The Chef and the Surgeon

Back when we were pups–my dear friend Mary Jo and I decided to go Trick or Treating…you know, take the little kids out so they’d be sure to have some mature, adult supervision.

Ah, yes. What humanitarians we were. ALWAYS thinking of the welfare of others…small children…old people…woodland creatures…pet rocks.

{sigh}

Ok…ok.

So, there were a couple of guys up the street and we figured why waste a good excuse to drop by and say a nice, casual, breathy, impromptu, “HIiiiii.”

The kids did make a pretty great smoke screen though.

heh, heh.

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Great Pumpkin Ready…

so to speak.

Look at this photo very carefully. What’s wrong with this picture? Well, other than the fact that it’s a bit blurry–what else is really, REally wrong here? Hmmmm?

Ha! There now. That’s much better.

Daney-boy has told me many times that his favorite memory in the world was when he was little and and came home from school to find the house all decorated for Halloween…just like magic! He missed it even when he was far, far away in Lithuania.

Oh, but now look this direction. Tsk…tsk. Positively dreadful.

Just a few subtle changes…here and there. Would you like to see them up close? Okkkk…try not to be too frightened. {snicker, snicker}

Oh, yeah…

Halloween, Andersonian style…

…the Next Generation.

So Much Autumn

Even though our gorgeous mountains are a bit slow to completely change into their autumn colors, still, there is plenty of evidence that Autumn is weaving all around us.

There are the blue skies that turn into sudden hail storms…

and the crab apples to pick.

Warm “Big  Hunk” hats turning up in the shop…

and juice to make.

Ominous thunder clouds rolling in…


and jam to set.

Cozy reading buddies…

and caramel popcorn to gobble up.

Family reading club books to hide away with…

and a million bottles to store.

Crabby-grape jelly to taste test…

and sweet folks to snuggle with.

So you see, late leaves or not…

we still have tons of hope.

 

Bountiful Baskets

Have you ever heard of Bountiful Baskets? If you have and you know all about it then you  have my permission to ignore me…well, wait, not entirely…but go check out the Crafting Tutorials or something.

But if, like me, you are new to the idea of a food co-op then you may just want to check this out.

Here’s how it goes. You go to the Bountiful Baskets website and scope it out, click around and read the rules.

Next you follow the directions for signing up for the baskets at your location.

Then, on Monday evening at about 8 o’clock–times may vary in your area–you log in to the site…

and order a basket and whatever else you want that they are offering that week–and pay right there online.

The basic basket is $15 and is 50% fruit and 50% vegetables—totally random stuff, differing from week to week.  This week’s also included celery, lettuce and broccoli–but they were already put away–so no picture.

The items you can order separately could be tortillas, 9 grain bread or chewy granola–to name a few.

Then the following Saturday you show up at the prearranged site—with your own empty box or basket and pick up your loot. It’s very cool and kind of exciting to see what will be in the basket each week.

I do, however, have a word or two of warning.

Do not, under any circumstances, push the “ORDER” button more than once–not even if it says the server is down and come back later. Don’t think that you’ll just push the “ORDER” button, oh, say FOUR times because it doesn’t seem to be moving fast enough, or because you want to make sure that it is really, truly working.

Just don’t do it, or you–my friend–could end up with a bigger busload of  fruit and vegetables than even Farmer MacGreggor would know what to do with. And then, you’ll have to figure out how to eat it all…fast.

Don’t bother asking me how I know this…

that would be humiliating.

But if anybody needs a fruit salad–
I’m your girl.

Baby Spooks

I don’t actually remember this particular Halloween, but that’s because I’m the little one in the shot. Laurie was a pink cat or something and Andy was a skeleton. Sweatshirts and masks.

My favorite things are the tiny pumpkins. I always felt sorry for them at the store, because I was afraid they’d be left behind.  To this day, that’s the size I buy.

Don’t you sometimes wish that it could all be this simple again?

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