Love the Fireplace!
We’ve had our first freeze, and now the fauna begin to seriously regard the greenery in the woods and gardens. The deer in our area, especially, are very good indicators of the seasons. For the last few nights they have jumped the electric fence and feasted contentedly on the remains of flowers and herbs in the gardens around the house. DH says they are beginning to store up for winter. They munched on cosmos flowers, a few last rosebuds, a huge, droopy sunflower that they could reach, and the green peppers right at the garage doors. They don’t much like hydrangeas, but a garden needs more than that! 
Drove to town through a cold September rain in October. The gray skies were full of dirty cotton clouds, reaching their rainy fingers down in the distance. The leave were wet in their coats of many colors – lime green, dull orange and burnt red. Brown spiky spears of weeds crowd around the tall waving cattails, closed against the cold wind. I’m told that when a cattail bursts open, the white cottony stuff that pops out can be put into shoes around the feet to keep warm and dry in winter.
Casting on a Christmas present – can’t even hint at what it is. No pictures either – but black is not my favorite color to knit!! Finished the last piece of the white cable sweater and into Time Out it goes for the moment. I can work on the assembly and collar around the Christmas presents that are moving toward needles.
I have developed a taste for sarma – the delicious cabbage-leaf stuffed with meats and a bit of rice, covered with sauerkraut. Some use tomato sauce in place of the sauerkraut, but this is one dish that I much prefer without tomatoes. It’s an ethnic dish, and well-made on the Iron Range by the Serbians and Croatians and other groups. Went to a dinner given by the Orthodox Serbian Sisters last week, and just gobbled down the tasty sarma. (It is both sarma and sarma – singular and plural. I was corrected). Several of the ladies were bemoaning the fact that the old ethnic cooking and baking skills are not being learned by the younger generation and will soon disappear. Young women are too busy with their lives to carry on the old traditions. Luckily for some of us there are cookbooks containing many of these recipes – I have a new one!
The Bears won again and the Twins tied for the playoff spot. A single game next week will decide if the Twins or the Tigers proceed to the next level. Fingers crossed!
Trying to decide which topic to use for my class paper at school. My two personal choices are diabetes, and fetal alcohol syndrome/effect. Both of them have affected our family. And both of them are serious issues in the Native American community, which must be reflected in the paper. I’ve asked Sir Professor for his thoughts.
More visitors this next weekend – fellow Red Wing collectors for a monthly meeting. Not too many, because they have a 200+ mile trek! But the colors are still strong to the south of us, so their trip will be a treat.
The Maven speaks:
“Some people drink at the fountain of knowledge – - others just gargle”..….anon.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Sarma. Yum. Quite right – sauerkraut.
Ranger food.
Potica is next on your list. Of course, butter and sugar, bad. Walnuts, good. Sliced thin, thin, thin.
October 6th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I love po-teet-za. Don’t eat it much. Too bad for me. I draw the line somewhere. This weekend we’re having a small group up for lunch from the Cities. Serving porketta, Bob’s (from scratch) baked beans, and (my) Chicago apple slices. C’mon up!!
October 7th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Do FAS for the paper – I’d love to read it and learn more about it… Just a thought.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
It’s Greenbluff time and you’re going to miss out on the pumpkin donuts and all the other activities. Looking forward to it, like we do every year. Only problem is…it’s supposed to be sunny but only in the 40’s. That’s a bit chilly for spending all that time outside! We’ll play it by ear, we might have to go next weekend instead but then we’ll really have to fight crowds & traffic. Will be thinking about you!
October 9th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Ah, I’ve been thinking about all of you for a week or two as well, with our cool weather and the brilliant leaves floating everywhere. Especially as we buy different apples at the market to bake a few things. We had such a great day together. I think of that day every day, because the blue-and-white quilt has been on our bed ever since we returned. It does look so nice! Once in a while I just want to pop on the train and come out to see all of you. It’s pretty tempting!