The Years To Remember

 November 17, 2023 I offered to host this month's dinner with teacher friends by cooking an Italian dinner of lasagna, meatballs, salad, and home made bread. In a misguided attempt to include a seasonal selection, I baked a pumpkin cake using The Pioneer Woman's recipe. Big mistake - it was bland, dry, and only redeemed by the cream cheese frosting. Lesson learned - buy a fancy dessert next time.  Just buying myself flowers again! Vegetable lasagna infused with goat cheese on the left; pesto infused on the right. Grandma Stella's meatballs. The wine. A truly underwhelming pumpkin cake. I should have bought cannoli from the grocery store. November 23, 2023 So, at the last minute, I accepted my sister's invitation to Thanksgiving which I turned into a 4 day stay with mom. It turned out to be a good decision as I gained reassurance that mom is doing well on her own (w/ assistance) and everyone is pitching in. A perfectly roasted turkey. Rhona, the border collie/Aussie shep...

Walks in the neighborhood are getting a bit dull, but I was delighted by a few sights this week. Milkweed seeds taking flight. This made me long for a summer day. I have never seen it on the lake before - it's a great idea. The cloud sculptures. Whatever day this was (joy of retirement), I felt I barely started the day by running a couple errands, and making some phone calls. I realized I could probably get a walk in, yet I was surprised that the sun was setting on my way back. These short days are challenging. Thursday turned out very differently than I planned. I was supposed to get a tooth crowned, but the nice weather forecast caused me to cancel it in favor of a group bike ride. Then, almost everyone on the bike ride cancelled so I scratched that plan. I texted a few friends, got some free passes from the library and three of us headed over to Vermont to see Hildene , the summer home of Robert Lincoln, Abe's only son to make it to adulthood. This is the back of the house a...

 I'm not sure why I can't manage to keep my house in order, but it is constantly in disarray. It doesn't help that I love to be in nature and will take any opportunity to go outside. I went for a walk in the neighborhood and was surprised at what is happening at the town beach. The building work is slow, but lots of landscaping is happening - not all of it good. The park entrance here used to be a pine grove. Just a few trees are left. A pile of tree corpses. Friday a few friends met for a walk on the 5 mile loop at Saratoga Spa State Park. The weather was in the low 50's so it was very nice. Lunch was at 9 East - a cute farm to table spot where the special was a slice of pizza, a bowl of soup (butternut squash) and a salad for $11. It was excellent! The best view was on the ride home. Saturday morning I met the hiking group for a very chilly (43 degrees) bike ride. We rode 17 miles and I'm glad I had a down jacket and winter gloves and hat. I declined to go out to ...

This has been a tough week emotionally. Is it the changing weather, the time change, or something else? I'm not sure. I spent a few days at home just pottering about and not really accomplishing much. I walked, did some organizing and cleaning, and realized that I never finished making my bedroom a nice relaxing retreat. I haven't put up pictures or decorated at all and I'm tired of the spartan look of it. I now have a new goal for bad weather days - to work on my room decor. I did go hiking on Thursday to Poke-O-Moonshine fire tower. It was not lost on me that we drove 2 hours each way to hike a mere 5 miles. We stopped for dinner at Paradox Brewery and had a wonderful time. I have to remember that it's as much about socializing as it is about exercise and the emotional lift I get by reaching the top and enjoying fantastic views. Top of Poke-O-Moonshine It was a cold day - the high temp was in the low 30's. I climbed the fire tower to get a pic of the rest of the g...