Tag Archives: fall colors

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, Gratitude, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s been a while since I posted on Thursday, so I thought today would be a good day to do so.

I’m thankful this fall weather is so beautiful. Since I was born in the fall, I think fall is my favorite season. The colors around the yard and almost everywhere are full of yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. We haven’t gotten to planting the Chinese pistachio yet, but this weekend it’ll happen. I’m planning to put some of B’s ashes in the bottom of the hole since this is his memorial tree.

I’m thankful this week I’ve had a nice swim and a workout at the gym. I had to wait a bit for a lane, but then I got the lane nearest the stairs, which is my favorite lane.

I’m thankful, as always, for my two wonderful children. They help me out whenever they can. My daughter has become quite the handy person around here, fixing all kinds of things. The gutter she fixed now works well to drain the water in the right direction. My son comes over and does little things, too. He’s coming over on Saturday to take another load to the dump. This time it’s all the old scrap wood. So I appreciate he takes the time to help out here. I can understand now why people move to condos or just places with no or little maintenance. I know I probably couldn’t stay here if it was just me.

This weekend time changes, and I’m not thankful for that, but I’ll get used to it eventually. I guess it being light earlier will be nice, but dark at 5…(: 😦 It’s currently 6:30 and still dark. I’m going to wait a few more minutes to go for a walk.

Fall colors

Posted in bread, California, cooking, home stuff by

Here’s a sampling of fall colors around our house.

Rubi parked for the winter.

one last iceberg rose.

Mr. Chester in the sunroom.

I’ve been having a terrible time getting my sourdough right. I’m not sure if it’s the weather(cooler) or what. But I finally decided to go back to the expert, Tartine. And it came out perfect. It is more work and more involved than no knead but worth it.

Today, I’m going to get an x-ray of my knee. The doctor said possibly arthritis but I said well, I certainly didn’t have any symptoms before I fell off the step ladder. He concurred it could be a meniscus tear. Hopefully just resting it will make the difference. I got the compression knee thing yesterday and it does help. I do plan on going to the gym but only to do upper-body weights. No treadmill yet.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, home stuff, Uncategorized by

A bit cloudy this morning and I think we’re supposed to get some sprinkles. The leaves are holding on though and all the Japanese maples are turning shades of red. The oaks are golden yellow.

I’ve been off walking since I hyper-flexed my knee again. (That was Friday). Dr. L said it wasn’t dex so that was a relief. The most I can get is when I fell off the step stool I tore the meniscus and that is what is still causing the knee and muscle pain. I have an appt with the PC to check it out. There doesn’t seem to be much you can do but keep wearing a brace and let it heal. I’ve got a compression sleeve coming tomorrow. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday but our PO sucks and doesn’t always deliver and says pick up at office. I read that walking is good for it overall and I’m gue botheredssing swimming. What I can’t do is twist or hyperflex.It does seem odd that I’ve been walking ,swimming etc and not much has bothered me till just the other morning. Oh well, getting old is not for the faint hearted that’s for sure.

Yesterday, I made a homemade chicken noodle soup. I had that for lunch and dinner. The I prepped the cheese nut loafs for Thanksgiving. I had made the brown rice the day before( you want it cold when you mix the ingredients). Then added all the ingredients and baked in 2 loaf pans. So there’s quite a bit to have for Thanksgiving and whenever. Tonight I’ll serve some slices with gravy as a pretest. I have 2 small jars of cranberry sauce left over from last year so I want to use those before I use the ones I just made. As I said before, Thanksgiving is going to be dex day so I need everything ready for the fam to cook. We’re not big dessert people so, that can just be whatever maybe a Costco pie.

I finished the kitchen zone with B doing all the higher shelves. He just finished washing the linen sheets, and I just need to do tidy up in the living room.

some photos

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This is the view out the ‘front’ish’door. By that I mean no one can ever really figure out that this is the front door as the driveway comes around to a fence and then thru the fence is the ‘front door’. This house sits oddly to the driveway so confusing.

This is one of the many Japanese maples my daughter has planted. Probably long after I’m dead these will be nice and big. The color is better in the sun.

This is looking out to the front yard and to the left you can see the big Japanese maple. That on is 25 years old( planted when we moved her). So that’s why the reference to the above one. 🙂

Another shot of the front.

Here’s the bowl with the nut loaf mixture.

This is the base of the nut loaf, brown rice, walnuts, later you add the cheese and cottage cheese and eggs as a binder.

This is the mushroom onion mix with the herbs.

I use cheddar cheese but you could really add any cheese you have.

I actually generally use a regular loaf pan but this time I used these so we could have the second one at another time.

I serve with all the regular sides, green beans, potatoes, etc. Then I make a tamari gravy as none of us like turkey/ chicken gravy plus then B wouldn’t have it. But even with turkey we make the tamari gravy, we just like the flavor better.

This the view from my sitting area( the room where we re-did the pine floor).

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, cooking, Flylady, husband, Myeloma, Uncategorized, Walking by

It seems the craziness continues with the trump supporters and him still not conceding even though there is no way for him to get the electoral votes. His malfeasance just continues in some downward spiral of an alternate reality. I still think his mental illness will catch up to him at some point.

This morning I made some banana pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. We’re still getting lots of eggs. I tried selling them but got no takers so now I’m just giving them away for free. It’s ok. It’s a small way to give to someone who needs them. I used one pack of the frozen ones(scrambled) and they were great. Actually, I don’t know if I could tell the difference. So I did a few more bags and popped them in the freezer. The girls will slow down once there are fewer daylight hours and it’s colder.

Our walks have been lovely and no sign of the ‘jerk’ dog walker. Either he’s getting there really early or something’s up with him because I figured we would have at least crossed his path in the last two weeks but we haven’t. But it’s really really nice to not have his frenetic energy there. Also, since it’s so pleasant we’ve increased our walk time to 45 minutes so that’s a plus.

All the tree leaves are turning shades of gold, yellow, red, and orange. This is one of the more colorful falls we’ve had in recent memory. I remember one year when we had a serious frost early and all the trees just turned brown and that was it. I’m guessing that because the temperatures have been warm the sap flowing helped with the color change. Any scientists out there that can give a scientific answer???

I’ve got some Tartine sourdough in the oven and then I’m going to finish cleaning up the kitchen. I’ve been freezing leftover slices of bread since we don’t go thru that much bread and when we want a slice for toast I just take it out of the freezer. I also just made some parmesan croutons with some end pieces.

This week is the bathroom zone if you’re following Flylady.

I still have a few weeks before my next labs( first week of December) so that’s kinda nice to jsut put it out of my mind for now. Barclay will need another IGIV soon but he’ll do that in Roseville as it’s half the distance. He’s going off a few more drugs (yay)and will finally be getting his pneumonia vaccine. He’s going to have talk to his doctor about his chronic fatigue and see what options there are. I know of a few myeloma patients that use Ritalin for increased energy but I’m not sure what his doctor will think. Also a serotonin reuptake(like zoloft) may help his low energy and meloncholy. I’m not sure what his options are but he can talk to his doctor or the NP next time and check it out.