Maggie Turner: Page by Page

Last weekend Attila started on the insulating the basement project. Monday evening we visited the local lumber yard to order the materials needed to build the stud walls and drywall. Today the materials were delivered. I have taken a lot of deliveries in my time and, with a few exceptions, the delivery fellows, and they have always been fellows, have been courteous and helpful. The delivery man today was exceptional. He was friendly, and helpful above and beyond the bare bones of a delivery. Attila had told me that the drywall could be stacked outside, assuming the delivery people would not bring it into the garage, and I was left a plastic sheet to cover it up in case it rained before he got home. But this young man did not like that idea, and he suggested that the drywall be carried into the garage, which he did for me. Then after he stacked all of the wood on the driveway, he covered it with the plastic sheet and secured the sheet so that the wind could not blow it around. This was a delivery from Home Hardware, and I have got to say that their employees are pretty darn … Continue reading →

Well the weather is not a ray of sunshine today. I am still making the transition from months of being super busy with the garden and food preservation, to the quiet and peaceful passage of short winter days. Bread baking has been of interest lately, several loaves of bread with dried fruit were baked, and consumed entirely by me! I love bread, and particularly bread with dried fruit. It is a bit of a luxury item, but as a sweet treat, it ranks up there with the healthiest. Bread here at Mist Cottage is now made exclusively with organic whole grain flour, milled right here at home. I am busy looking at recipes for Christmas treats, Panettone, Pulla, Stollen, Paska (Easter Bread), Babka, Nissua, and many more. What fun! Making all these specialty sweet breads is fine and dandy. However, there is an issue, and that is me! If that bread is sitting in the bread box, I am eating it for every single meal! I cannot resist it. So I am on a campaign to balance my diet. First off, I will make very small loaves of sweet breads, and freeze most of them, so only one small loaf … Continue reading →

Just minutes ago I labeled two tubs of pureed pie pumpkin, and placed them in the freezer. Then the kitchen was handed over to Attila for his projects. He is cooking a variation on scalloped potatoes, and is including in his dish the last garden Zucchini, and some organic carrots purchased at the grocery store. When that project is safely in the oven, the very last tomatoes, that had been set to ripen in the basement more than a month ago, will be brought upstairs to be either cooked or composted. We had the last ripened beefsteak tomato in our green salad last night. By this evening the very last of the garden harvest will have been either eaten or preserved or composted! Well not entirely, there are about 10 small beets still in the garden, and some carrots, which have been miniature this year. We will cook these vegetables immediately. The garden harvest preservation projects are over for this year. As the garden and preservation projects have slowly wound down, other projects have been initiated. Our basement is not insulated, and unheated. As a result, the floors are cold underfoot. We lose heat through the bare concrete blocks. This … Continue reading →

My Mom lives an active life, not as active as she did in her 70s, but still very active and engaged. She is as sharp as a tack. Up until the huge storm that took out the complex she visited every winter in Florida, she was driving to Florida and back, by herself, every winter for a few weeks of well deserved R&R. She continued to to do this even after her health episode in 2015, which left her with a few ongoing health challenges, which she handled with aplomb. Mom lives with Sister-The-Middle-Girl, and has for the last 26 years. Sister-The-Middle-Girl had a really good job when she gave birth to her only daughter 26 years ago, and in order to continue on her highly successful career path, invited Mom to live with her, to provide round-the-clock child care and housekeeping. Mom loves children, so this was right up her alley, she accepted. Mom not only provided the best in the world child care for my sister’s daughter, she also provided incredible care and support for Sister-The-Youngest-Girl’s three children who lived just down the road. Mom drove children to lessons, games, events, school, you name it, my Mom was … Continue reading →