Last night the temperature fell below freezing for the first time. The day has been sunny, but crisp and cold. My parka and sandals walking ensemble now boasts socks with the sandals. I am slowly conceding to nature’s ways.
Time is flying by these days. Other than forays out to replenish our supplies, and health related appointments, we don’t venture far from home. Attila spends his days puttering in the garden, I spend my days with the routines of domestic life, solo in the gardening season, with my partner in crime during the harvest and preserving season, and through the winter. Ginger supervises, exercising his executive talents (or so he thinks, we do not burst his bubble, as it would only cause him distress).
Garden produce has been slowly decreasing in volume. Many of the plants, such as the peppers and tomatoes, have been pulled for the season. The strawberries were stripped of all berries today, the beds prepared for the winter, covered with straw. Still coming in are beets, cabbage, kohlrabi, squash, beans, and broccoli. I will enjoy the final garden green salad of the season tomorrow, finishing the last of the garden salad ingredients.
Knowing that our daily green salads will be on hold for the duration of Attila’s dental adventures, I decided to make a vegetable soup for myself. This will provide me with a good variety of vegetables every single day. Included in my soup are; onions, garlic, mixed vegetables (5 different frozen vegetables), garden kohlrabi, garden rutabaga, garden peppers, garden celery, garden beans, corn niblets, home canned tomatoes, homemade vegetable broth, our dehydrated kale, our dehydrated basil, dehydrated oregano, dehydrated garlic, a little bit of pepper, and 1/8th teaspoon of salt. I was going to add some split lentils, but the pot was full (Instant Pot), so another time.
I also processed a batch of Kombucha, replenished the water in the Berkey, made gummies with the grape juice we made from the volunteer grapes in the back yard, made a gravy with the last of the fresh mushrooms in the refrigerator, and baked an Impossible Turkey Pie for dinner.
A pleasant cooking discovery, suggested by Attila, was to add about 1/4 cup of homemade Pepper Relish to the gravy, which gave is a real flavour boost. Another delightful little detail when cooking tonight, was to use the food chopper to finely chop the turkey meat, to accommodate Attila’s temporary dental challenges. I had some reservations as to the texture of the dish, but it got Attila’s stamp of approval.
Life is pretty good when today’s domestic activities are the highlight of the day. There is nothing very exciting or dramatic about our lifestyle. It involves a lot of repetition, and a little bit of experimentation and learning. We are delighted by very ordinary things, like adding homemade Pepper Relish to gravy.
We are homebodies. We are aware of the outside world, we are knowledgable about local, provincial, federal, continental, and global infrastructures and events, as much as the little factual information in existence allows. We are in no position to influence most of what goes on out there, and we are unwilling to engage in uninformed dialogue that ruminates endlessly on the smoke and mirrors surrounding power brokers. We speak our truth, and we watch for opportunities to do what we can, when we can, to facilitate a compassionate and kind world. We do not harbour illusions about our own importance, or the importance of our feelings and opinions. We find the world around us outrageous, but we are not outraged. We are grateful for what we have, that our hard work has brought us adequate sustenance, shelter, and love, that when we go to bed at night, it is safe to fall asleep. We know that life is not like this for everyone, there have been times it has not been like this for us. We feel we are the lucky ones.
Worldly
Weather
6°C
Date: 7:00 PM EDT Saturday 25 October 2025
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.9 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 5.5°C
Dew point: 1.3°C
Humidity: 61%
Wind: W 6 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: ‘Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.’ I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have – When he gives everything that is in him to do the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do.”
Harry S Truman
1884 – 1972
Hats off to every “Jack Williams” who ever lived or lives today!
We’ve been having lots of rain this last week, usually getting a half to 3/4ths of an inch of rain each day. That’s definitely ended our drought. Our lawn is mushy and we have mushrooms sprouting everywhere.
I like that quote. We visited Tombstone in the late Eighties or early Nineties. One of its features is the world’s largest rose bush. Also, they featured re-enactments of the famous gun fight.
Teri, what a contrast, drought to damp. Interesting about the mushrooms, too bad they aren’t edible.
Joan, the visit to Tombstone would have been interesting. I don’t know much about it, mostly from television programs as a kid, so largely mythical I would think.