This morning was probably the last tai chi in the Bush Park before the sky falls. And all the oak leaves.
Afterward, Roxie and I went for a walk through Bush Park. Actually, “Bush’s Pasture Park.” We are so lucky to have this beautiful space in the neighborhood.
People were doing everything. Tai chi. Yoga. Walking briskly in business clothes or scrubs, taking a lunch-time break. Joggers and runners, some pushing children in strollers. Lots of dogs on leashes. Picnickers. Cyclers. Rose smellers.
Here is just a random gallery.
We walked along Pringle Creek. Roxie ran in and out fetching a stick.
Gazebo in the rose garden.
We took a little break there.
We smelled a few.
I
I had never seen one this purple.
We were directed to appreciate some art.
Finally, I paid homage to the redwood where I worshipped when I first moved here, years before I had grown a grove of my own.
We had to know that white men would have some choice names for Senator Harris after last night’s debate.
POTUS came up with “monster” and”communist.”
Vocabulary is not his strong suit. Name-calling is. It is apparent that a woman’s appearance is important to him. We only have to look at the Barbie Dolls (Oh, dear. Did I just name-call?) he surrounds himself with.
He must feel totally emasculated by this brilliant, articulate, beautiful woman. I hope so.
“Beautiful”should not play a part, but tragically, it does.
So does kindness and class. By that I mean “classiness.”
At St. Paul’s, we traditionally have supper together every Wednesday evening after the children have their music rehearsals and lessons and before the service. Nowadays, it’s take out, like everything.
Today, the menu has an Octoberfest theme: sausages, potato salad, sauerkraut, cucumbers, and German chocolate cake, which, by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with Germany.
It isn’t from Germany and is actually named after the blend of sweet chocolate used in the cake, and is named for the man who developed that specific blend. His name was Samuel German. So the cake isn’t “German” as in the country, it’s “German” as in the chocolate.
Looks pretty good anyway and it’s bound to be better than the ubiquitous Black Forest cake from the ’70’s.
About five years ago, Katherine saw these boots online and we knew I had to have some. Took some research. I finally found the number for the customer service person for Western Chief, the manufacturer. She told me that they were wholesaled to Fred Meyer but she couldn’t see which stores actually stocked them. I started calling stores, working outward in ten-mile increments and found them 30 minutes away in Wilsonville. Clearly, they have enjoyed a lot of use and have been repaired a few times with shoe goop. Now maybe it’s time for me to fill them with soil and plant pansies in them.
It is amazing what I am focusing on these days to hold boredom at bay.
On Sunday, I suddenly had an appetite for peach cobbler. I’m not sure why.
I remembered the big offerings my great-grandmother Susan Louise Miller made in her kitchen with no hot running water and an oven that she stuck her hand in to check the temp. I can never duplicate it. The peaches were picked from a scrubby tree in her scrubby back yard. For some reason, they were not orange but a very pale white. Delicious.
So, anyway, on Sunday, I masked up and actually went into Fred Meyers to buy the ingredients to make a quick and easy peach cobbler. I walked straight in and straight out, but I happened to pass by the special display of Lodge cast iron pans, 50% off. I also had a coupon. Oh “they” do know how to get you!
This very heavy skillet came “pre-seasoned” so I made the cobbler in it.
I had a cast iron skillet for years. I stopped using it because it was so heavy and passed it on to Elizabeth. I have enjoyed so many delicious dishes she prepares using it.
This random purchase brought back so many memories.
I think it was the only pan Mother had when I was growing up. It always sat on the top of the stove, usually with a remnant of grease left in it from breakfast where she fried up bacon and eggs most mornings and meat most evenings. Lots of fried potatoes, never referred to as French fries.
This new pan is very heavy, so I’ll probably just leave it on the stove top.
Yesterday, I made cornbread in it. Reminded me of my Mama Harrison who made the best stove-top cornbread.
If there is a lesson in this post, I guess it is to avoid random purchases, do whatever you can to avoid loneliness and boredom, cook and eat good stuff, and try not to get too fat in the process. And maybe don’t forget to take your statins.
