain, but what I can do is help to keep him occupied. Guess he better dust off his hiking shoes. I wonder what his mom will think if I take him winter camping?

See this? It's a J Crew sweater that I picked up at a thrift store for $2, brought it home and promptly tore it apart. It will become felted slippers for me, and I'll need them since I'm bumping down the thermometer another degree this winter. I dunno if Tim can handle it though because his ears and nose are already cold when he puts his head against me. Poor kitty! Anyway, there are a lot of steps before I'm able to use this yarn again for knitting and I'm wondering if it's worth it. I suppose for $2 it is and, what the heck, winter is coming and I have nothing but time on my hands. ~grins~ You'll probably see all the steps in a later post. I know you'll be so thrilled about that.

I finished Appointment in Samarra Friday evening and spent a little time reading more of Justice after the game. I'm liking it, but I see what you mean about Sandel making his point and getting you in line with his thinking, and then switching sides in the next chapter. Liking it is an understatement. I'm really, really liking it is more the truth.

I'm torn on the next two. Do I read The Last Samurai...for the againth time...or do I start on Lightning Rods? Listening to you and Patrick talk, I realized I've forgotten so much of Last Samurai. It's sort of odd because I never understood how people could read more than one book at a time and now I do it all the time. I have two more books in the livingroom that I'm reading as well, but one of those is about nutrition and the other is on homesteading, you know, for when I get that cabin in the woods I'm always talking about.

I forced myself to get up and move in the afternoon. I was feeling a bit under the weather and wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day on the couch with a blanket and those books, but my list was calling me. I cleaned the house and switched all my summer clothes for sweaters and long sleeve shirts. Then, just because I could, I went for a very blustery walk. That perked me up and put a big grin on my face. I love this time of year!

I woke up to lots of clouds again on Sunday. I considered trying to clear out the leaves, but they were still too wet from the rains. It's not like they're going anywhere, darn it. Every year, after strong winds like that, I threaten to get myself some snow fencing to put across the driveway and side yard to keep everyone else's leaves from blowing into my yard. I have that one little tree, but leaves get piled up behind the house nearly to the windows. That's a lot of leaves to get rid of and they're not mine. Ha, I was raking earlier in the week and my neighbor said I should just leave them because they'll blow away. Um hmm, and whose leaves are in my back yard? His...<grumble>. Do you think he would notice if I threw them over the fence into his backyard? Do you think he would mind?

Anyway, what with the clouds and cold, it seemed like a good day for soup. And then I made more soup. And then I made some more. All told, I now have 11 pints of soup stashed in the freezer, I had a bowl for lunch and 2 more bowls were set aside for lunches this week. Not bad for a morning's work. As of yesterday, my house still smells d-e-e-licious.

Oh, recipes, in case you decide you want some yummy, easy soups to warm your soul when the rainy season hits for you. I ran all of these through the blender, but you don't have to do that. They're pretty darned good in their chunky form too. I think the recipes are all on my blog in different places, but here they are again.

Carrot Tomato Soup

Savannah Bisque - perfect because it's made with sweet potato and since you're back in the sweet potato...

Cream of Broccoli - I skipped the rice flakes and threw in a couple of potatoes to thicken the soup this time.

Sure would be nice if I could be eating these soups with you...just sayin'.