Soup's On

Time to light the pumpkin candle and set the stage for a cozy fall day spent at home.

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What better thing to do on a cozy fall day than make soup. . . Roasted Squash & Apple Soup to be exact.

Ingredients:

1 (2-1/2 lb.) butternut squash, peeled, seeded & cut into 2 inch pieces

2 medium onions, peeled & quartered

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & quartered

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Coarse salt

Chile powder for seasoning (optional)

4 cups vegetable stock

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large roasting pan, toss squash, onions, garlic & apples with oil to coat. Season well with salt and chile powder. Roast, stirring every 10 minutes until vegetables are fork tender and lightly browned, about 40 minutes.

Transfer half the vegetables& 2 cups stock to a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Repeat with remaining vegetables and broth. Return pureed mixture to pot, thinning soup with stock, if necessary. Season with salt and chile powder. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Serve immediately.

I think the hardest part of this recipe is cutting & peeling the butternut squash. To make it a bit easier I cut a small slice off the side of the squash so that it sits flat on the cutting board ( no more rolling around).


Then I carefully cut it into slices. Butternut squash has a very thick skin and I have visions of losing a fingertip whenever I cut them up. Maybe that's because last Thanksgiving I did get a pretty good slice in my finger while doing this. I am trying to be more careful now, but if anybody out there has a great tip for cutting up squash, I'm all ears.

Hmmm . . . now for the really exciting part of my cooking. If you've seen Rachael Ray cook then you are familiar with her "garbage bowl" idea. I think that is a great tip, but I use a grocery bag instead. It's a great way to get rid of those many bags that threaten to take over the house and when I'm done I tie up the mess and toss it out. No bowls to wash.

The apples and vegetables are cut up. Let the roasting begin.

Mmmm. . .

Looking Good

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Tasting Even Better

Now to finish off my cozy day I'm going to light my little pumpkin light

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find a good book to curl up with.

So, until we meet again . . .

Happy Fall Y'all

October Blessings

October has come . . .

It will soon be time for tricks & treats and a host of costumed children to come calling.




The air has gotten cooler . . .

The humidity has hit the trail ( yipeee!!!). . .

The garden is changing colors.

The dogwoods are turning red ~ the swamp sunflowers are in their glory & of course, so are the mums. This is their time to shine.

Even the butterflies are getting in the October spirit ~ donning their orange & black apparel.

October is a great month for

open windows

pulling up the blanket at night

taking long walks through the falling leaves

soups, stews, chili, sloppy joes, homemade bread, pies. . .

How about a little football??

Raking leaves . . . don't forget to jump in the pile.

A wooden bowl filled with gourds and set in the middle of your kitchen table.

Drinking warm spiced cider or a nice hot cup of tea ~ my favorite for this time of year is Constant Comment.

And perhaps best of all is someone to share the joys of October with.

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I wish to thank all of you for your comments, thoughts and prayers. When I began blogging I wasn't planning to talk about such heavy things as my last few posts have been. But when these situations arose in my life I found it very difficult to think about anything else. So, it was either I talk about what was really going on in my life or I had nothing to say. I never ever expected to receive the outpouring of support and kindness that you have all given to me. For that I am humbled and thank you. You are the best!!!!

Now, for an update. My husband is home after spending all of last week in the hospital (mostly in intensive care). He is slowly gaining his strength and has been home from work this week. We have enjoyed some walks in the beautiful autumn air, healthy home-cooked meals, chats on the front porch and lots of plans to make a major life style change with as little stress as possible. We are feeling thankful and blessed that he is on the road to recovery.

My Life is Becoming a Soap Opera

While I would love to be showing you pictures of my home all decorated for fall or sharing my recipe for caramel apple cake or even taking pictures of the garden in early fall, life has other plans for me.

In my last post I was feeling good about getting through the stressful time with my Mom. I really appreciated your helpful comments. I even printed them off and cut them out to keep at hand in case stress hit again.

Good thing I did.

I have since had a first hand look at how life can change drastically in an instant.

Last Friday my husband got on an airplane to return home from his business trip in Miami. He was perfectly healthy and felt fine. He fell asleep for part of the flight. Woke up with a stomache which got worse as the day wore on. By 8:00 I decided he needed to go to the ER. He was writhing in pain the whole way. He has been in intensive care since then. The diagnosis is pancreatitis. Most people I tell about this have never heard of it. But those that have say it is extremely painful. So far they have not been able to determine what caused it. He is hooked up to all sorts of tubes and on morphine. It is so sad to see him like this. In our 27 years of marriage he has barely had more than a cold or the flu.

So now, we wait and we pray and we do everything we know how to aid in his healing process. Yes, it would be nice to be assembling fall themed blogs. . . but that will have to wait.



~To everything there is a season~

How Do YOU Handle Stress?

Stress isn't fun. I knew I was facing some serious stress yesterday when I could hardly get up because my body felt like a lead weight and it was hard to catch a breath. Not being able to eat and only drinking a half cup of coffee were sure signs that this was stress like I had never known before. I tried all of the things I could think of to alleviate it but nothing was even touching it. I knew I had to pull myself together because I had to get my Mom to an attorney's office to sign some papers.

I am quickly learning what a horrible disease Alzheimer's really is and my heartfelt sympathies go out to anyone facing it. While my Mom's first few days here seemed to be going well, the third day changed that. The phone call from my Mom wondering who was coming to take her back home to Tennessee was sad enough, but nothing compared to the call I got from the assisted living asking me to come ASAP. The previous night Mom had been hallucinating and trying to escape out the window. The part that really did me in was when she showed me that she had written HELP with her lipstick on the mirror.

In her battle with Alzheimer's Mom has never had those symptoms. I was very worried that her move might bring on a decline as a big change in lifestyle can be very difficult for Alzheimer's patients. I have been with her a lot and am trying everything I can think of to help her feel comfortable.

Anyhow, that is just a little glimpse into what brought on that paralyzing stress. Somehow I did get through it. We got to our appt. and then went out for dinner and to Target for a little shopping. I came back and sat and talked with Mom but it is so sad to have to leave her when she is so confused about everything.

As so often is the case, today has been a much better day. Starting with a shining sun and cooler air with no humidity.

Nothing like fresh air after a long, hot summer!!

What do you do when you are facing a lot of stress? Do you have any secrets that work well in really stressful times?

Here are some of the things that are helping me today

A long walk. It would have been longer, but Peanut was getting tired. I am determined to get that pedometer to 10,000 by days end.

Nature in it's fall splendor.

One beautiful fall leaf picked up on our walk.

Books and magazines that don't require too much deep thinking.

And, of course, a little chocolate always helps.

A few of my friends offered me their tips on managing stressful times ~ chocolate & ice cream seemed to be the most popular.

Happy Birthday Dear Brett!!

Happy Birthday Dear Brett!!

Today is my husband's birthday. He is out of town working hard. He is and has been a small business owner for 18 years. Unfortunately the "recession" has taken a real toll on his business. In an attempt to keep his business going and keep his employees employed he is exploring a new venture this week.

He was my strongest support this weekend in moving my Mom into assisted living. Without his loving support I'm not sure I could have done it. He has been under an incredible amount of stress in his job lately. However with a cheerful disposition he orchestrated the entire weekend and then had to dash out of here to work on this new venture. He must be exhausted but he never complains.

Sunday, after a very busy weekend of moving my Mom he had very little time to pack and get to the airport to leave for his new venture. He did it all with a smile on his face. I wish we could be together to celebrate his birthday. However, when he comes home I am planning to bake him a carrot cake and shower him with attention. He is one of those people that is constantly doing for others and expects nothing in return.

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I hope to be back to regular blogging soon. Thank you for your sweet comments in my absence. All things considered the move went well. I am currently on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. As soon as things stabilize I want to be back to regular blogging. You have no idea how much I crave normalcy.

Falling For My Blog Friends

As we begin a new week I have a few things I'd like to share with you, dear blog friends . . .

First and foremost, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your supportive and sweet comments. I get such warm fuzzy feelings when I read them and really appreciate you taking the time to leave them.

Secondly, I want to share a funny (?) little thing that happened last week. You may remember my recent post about the Eva Cassidy CD I had ordered from Amazon. I could hardly wait for it's arrival. Well, I returned home late one night last week. It was pitch dark as I pulled into the garage. As I was driving in I thought it sounded like something was dragging under the car. But, I didn't feel like I had run over anything. When I got out of the car and looked there was a flattened Amazon box. The UPS driver apparently left it on the ground in the garage door opening. Duhhh!! Brilliant. He always leaves packages on the front porch. Of course when I opened the dilapidated box there was my Eva Cassidy CD. The case was shattered and the CD was all scratched. Boo Hoo - I almost cried. So I am back to listening to Songbird on Heidi's blog. Thank You, Heidi. My dear son has volunteered to take care of this problem.

Lastly, I will be taking a short blog break. If you have been following my blog you know that I am moving my Mom into assisted living this weekend. My brother is flying in on Thursday from California. On Friday he, my husband & I will cross the state line into Tennessee to load up the truck and then on Saturday we will bring Mom and her belongings to North Carolina to begin her new life. These next few days will find me working, finishing up loose ends and spending time making Mom's new home feel like home. I want her to be happy @ home too :-)

Before I go I snuck in a few more little fall vignettes.

Once I know that Mom is settled in I can't wait to get back to blogging. That is when my fall decorating will kick into high gear ~ hopefully it will be a bit cooler then too.

This is what I put on one end of my kitchen island. When you enter the kitchen from any other room or the garage this is the first thing you see. I think it will be a nice fall welcome in the daytime or at night ~ when the candle is lit.

I bought this bowl at a really cute shop in Blowing Rock, NC. If you have never been there I think you would love it. If you have ever read any of Jan Karon's Mitford series books you might be interested to know that she used to live in Blowing Rock and the fictitious town of Mitford is based on the real town of Blowing Rock. Anyhow, the fun thing about this bowl is that I change out the ribbon for the seasons and then add things to coordinate. Like yellow ribbon and Easter eggs for Easter, Christmas ribbon and pine cones at Christmas. The possibilities are almost endless. So much fun to play with.

I will be back as soon as possible. Until then. . . take good care of yourselves and enjoy the beauty of this season.

A Touch of Fall in the Kitchen

As much as I love to decorate my home for fall, it's really hard to become motivated for the task when the thermometer is pushing 90. My days lately have been filled with running around trying to get everything in order for my Mom's move into assisted living on the 12th of this month. Last night after work I went there to meet a furniture delivery man. Of course I waited close to an hour before he arrived. Then, this morning I quickly watered my plants and have been running back and forth to the paint store (5 times). I'm trying to pick out some paint for her bedroom & bathroom. Geez, why is it so hard to get the right shade on the first try???

And then there is this power of attorney matter . . . don't even get me started on that one. If I don't have a nervous breakdown before Mom gets moved in it will be a miracle :-)

By now you are probably wondering where all of this complaining is leading. Well, so am I actually, but I'll make it up as we go along.

When I came home from all of my running around, this is what one of my plants looked like. No, I didn't forget to water this one . . . it is just begging for another drink. I told you it is hot.

So, while I am loving all of the fall decorating going on in blogland, I know that with all that I have going on right now I should just put it out of my head. But, for some reason that is all I want to do. I don't want one more detail packed into my head. I just want to "play house". I suppose it's a nesting thing . . . I suppose I should just tell myself it is way too hot to even contemplate now and I am way too busy to even think about it. Hmmm, all the more reason I want to do it.

So, to try and reach a happy medium and also stay out of the attic where the fall decor is hidden, I went out and plucked a few hydrangeas and sprigs of beautyberry to put on my kitchen counter.

And then I dug my Susan Branch "Autumn" book out and put some apples and cranberries into this jar.

A few apples and pears went into my yellow fall bowl.

I found these hand painted rooster wine glasses at the Goodwill. Couldn't pass them up.




Replaced my watermelon candle with this one and added a fall themed "stopper". I always have a seasonal candle right above my kitchen sink. I keep it there for two reasons ~ I can enjoy the fragrance while washing dishes and cooking and if I know it's always in the same place I don't forget to blow it out at night.

Okay, I feel better now.

Sometimes the small things can make a difference.