Caitiff.
I’ve never heard this word. I’ve never heard anyone use it; I’ve never read it. What’s more, I’ve never heard my MOTHER use this word (and, of course, Mother knows everything). It’s new to me.
It made me think of Jamie Frasier, in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, but on reflection, while Jamie was miserable in prison, I think he had enough purpose in seeing to the care of his men that you couldn’t say he was caitiff. Now, the MEN may have been caitiff.
You learn something every day.
(N.B. When I ran Spell Check, it made no comment about “caitiff.”)
Daily Archives: September 27, 2005
Dinner
What to fix, what to fix? I’m caught in a no-man’s land between the heat of summer and the cold of winter, and my meals reflect our confusion.
Last night I made stuffed green peppers. Tonight I made pasta e fagiole soup. Tomorrow we’re grilling salmon.
I made the green peppers because it was chilly, and we have an abundance of green peppers available now. I cut the core out of the peppers and then cut them in half lengthwise. After blanching them for five minutes, I laid them on their sides and mounded the filling over them. It seems easier to do it this way, and you get a little more of the stuffing with each bite of pepper, always a good thing.
Today was warm and clear. I should have been out weeding, but I wanted to be available to the repairman, so I worked in the kitchen, making soup. Our evening has been chilly, so the warm soup wasn’t so inappropriate.
Apples are coming into the Farmer’s Market. I want to do apple butter, and apple crisp and apple pie. And then there’s zucchini bread, carrot cake, and pumpkin bread. I found a jar of pumpkin butter in my cabinet, today. I think I’ll have it with toast in the morning.
I Love Fall!
Traveling
My youngest sister’s daughters are involved in marching band. Since I used to be a band director, it’s a pleasure to see my teenage relatives participate in band. The girls attend a school that takes its marching season pretty seriously, so they attend a contest almost every week during the fall.
I plan to pack Elegante Mother up, and head off to Indiana to see the girls at one of their competitions. It’s a pleasure to get out into the farm land and travel where you don’t see a car for ten or fifteen miles. The harvest will be underway, and we’ll be able to tell the difference in the fields from the Friday we go east, to the Sunday when we return home. We’ll be watching for geese gleaning the fields, and tractors pulling corn and beans to the local co-op.
I hope for crisp weather, clear blue skies, leaves changing colors, and the excitement of the competition. Fall is my time of the year!
Hip, Hip, HURRAH!!!
I got the news today that my boat widowhood may come to an end during the middle of next week. Well….actually, the boat will be taken out of the water midweek. Then there will be weeks of maintenance on the boat. So, probably I’ll get to see Dear Husband on a weekend some time in late November!
Still, it’s always nice to know that the season is ending two weeks early. We’ll have to party the day he brings her up the drive.
Patch, Patch, Patch
It’s been one of those weeks…
Friday, the drier stopped heating. We were able to get a repairman in on Monday, and had mountains of laundry waiting to be done. This morning, the plumber came and replaced a water heater, cleaned out the pipes from the air conditioner condenser, and re-connected everything in the basement. Of course, we’d had to wait to do laundry while he worked.
Before he left, I told him I wanted him to take a look at one of the air conditioners. The newer one makes quite a racket when it’s running.