October 2005 Archives

....the colors, the scents, the cooking....

I had a note from my youngest sis today, and independently, we had decided to spend the next week in a similar manner. She and the girls have some time off from school at the end of this week. They are going to work on a scarecrow, carve a pumpkin, make some apple butter, clean up the herb garden, and pick apples from their tree.

A week ago, Dear Husband and I purchased a half bushel of Jonathan apples. I want to make some apple butter. I've used some of the apples to make applesauce, and an apple pie. A few more will go into a pork chop and apple dinner later this week. I want to try my hand again at baked apples. I haven't done them in ages.

Well, we've called one of the roofers and made the commitment. He expects to start on our roof on November 7th, weather permitting. I hope that the weather will hold just three weeks more, not that I want to encourage the drought. It's a tough call. I want my trees and perennials to get the water they need, but I want it to be dry for the roofing. Do you think that we could do the Camelot thing, and have it only rain at night??

We have to have our roof re-shingled. Sixteen years ago Dear Husband and I went up the ladders after work and on weekends to shingle this roof. At that time, I emphatically announced that I would not be going up onto the roof again, when it was time to re-shingle.

This has been an exceptionally dry, and HOT, summer. We waited for cooler weather to arrive before we began soliciting bids. I found three places, and DH found two more. Only one of his choices came through with a bid, so we had four to choose from.

Last night, I had the pleasure of going to a Christmas Faire preview with some of the women in my family. My oldest sister arranged the outing, and she invited a friend, two of her sisters, one of her daughters, a daughter-in-law and a soon to be daughter-in-law. SHe would have taken all the women of the family, but some were too far away to participate in this evening out.

The preview included a buffet dinner, and the the chance to roam the fair for the evening. Of course we shopped right up to the last moment (and a few beyond.)

It was on the way home that I had the biggest laugh of the night. Soon To Be Daugher In Law (STBDIL) was sitting in the back seat of the car, and she said she had been trying to catch up on her reading lately. She likes the Oprah magazine, and she was currently immersed in the May issue. (A girl after my own heart.....I have about four months of four or five magazines to catch up on.)

STBDIL said that she had just read that research says men's way of thinking is closer to that of a chimpanzee than to that of a woman.

(laughing) What more is there to be said???

I'm glad to see that our scientists seem to be making inroads on the treatment of breast cancer. Our evening news was rife with stories about "Herceptin," a new drug that is touted as cutting in half the chance that breast cancer will return. The studies will have to continue, because they've only followed women with cancer for three years. Breast cancer can return in up to 20 years. Still, this is a positive bit of news.

So much of our health care has been based on studies that used men, but not women, for research. It's been within my lifetime that scientists have come to recognize that it's not safe to generalize that treatment that works for a male body, will necessarily work for a female body.

Have the drug companies focused their research on men because men have had more discretionary income than women? Probably.

Have drug companies generalized drug use from studies that were male only. Yes.

Will we begin to see any change in that pattern, as it has become obvious that it's not possible to generalize how a woman will respond to a drug that hasn't been tested on women? I hope so. I'd hate to think that women might be blindly participating in field research for drug companies.

It's possible that this is one area where insurance companies might actually be of help in managing women's health. If enough women have to file claims against a drug company for selling drugs that are inappropriate, through insufficient research, perhaps the insurance companies will actually do a service.

Now that women are a larger part of the work force, I think it's become profitable to see to their needs. After all, why would a smart business turn their back on a demographic that large?

I'm really glad to see that strides are being made in women's health care. I hope Herceptin is the wonder drug they think it might be.

The farmer who has the fields closest to us has harvested his corn. We were afraid that his crop would be a total loss because of the drought. Geese in this area depend upon what he drops as he harvests to fatten up for the trip south, or for the winter here.

It seems there must have been more corn than we thought there would be. It's fascinating to be driving through rolling fields which have been harvested and see what looks like a field of black stalks. Actually, that's the necks of the geese we're seeing. Parts of the fields are covered with our feathered friends. Every region has seasonal changes they watch for, and the geese gleaning the fields speak to Midwesterners of fall.

Fessing up time. I've been so busy with my off-line life that I haven't been able to read your blogs as frequently as I would like. It's been hit or miss for the last six weeks, just as my posting has been hit or miss.

But, I want to bring to your attention a blog that is going to close down (in it's present format) at the end of November. If you haven't been reading Billy's blog: I Could Have Been A Contender, you need to get to know him in the month you have left.

Billy promises that he will surface elsewhere after November. I, for one, would hate to loose track of him. I've followed his life reports since I was just a tad of a blogger. I visited him one day, when he was having difficulties with Type Pad, and I suggested he talk with Bogie...and it's been love ever since.

Go give him your support, and be sure to follow where ever he decides to go!

Redeagle1, otherwise known as the Great and Beneficent ~T~ has been working on my blog again, as you can see. I swear she's a magician.

I knew that I wanted to try something similar to the design of her blog, but I couldn't find a picture of a quilt that worked for the background. Earlier this year Cop Car gave me Electric Quilt 5, so I went to the software to design a quilt for the backdrop. I gave five versions of this star to ~T~ to play with, and this is what she gave me, in less than 24 hours!

You can tell that I'm firmly entrenched in Autumn colors. You've seen the batik quilt (September 4th) that was finished this year, and now the blog carries those warm reds and oranges. You have to know that this is my favorite time of the year. I'm like a sunflower: just plant me and watch me turn my face to the sun as it passes overhead! *G*

I may ask ~T~ to do a little tweaking for me, but this is likely to be the format for my blog for a while. Let us know what you think.

Don't you just love being a homeowner?

We've known for a year or so that we needed to re-shingle the roof. I can't tell you why we stalled, but we are well past the time when it HAS to be done. The weather was so hot this year that the shingles have deteriorated, and it's not safe to be on the roof now.

Did I tell you that two of my sisters and I finally got to see "Menopause, The Musical"?

It was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen! Who would have thought that menopause would ever be used as the subject for a show, and that the show would have an extended run?

Basically, it's an opera. The entire show is sung, with new lyrics given to pop songs from the past. It's set in a department store where four women all reach for the same bra, and end up bonding as they shop and discuss dealing with hot flashes and memory loss.

If you have the opportunity to see it, GO! Especially, if you can take a group of your sisters or girlfriends. Everybody deserves a night of laughs like this.

Yesterday made up for the last two miserable days we spent watching marching bands!

Dear Husband and I spent the day together. While he went for coffee and a pecan roll, I got my hair cut. Then, we stopped at the Farmer's Market for apples, pumpkins, dried fruit and corn for the squirrels. When the chores were finished, we began a leisurely trip to Chesterton, Indiana, to watch another marching band competition

Beneficence: The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity; bounty springing from purity and goodness.

Just a quick note about beneficence...

I am personally practicing beneficence this week. I don't know that I'd say this bounty springs from purity or goodness, but it was a logical extension of my interests. A reader of this blog asked me if I'd care to create a "Quilt Room In A Bag" for a quilter who had lost everything due to Katrina or Rita. You all know that quilting is dear to my heart, so how could I refuse? I'll blog more about it tomorrow, in case any of you would like to participate in this activity. I've asked my quilting bee if they would care to contribute items, and I hope that we are able to put together several bags. I personally think it's a cool idea!

I was getting ready to make a trip last weekend, and took the time to send Cop Car a note. I told her about all the things I wanted to get done before we left. I had cleaning and laundry to do, and some bookkeeping for the company. I wanted to water the container garden and feed the birds and pack the car. It was important to me that the house be clean when I left, so that I wouldn't come home after a great weekend and feel that I had to clean.

You'll have to ask Cop Car to tell you about the all the cleaning she did the day before her oldest daughter was born. We must think alike, because coming home to a clean house is high on our list of preferences.

Last year, about mid-October, we went to Indiana to watch one of my nieces march in a band competition. We had anticipated typical Fall weather, so we packed for every contingency: lightweight pants and tops, and sweaters to layer, along with jeans and jackets and gloves and boots.

It was a good thing we had taken all those clothes because the morning of the competition was frigid, and by the time we were seated in the stands of a high school football field (on metal stadium seats), the temperature had dropped, and it looked like we might see the first snowfall of the season. I was really concerned for the girls in the color guard because they had to be freezing in their lightweight costumes.

So, what are the chances that we would hit similar conditions this year, when both my nieces are marching? We drove to Fort Wayne for the competition. It was COLD!! At least this time there was no threat of precipitation, but the wind was nipping at us. We had two lightweight flannel throws wrapped around Elegante Mother and we huddled together to stay warm.

In a former life I used to be a band director, so you'd think I'd be used to a little inclement weather, but that was a LONG time ago. It was a joy to see the girls march, but I was relieved when we could return to the car and warm up.

This seems to have become a traditional trip, driving the back roads of Illinois and Indiana to see the girls march. We have three years of these competitions left. I plan to have my entire winter wardrobe along next time, and I bet you that it's sweltering out! What are the odds?

We've been unusually busy at Chez Buffy the past few weeks. We've made it a habit to visit with my youngest sister during the fall. She and her family live in Indiana, so it's not a major trip, but we wend our way through the farms of Illinois and Indiana and it takes us anywhere from four to five hours to make the trip. Normally.

It seems to me that I read something recently that suggested that some plants winter over better if you wait to cut them back in the spring. I've made it a practice to put the gardens to bed for the winter by cutting everything back and raking up any rose debris. I have a number of plants that get wintered over in the garage in large pots. The one rose that's left in my garden will be trimmed back, mounded with dirt to protect the graft, encircled with a cage and covered with shredded leaves.

I need to surf to see what I can find about waiting to cut the plants back. It seems to me that chrysanthemums were included in that list, and maybe iris, but I can't remember the others. I want to check on daylilies, clematis, ornamental grasses and several herbs.

I had a very successful day today. I spent it cleaning up a small corner of my life.

I am an office. Dear Husband chooses to handle payroll. The CPA does taxes, and everything left over is my problem. I am blessed that my office is in my home, and that the owners of the company (one of whom is my husband) are willing to let me work unusual hours.

The bane of my existence is filing. I finish a bit of work and move it to the stack on the left. The stack grows. Eventually, I HAVE to file or the desk might fall through the floor to the basement.

Did you see the news tonight? ABC closed the Nightly News with a story about an Alaskan Airlines 737 that has received a new paint job. It took 30 painters 24 days to paint a salmon on this plane. They call it the "Salmon Thirty Salmon."

The Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board and Alaskan Airlines have gone into a joint venture to promote the sale of fresh seafood from Alaska. Essentially, the plane is a flying billboard for fresh Alaskan seafood.