Moving Into Fall Mode

46 this morning,  mostly cloudy and a chilly breeze all day. Barely reached 60. Still dry as dust.

I have to admit, I am enjoying this cool weather. We even had a nice fire in the fireplace last night. Larry has gone over the stoves to be sure they are in working order. We may not need them yet, but it is good to have them ready when we do.

What have I been doing? Well, last week was a blur of getting furniture ready for the booths . We worked at both places Friday and Saturday, getting things in place. It all looks pretty nice. I will post a few photos of the Ripley booth, but forgot to take any at Ravenswood. 

And since then? Would you believe working on furniture? I have 2 big projects still ongoing, the dining set and a large antique kitchen base cabinet. 

But I have been busy with garden things too. I weeded and have had to water flowerbeds, so odd for this time of year. We are still getting a lot of squash so I made another squash casserole, which takes quite a bit of time---but so delicious. I also tried a new recipe that uses chard and kale and it is a definite keeper. Here it is with baked potato and venison in rosemary and mushroom sauce.

I have been studying about potassium too since my blood test last week said mine was low. Thats one reason for the chard and kale dish! Both are high in potassium. I am figuring out what foods have high values and making sure I eat some of them every day. I also stopped a diuretic I was taking, because it flushes potassium out of the body. It was keeping my blood pressure too low too, so I am feeling a lot better and much less tired now. I could not figure out why I was so exhausted lately! Now I know.

I got a lovely letter in the mail yesterday from a man who had bought a county history book from me on eBay.  He us trying to locate information for his family tee. I have to admit, I spent a good hour or more hunting through other books I have, looking for references to his ancestor, but no luck.

We are still getting veggies from the gardens although they are dwindling. A few tomatoes, a pepper here and there, and kale, chard, parsley, chives, and celery are all doing well. I planted some lettuce a couple weeks ago and it is growing pretty well. The onions and garlic I put in are a mess because my cat keeps digging in that nicely tilled dirt. They will look like they've been sowed! 

No food preservation lately except for a rabbit Larry shot when it was in the garden, and today I froze another dozen eggs. I also finally mixed up my own lemon ginger tea mix. I bought the needed herbs and spices a year ago! I was looking for something else in the big pantry cupboard and saw the bags I'd bought and decided to just get it done. 

It came out wonderfully flavorful and spicy, even better than what I have been buying. I admit, I totally rifled from the Yogi Teas list of ingredients.  The surprise in the list was black pepper. There is also, in addition to ginger, licorice root, lemongrass, dried lemon peel, and peppermint. I made enough to last me a year, I am pretty sure. This is my every- morning tea, so having my own mix is going to save me about 50% of the cost if buying the Yogi brand. My granddaughter gave me some fillable teabags which will be perfect to use for this tea, or I can use a teaball.

I have not been reading lately, and need to get back to it. We watched a few disappointing movies lately, although one called A Smile As Big As the Moon was wonderful, about the first special ed class to go to NASA's Space Camp. And another, Dark Horse, a fascinating documentary about a village in Wales that decided to breed a racehorse, was well worth watching.

So slowing down gradually and settling into Fall. I am sure we will have more hot weather, but these cool days have been a blessing, one we are really enjoying.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.