25 days away

 This afternoon I harvested what is surely the last of my sage! We've had temps down to -10C and yet it soldiers on. I rescued 2 pumpkins from Mom's yard - we got them cut up and roasted so now I have a freezer full of pumpkin! 

Even though we had a trip to the bloodletters this morning, I felt a bit like cooking and I'd put aside some of that pumpkin that I wanted to use quickly... I'd saved a recipe that sounded good but after a quick read of the reviews, decided that it would need some help. So from bland to a lovely, slightly spicy, pumpkin sage chickpea soup topped with crispy bacon & sage. It was quite good!

It's been a busy few days! Friday we had lunch at Jo Ellen & Don’s (thanks!) followed by an expedition to Costco (it was a zoo). As usual, Lupa was frantic when we got home - I didn't review the video to see if there was any howling but I imagine there was.

Saturday morning, exactly one month from Christmas, I drove into town to help Mom decorate the tree! By help, I mean sitting watching, occasionally jumping up to hang on to her as she climbed the stepstool, stepping onto the arm of the sofa, teetering as she stretched out to reach the highest bough. That's my Mom!

Trudie & Leo came for supper Sunday so I got busy in the kitchen. I'd planned a traditional Italian Sunday supper - spaghetti with a homemade tomato sauce with some meatballs and riblets on the side. Instead of garlic bread (which is really North American anyway), I made some garlic knots - bready twists with garlic butter. 

For dessert I made pumpkin muffins with almond flour - I was a bit stunned as I had skipped breakfast, so I fumbled the measuring cup of maple syrup, not once, not twice, but three times. Yikes! And it gets worse! After ten minutes in the oven, I suddenly realized that I forgot to add the chocolate chips and cranberries - I pulled the tray from the oven and quickly sprinkled on some chocolate chips. It is slightly ironic as the reason I'd chosen this recipe is because I thought it would be a reasonably healthy protein rich quick breakfast that would hopefully reduce brain fog...

Awesome!

“decorating the tree with Mom”

“Greek on Wheels”

“the nurse finding my vein right away with only one jab”

“seeing Jupiter just to the side of the moon at 4 am”

harvesting herbs

 Blech! Still grey! There was a time that I thought to repaint the great room grey and add more grey 'things'... alas, I did add a few grey things but LUCKILY we didn't repaint as I know now that it would have created a space that is depressing all the time, not just when we are socked in with low clouds!

We just replaced the cover on the squishy loveseat with another grey one and now I wish I had gone with another colour… so I'll be stuck with that for a few years…

Same with the camper… I thought that I'd go grey with the new sofa but now I know that it would be too dark and dreary - I want to lighten that space up, not dim it…

Yesterday I talked about all Mom's appointments, but I didn't mention that Graham has been bringing Mom to many of her radiation appointments - it's great that she has that support at home. As of tomorrow she'll be 76% done! (yes, we are counting the days!)

I harvested some more herbs today! Parsley, sage, and oregano are very hardy! We've had nights well below freezing but still they soldier on… I think I got the last of it today. It got chopped and thrown into the lentil soup that I made for lunch. We've been having a proper lunch for a few weeks now - lots and lots of lentils and tons of vegetables gives us a head start on our day. So much fibre… it takes at least 45 minutes to get it into the pot so I make a big batch to have servings for a few days.

Tonight we had a nice supper with Pat. After supper we cosied up to watch a few episodes of the Orville!

Awesome!

“harvesting herbs in the snow”

“getting a good nights sleep”

“grass crispy with frost”

“leftover gravy with bits of meat - amazing on fries! Almost a poutine”

in a fog

 I've been trying for 10 minutes to write the first paragraph of this post, but alas, I just can't come up with anything that makes me happy. I think my brain is as grey and dreary as the day is - after an evening of freezing rain, followed by some snow, we are left with clouds that have sunk to ground level obliterating the horizon as well as any good cheer.

It's been one and a half weeks since I last wrote… Not only has my muse left me, she slammed the door in my face!

I guess it's all been the usual stuff with the odd appointment with Mom thrown in. Last week I took Mom to her various Wednesday appointments, then Carm and I took a trip to Costco on Thursday (always more expensive when I go!), first dropping off Mom and Dad to the hospital for their appointments. On Friday I joined up with Kirsten to take Mom to her 3 appointments - we made it a bit of a girls day :-) 

So many appointments for all of us!

Mom has 9 radiation treatments left (out of 30) - we are counting down the days. She's not able to eat solids so has been living on meal replacement drinks - of course the weight is sliding off her :-(  I need to nag her! 

We picked up two little fake Christmas trees for the front deck but they looked bare with just fairy lights - a trip to Dollarama fixed that! Some pretty red balls to the rescue! The trees are a bit on the small side but a big improvement over the empty urns…

Sunday Kirsten and Shawn came for lunch, then Monday morning I got a haircut (Jessica). In the afternoon I went to Mom and Dad's to spend the night. Kirsten came too so it was a fun family evening. We took Graham to his MRI appointment late Monday night, then were up early to take Mom to her radiation appointment and visit with her radiologist oncologist. Mom and I went to her hairdresser while Kirsten took Dad for a fun shopping outing. I was anxious to get home as the freezing rain and snow were bearing down on us. I'm getting less stressed about driving but was on the edge of a freakout at the thought of driving in freezing rain…

I've been reading a bit more lately but I'm thinking now that the horribly written book that I just finished reading sucked all the intelligence from my brain. I won't name the book/author but will say that she's had countless best sellers… If I were teaching a creative writing class I would use this book as an example of how telling the story is not as effective as showing the story. It's so repetitive. The last book I read (Girl in Pieces) was the opposite. It was a gripping book that told the story of a girl in a mental health crisis. It made me think and maybe gain compassion which is the best one could ask for in a book!

Last week (or was it the week before?), I made a white bean, sausage, and sweet potato stew which has become one of my favourites - it's super easy and with a few herbs gleaned from the garden (yes, as late as Sunday I was harvesting sage, oregano, and parsley!), is a tasty supper filled with healthy things, excluding the sausage of course!

Awesome!

“my sister”

“cinnamon cake”

“the sun when it shows up”

“getting through a blog post even though my brain is in a fog”