Sunday, November 12, 2023

dreary November

 The sky wept icy grey tears, obliterating all colour, masking the point where the ground meets the sky. Everything inside and outside seemed to be different shades of the same drab grey. Nothing like a monochrome snowy day to invigorate (heavy sarcasm)...


By yesterday the snow was all gone and the skies had cleared (well, mostly)! Yesterday the wind howled. Today a sunny sky and lack of windchill tempted me out of the house and into the field with the dogs - by the time we were most of the way to the east edge, my coat was hanging off my shoulders and I could feel the sun's warmth on my back. Lovely and a bit motivating 😀 


Last Sunday we celebrated with big unctuous bowls of spaghetti carbonara - or my version of it which is a meld between that and spaghetti cacio e pepe… in other words, I add bacon and skip the egg! Cause what isn't better than bacon! I set the table with a cloth from Rome and candle sticks from Morano, dim the lights and put on music. It sets the stage for an evening of reminiscing about our trips :-) 


Monday we had supper at Trudie & Leo's… years ago, our visits with them would last far into the night but these days we rarely make it to eight pm! 


Tuesday I was up early to take Mom to her radiation appointment. She's been taking herself most days but I try to go on the day she meets with the doctor. Then we met up with Kirsten for a trip to Ikea :-)  The restaurant was having technical difficulties so it didn't open for almost 2 hours which gave us plenty of time to look at absolutely everything! I scoped out a new sofa for the camper and was tempted by a plethora of storage and organizing options… be still my heart! Such fun!


I have dreams of revamping the decor of the trailer with wallpaper (the dingy beige is yuck), removing the window treatments (except the blinds) , maybe replacing them with light airy curtains instead of the heavy synthetic tan ones, and replacing some of the furniture. Of course this will never happen as I am both too lazy to do the work and too cheap to spend the money. But it's nice wintertime dreaming ;-)


Wednesday Carm and I had our annual visits with our doctor - yes we actually have a real family doctor… he did ask me if I was being followed by a psyc doctor - when I said no, he commented that fewer doctors are going that route. Luckily for me I got sick almost 20 years ago when the situation wasn't so dire. Although even back then it was hard to find one taking new patients, but luckily, my family doctor was able to refer me to Dr. Beck who I'd seen years before. He still had my records as a patient and since I was 'on the books' took me back. I live in a certain amount of fear that I'll have a setback and will be on my own…


Friday we got jabbed for flu and covid! Strangely, even though we were busy many of the days, it seemed that the week took forever to end. The dreary weather didn't help…


As I was puttering around the kitchen this morning making a lentil soup for lunch, I wondered… how many hours in a year do I spend making food? What would we do if I didn't enjoy cooking? What else would I do with all that time? It's one of those jobs that is never done… Sisyphus comes to mind except instead of a giant rock it's a cutting board and a knife. And then there are the dishes! Carm does the lion's share but when I'm cooking I usually wash as I go - it's amazing how many bowls are required to make a cake!


Yesterday I was looking for something new to cook - I had 2 Italian sausages and some potatoes that needed using up - after an internet search I settled on sausage potato casserole. Not exactly healthy fare, especially with cream of mushroom soup and cream… but it was surprisingly good and easy enough to make.



Awesome!


“cranberry cake”

“sausages and potatoes”

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