Don’t really know why I’ve had the blues lately. Must be the weather. Today the tornado sirens started sounding off practically in my ear as I sat here checking my email. When they finally stopped I noticed something strange thru my curtains, so I opened them a bit and saw some strange yellow stuff outside. It took me a few minutes to remember what it was. Sunshine! Seems like we’ve had clouds and rain for so many days I just didn’t remember what the sun looked like.
 Don and Norita came to visit today. Since Don has my POA, he comes to pick up the bills that are sent to me instead of going straight to him, mainly the phone bill, so while he is either working on that or just vegging out in a recliner, Norita and I visit. She has done such wonders for Don since they married, 20 years ago in two weeks. It’s hard to believe they’ve been married that long, but Norita is the best thing that ever happened to Don. She’s a great cook, so he no longer cleans out his co-workers refrigerators, or mine either, for that matter. And he hasn’t had an accident since he settled down. For that alone I love her more and more every day. And I loved her for herself even before that.
I had a talk with Santa this afternoon. I’ll even have some photos of him later next month. He lives on my floor. Really. Would I make that up? I can’t remember his real name, but when he first moved in here one of the other ladies and I were laughing at how much he resembled Santa Claus, and today I discovered that for the past six years he has been the Santa at the Mall every year. Funny. He’s only lived here about four months, and I’ve talked to him maybe four times, but always just considered him to be one of the bikers in the town. He is one of the bikers, one of the good ones who make the Santa runs every Christmas, and all of the other charity runs every year, but I never dreamed he actually walked the walk at the Mall at Christmas. Should have guessed, because of his beard and long white hair, which he admitted he has to keep lightening, since his roots are red.
Now what else? Went down to pick up some Panera bread after Don and Norita left. Not much of a selection, but at least there were some slices that I can toast for breakfast, or for a grilled cheese sandwich. Panera brings us their leftover bread every Sunday, and since there are two buildings, we have to share which building gets first pickings. This week we were second, so there wasn’t much choice left. But, I do love their bread, and it can be stuck in the microwave and brought back to freshness I can enjoy it for several days, then use any that is left over for my own bread crumbs. Really? Why pay a lot of money to the grocery store when it’s so easy to make your own?
Think I’m ready to work on my afghan for a while now, and then get some sleep. And pray the sun is shining again tomorrow. And maybe put some pumpkin and other stuff in the crock pot to make soup overnight. I have several recipes for pumpkin soup, so I can take the things I like from each of them and hopefully make a yummy meal or ten.
A.
Angie's Place 
I adore pumpkin soup with toasted pumpkin on top! Do you use fresh pumpkin or canned? I am lazy and so I use canned. I am a sun persona too. The sun shines all the time in AZ where I lived for 7 years and in India. It not only brightens my day but my disposition. Now back in New York, and it is November and there are gray days , one after another!
Used to use canned, but this year I’m using fresh pumpkin. I’ve always been a bit afraid of it before, this year feeling refreshed and energized. Probably the change in diet to farm to table produce.
Well, maybe I will try some fresh. I do use fresh butternut squash because there isn’t ‘t any in cans ! Were you in the tornados ths weekend? Do you mind telling me what state you live in ?
We had sirens going off on Sunday afternoon, but they stopped and the sun came out all at the same time. I’m in Owensboro, KY. It’s located in the Greater Ohio River Valley, and we are known nation wide for having the most allergens in the world. My daughter told me she heard from a doctor in Philadelphia that he knew about Owensboro. She lives in Frankfort, KY and swears she can tell the minute she passes the county line that her sinuses start acting up. Everybody in this area has sinus problems. No one I know of ever escapes them.
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Annet: After the fight I had with my fresh pumpkins, I now advise go with the canned. I had to take a rubber mallet to hammer the knife thru the pumpkins, and even then the cleanup was a disaster. Taste was great, soup was great, but on reflection, if anyone had been there to watch me banging away at the knife with the mallet I would have been taken off to the funny farm immediately.
You write such vivid and funny posts….brighten my day!
Thanks Annet. Right now I’m doing a series on my crazy family, and the memories from their past. Fun, but I’ll be glad when they are over. I think I’m doing it more for my cousins than for myself, because they all loved a photo I put on FB of my three uncles in uniform during WWII. Then started looking for a recipe in the family cookbook, read a couple of the stories in there, and realized/remembered where the fun came from. My crazy uncles. My aunts were/are all Victorian, so not much wit in that department, but my Uncles….oh my. And my dad was just as bad, so I got it from both sides of the family. But…better to laugh at yourself than cry over spilt milk. I’m glad you enjoy my posts. Angie
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That is funny..this blog started not as a journal but my writing for my children and their children. I think it was a need to leave something of me for later generations to know if they cared to. I had no idea that anyone would bother to read what tales I told. It is astonishing. It is still small compared to lots of other blogs , but I am very happy writing and. Tonight one of my favorite students was at choir,. I hadn’t seen her in ages. She said… “I would know your voice anywhere!’ I have this southern small , voice that babies and dogs like!
Mine started as a way to remember the things that happen to me also. I started out trying to write a book, and have continued writing a few pages a day, but find that blogging is easier. I can remember the things that happen to me, and while writing about them really find the humor in it. I really have fun with the page, and it is mostly about me just being me. Don’t really care if others read it or not. Well, truthfully, I do care. Not many followers, and can’t seem to get thru to people on FB that if they want to leave comments they should put them on the post, not on FB, because I don’t always go to FB that much any more, but can’t seem to get the point across, so I’ll just keep writing for myself, and if others enjoy it, I’m glad they do. I had hoped my children would read it, but I don’t think any of them do, but I consider it their loss. It just helps me deal with my MS, and that’s all that really counts for me. Thanks for your kind words Anne. Angie
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Writing is very cathartic so there you go…write for yourself. That is sort of what I did. I wanted to write but knew I wouldn’t keep up a diary sort of journal. I have had fun writing on things that interest me. One blogger, bless his heart, said it got boring when I was writing on the south of India. I was writing on things I thought I should but heavens didn’t want to be boring. The kiss of death already. No one else has called it boring so I guess I have figured that out!
I certainly don’t find it boring. I love history, and have an Indian friend, and it’s fascinating to me to be able to learn more about her country. She got a better job in Texas, so left KY several years ago, but we had so much fun together, when she wasn’t scaring me out of my wits with her driving. But I am now writing for myself, have very few followers, but it’s just for me so that is accomplishing what I set out to do. At the moment the posts are for my cousins, and they are reading them on FB, but putting their posts there, so I have to visit there to see what they say occasionally. I’m always astounded when someone else reads what I write and likes it, so maybe some day I will get more followers, but for now am content with things the way they are, except for my Windows Explorer, which keeps shutting down on me, giving me twenty kinds of fits. I’ll be giving up my “fast” access internet next week, and going for the regular dial up, so that may solve some issues. If not I’ll switch to Firefox or some other carrier. Will have to ask my brothers, who all seem to be computer geeks about it, or one of my grandkids. I have had several cousins tell me they never knew I had a sense of humor before, but that’s because I have such a soft voice, while everyone else in the family have loud ones that I have never had a chance to speak before. I finally figured that one out too.
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I’ve never traveled much, only to Germany and Austria one time. Hate to fly. I guess I believe if God wanted me to fly he would have given me wings. I have a problem with altitude also, scared stiff. But this time of year in Kentucky, and all winter, we don’t see the sun very much. Lots of ice, but after the strange summer we had, I’m wondering what kind of winter we’ll have this year. I’m not very fond of winter sun, since it’s so low in the sky, but it’s still much better than clouds and rain, and especially tornado sirens.
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I’m sorry, I thought I had already told you this. I live in Owensboro, KY, located in a nowhere spot in the Greater Ohio River valley. No interstates, but a lot of pretensions on our dear leaders that we are going somewhere other than downhill. We do have a wonderful river front area, and an International Barbecue Festival every year on the riverfront, that actually brings in people from Europe, plus some of the worlds best Bluegrass music, including the Bluegrass museum, but without the Interstates in the area we will never get ahead of other smaller cities in this part (western) of the state.
Oh you did but this was more detailed. I absolutely adore BBQ. I am pretty much a vegetarian except for pork….silly really but my southern childhood! Saw Hunger Games…very good movie! Tired ….
I love BBQ also, and pork is my favorite too. We mostly do chicken in the family, and it’s okay with the family secret sauce, but the white meat is too dry for me to swallow, and the dark is all dried out before the white is done, so the pork is best. I do pulled pork at home in my crock pot, and love it with my watermelon pickles and fresh tomatoes. And when one of the cousins brings me a chicken I pull the meat and add the sauce to it, and can eat it that way, with the pickles and tomatoes. I’m mostly a fish eater though. I love fish. And of course, being from KY, deep fried catfish is the kind we love the most, although I do love salmon, tuna, practically all kinds except for shellfish. The only shellfish I like is shrimp. But without the fish, I’m more vegetarian every day, especially since I invested in the farm to fork share last summer.
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Great post, Angie! I’m glad you got some sunshine today.
Thanks Sarah. It was really great seeing the sun, even if it was just for the last hour of daylight. So much rain this week. Love you.