Goals for the Week of September 13-19, 2015

Spiritual
     ABF/Church
     Daily Bible Reading
     Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Physical
     WW breakfast 5 days
     Exercise DVD 5 days
     Water

Quilting: Finish quilting blocks on baby quilt

Reading:
     1776 by David McCullough
     Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson 
     Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash
     The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia S. Fenollera 

Cooking
     Shrimp Jambalaya 
     Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
     Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
     Peanut Butter Cookies

Home
     Clean out cabinets under the kitchen sink
     One more section of closet

Personal
     Make hotel reservations for BHS Class of 1965

Around OakMeadows

We have had several unseasonably cool days and what blessed relief it has been. Many years the first weeks in September are in the upper 90s or low 100s so a high of 84 is much appreciated.  I just grieve over the drought and horrible fires in beautiful California. Will the drought there ever end?

I am making some progress on the baby quilt. I am hoping to get the blocks in the center finished this week and start quilting the borders next week. 

I have 3 books going and all are just excellent. Few Eggs and No Oranges is a diary kept by Vere Hodgson in London during World War II. It is so interesting to read about the bombing during the Blitz. The thing she writes most about is how tired everyone is from the sleepless nights.  One thing that strikes me is how everyone just tried to keep everything going. I wonder if we would do nearly as well today?

The migrant/refugee situation in Europe is truly awful. I can certainly understand why people from war torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and a dozen other countries would want to escape to Europe. But, I have to wonder how such large numbers of people from a vastly different culture will assimilate into their new home. There was an interesting article in the NYT about the coming genocides as climate change makes more and more people migrate for one reason or another.  What on earth happens as Bangladesh becomes more and more uninhabitable from sea level rise--where will they go? India, not likely. What a situation!

Politics: I like Bernie Sanders and hope he gets the nomination. If Hillary gets the nomination, I will vote for her but with considerably less enthusiasm. She seems almost as paranoid as Richard Nixon. The Republican candidates couldn't get more bizarre if they tried. 

We had dinner with T&C Saturday evening at Taste of Texas.  I love everything on the menu. One of my favorite things is their Stuffed Mushroom appetizer. I think that was what did me in. By the time we got home, things were not pleasant and I spent the next several hours in the bathroom. The next day I had crackers and Coke over ice and got to feeling much better.  

Joe is talking about retiring completely next June. He is still working 2 days a week.  I certainly have no objections but in all honesty, I think he will miss the interaction with colleagues. But he will be 69 years old and he does tire more easily although he won't admit it. 

We want to take a Mediterranean cruise but we won't be able to do it next spring because we want T&C to come with us. She is trying to get a TDY in Washington and won't be able to take vacation time while there.  So I guess we are back to going to Yellowstone as we originally planned. 

That's all the news from OakMeadows where the cats eat Fancy Feast and the people wash their dishes.  

September Around OakMeadows

I had a bout of insomnia last night. I tried listening to the radio, listening to an audio book, listening to a Dave Ramsey podcast; I tried laying in bed, I tried my comfy chair, I thought about trying the recliner but thought it too much trouble. I finally slept from 12:30 to 1:30 and from 2:30 to 5am. Well, the good thing is that I don't have to go to work and could take a nap from 11am to 1pm. What I 
wouldn't give for a good night's sleep!

We had a 50% chance of rain today but it never did rain. The clouds helped keep things relatively cool for August.  There were a few mosquitoes this morning when I went out to clean and fill the birdbaths and set out the sunflower seed and peanuts for the birds. We are trying to keep seed in the feeders that the blackbirds can't get into but the cardinals can. I'm not sure just how effective this is.  But in the spring and fall we have flocks of blackbirds migrating through and they can clean out a feeder in no time at all. 
We have 2-3 hummingbirds at our feeder.  They also feed on the bottlebrush bushes of which we probably have 30. I change the sugar water in the feeder every Friday which reminds me that I need to make a fresh batch.  


We had a beautiful rainbow this morning in the north:

I had to stop reading The Great Divide by Matt Taibbi because it was just too depressing.  I don't doubt at all what he is saying about the difference in how the poor are treated by the criminal justice 
system and how the Wall Street white-collar criminals are treated but it was just too upsetting to read 412 pages of it. 

JMM brought home hamburgers for dinner because I had no energy for cooking. 

Fantastic Frittatas

I love frittatas! There are a million ways to make them. Here's one of my favorites. 

Frittata with Asparagus, Ham, and Gruyere

6 large eggs, lightly beaten 
1/2 cup shredded Gruyere 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces Asparagus, trimmed of tough ends and cut on to bias into 1/4 inch pieces
2 ounces deli ham, sliced 1/4 inch thick, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. 
Whisk together the eggs, Gruyere, salt and pepper. 
Heat oil in a 10-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium heat until shimmering. 
Add the onion, asparagus, and ham and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. 
Add the eggs and parsley, cook about 1 minute. 
Gently pull the cooked eggs back from one edge of the skillet and tilt the pan, allowing any uncooked egg to run to the edge of the skillet. Repeat this process, working around the skillet until the egg on top is mostly set but still moist, 1-2 minutes. 
Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the frittata top is set and dry to the touch, about 3 minutes. 
Run a spatula around the skillet edge to loosen the frittata and invert it onto a serving plate. Let stand 3-4 minutes before serving. 

September Meditation

Autumn....the year's last, loveliest smile. 

     William Cullen Bryant

September Poetry

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 

Goals for Week of September 6-12, 2015

Spiritual 
     ABF/Church
     Daily Bible Reading
     Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Physical
     Healthy Breakfast
     Exercise DVD
     Water

Quilting: Work on baby quilt

Reading
     1776 by David McCullough
     Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph Lash
     Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson 

Cooking
     Applesauce Raisin Spice Cake
     Corned Beef Hash, Cream style corn
     Chicken-Rice Bake
     Beef and Bok Choy

Home
     Finally finish sorting through VCR tapes and DVDs
     Do one more section of closet

Personal
     Buy birthday present for DD
     Birthday dinner for DD