Well, those two weeks of summer that made their way up here (and not all at once, mind) are history. Autumn has "officially" arrived (in an unofficial but clearly evident way) and appears to be staying. Fine with me as Autumn is my favorite season. And a summer that was almost fall-like wasn't too bad either. But leaves are tumbling to the ground as if in a hurry to be free now. No occasionally leaf delicately drifting to the ground. It's more like a spray of leaves coming from some big hose in the tree tops. And the weather is sunny, but with a crispness that wasn't there last weekend. The temperature in the house this morning was 62 degrees and I'm thankful that I don't have to stoke a fire to warm the house as I once did in California. A few pokes on the thermostat and warm air is coming out of the registers. Fall is cozy but lively :-)
I'll make some butternut squash soup (roasted with shallots and ginger) later today. Tomorrow we are having our monthly department lunch get-together at work and the theme is "family favorites". I'll be taking the soup. John will be flying off to Cali in the morning and the week will take its usual shape. I'm up to my ears in a project at work with a deadline that is looming large. That will occupy much of my time while he's away.
We had dinner in the 'burg last night with some friends. They suggested a place we have had on our "we should check that out" list for some time; Tizley's Europub. You enter from a small alley and immedicately go up some stairs to the restaurant. It's not very large. There's a small outside eating area when the weather is nice and since it sits right over Front Street, it's probably a nice way to have dinner. We sat inside last evening what with Autumn arriving like it did. The place serves "European" fare: A few Italian dishes, Shepherd's Pie, but primarily it's German and Austrian. And their other claim to fame are the 100 or so beers that they carry. John had his beloved wienerschnitzel (which is not a wiener at all, but a thinly pounded and breaded veal cutlet) as did our friends, so I ordered corned beef and sauerkraut wrapped in a potato crepe to expand the experience a little. I am not a stranger to German food as some of my family roots are there. John was not as comfortable with the warm, slightly vinegary potato salad, but my expert "comfort food" palate found it quite tasty :-) We ended the evening back at our friends' home for dessert and conversation. Lovely.
Since the weather cooperated, John was able to work on the raised garden beds yesterday. He discovered that he is missing one 12-foot piece of wood (his error, not the lumber yard's) and so he will have to get one before he can finish the project. With a bit of luck, next weekend we might be able to get some horse manure from our friends so it can overwinter in the beds. My task as gardener's mate was to throw stones. Literally. It reminded me of a scene in the movie "Cool Hand Luke". Not the one with the eggs. Or the one where he says that oft-quoted line about communicating. It's the scene where he's part of a chain gang whose "job" it is to shovel out the ditch and then fill in the ditch. Yes boss. Before we had the shiny red tractor and trailer, as John dug out the four garden beds earlier this spring he encountered A LOT of stones. The stones ended up in a pile. Some ended up in the wheel barrow which was then too heavy to move (for months). So yesterday the stones were removed. Many were thrown into the bramble nearby. Many more were thrown into the trailer and the shiny red tractor took them into the woods a little ways and set them free. There were, by my conservative estimate, about 100,000 stones. Maybe. It felt like that anyway. I'm pretty certain there were at least 1,000 in some multiple of 10 :-). At any rate, I started as a gardener's mate and ended up as project manager. The plan for future digging and rock harvesting is that the shiny red tractor and trailer will be present at the job site where the stones will be immediately thrown into the trailer and taken to the woods. No more piles. None.
Today I will be a student. I'll get my homework submitted for this week (right after I do it) and I'll get the reading done for next week and think about that assignment. I don't have much (any) time to delve into it during the week, so Sunday is the designated "get the lead out" day to satisfy my overachieving personality defect. That, and our weekly visit to Starbuck's. Yup, a busy day...
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