The Thursday Ramble: Get Out and Go

It is the season to get out and go. We had a long hot summer. A summer that made us want to stay inside. Not that we couldn't go outside, but that it was generally unpleasant to go outside. The heat and humidity were relentless this year. The Mall in Washington DC, the great American font lawn, was a three ring circus this summer - elect a clown - and you get a circus. Not a place we wanted to spend anytime. And with fall, this is all changing, the weather has changed becoming pleasantly cooler, the circus has folded its tent, taken down the reviewing stands and left town. 

In the past couple of weeks, I have gone into the city for a museum walk, out to Mt Vernon for the fall Colonial Fair and Market, into old town Alexandria just to walk, to go to lunch, and to do a little shopping, across the River to National Harbor for a long walk about. We have taken a little overnight trip to Maryland, and soon a road trip to upstate New York. Ah, we are escaping the self imposed confinement of summer. 

In what other ways do we self impose confinement? 

My World of Wonders: September 30, 2026

 

Where have I been this week? If all has gone to plan, Cambridge Maryland, on the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay. I had a photo in a jurried show at the Dorchester Center for the Arts, the show is over and it was time to collect the piece. We made a road trip out of it, spending the night and hopefully having time to explore a bit. 

Where else have I been? Aldi, the community center, the pool, the treadmill. Old Town Alexandria for a long walk. Old Town for a second walk and a little shopping. I needed to pick up supplies to bake fruit cakes later this week. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? I poached a chicken - from that we had chicken and rice, and chicken pot pies, and I have about 4 cups of chicken stock to cook with. A pork stew, a had a pork tenderloin and didn't feel like roasting it.  Dice and saute one small onion, quarter half a dozen mushrooms,  two stalks celery, one small white turnip, one golden beet, two medium potatoes, two medium carrots peeled and chopped, cube the pork, a couple of cups of the chicken stock, some red wine, salt, pepper, and old bay. Simmer for a couple of hours.  It was delightful on a cool wet day. 

Who deserves a slap this week? The UPS delivery driver who left my package outside someone else's door last Friday afternoon. There are 250 almost identical doors in this building, over 1,000 in the four high rise towers. At least 2 slaps out of 5. 

Who deserves a big THANK YOU and a hug this week? The neighbor who realized that the box left at their door was not theirs, and delivered it to the right door. (I have done the same over the years.)

Who deserves a HUGE THANK YOU? The dear friend who sent me an irreplaceable gift. 

What am I reading? A book about mental illness and creative persons, artists, writers, film makers, actors. Many live a complicated life. 

What is on the easel? A fresh start, primed in a metallic powder blue. 

What am I drinking? I recently opened a bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel, it is exceptionally good. A little at a time, the bottle will last me a month or so.   The origins of the name Four Roses. A young man met a young lady that he wanted to get to know better. He asked her to dance with him at an upcoming ball, and she said, she would think about it. If the answer was yes, she would be carrying a red rose at the ball, when he arrived she was holding four roses. He named his new business Four Roses. 

Travel Tuesday: Colonial Fair and Market at Mt Vernon

 

Monday Mood: Autumnal

October starts this week. The weather here has turned cooler. Night time temperatures in the 50's and 60's (F), some much cooler days. I have gotten outside a lot more, a couple of great walks in the past week. The farmers market is shifting from tomatoes and peaches of summer, to apples, pears and squash of fall and winter.  

For me it is hunter gatherer season. Nesting season. I ordered the candied fruit to make fruitcake this week.  I will get them baked soon, allowing plenty of time for them to soak up the booze before the holidays. We used to joke that my non-drinking mother, made 100 proof fruit cake, mine are even stronger. 

I started wearing long sleeve shirts this week. 

It is cuddle up and relax season. 

I am feeling somewhat autumnal.   

The Sunday Five: Famous Americans

What was the greatest achievement of Barack Obama's term as President? 

What do you most remember Jimmy Carter for? 

What is your favorite story about Albert Einstein?  

What movie with Katharine Hepburn is your all time favorite? 

What would Richard Nixon say if he was alive today?

1: Barack Obama championed the biggest health care reform in the past 50 years in the United States. 

2: Jimmy Carter was the most successful former president, spending his later years working for world peace, fair elections and building homes for the poor. 

3: Someone asked Albert Einstein for his phone number, he pulled out a phone book and looked it up, and said, why clutter my mind with facts that are easy to find. 

4: Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda in on Golden Pond. 

5: Richard Nixon is so happy, that he is no longer the most hated Republican President in history. 

1: Barack Obama

2: Jimmy Carter

3: Albert Einstein

4: Katherine Hepburn

5: Richard Nixon. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Back the Basics to Be Creative

By back the basics, I don't mean lets go cook over a wood fire in an open fireplace.* What I mean is cooking from raw ingredients.  When my parents were still alive I would often go down at Thanksgiving, and cook. The last time I did it, my sister was living with my parents providing care of them, and we went grocery shopping for the goodies to prepare dinner. When I wasn't looking my sister put the mushrooms in the cart, pre-sliced mushrooms. Now this is better than pre-cooked, or some prepackaged mix, but when did chopping a box of mushrooms become to much work? 

About 30 Saturdays a year I go the local farmers market and buy fruits and vegetables. I focus on a few vendors that I know grow all or almost all of the fruits and vegetables that they sell. Another vendor that I buy eggs and cheese from represents a community of Amish farmers (he also has dairy, and some frozen meats.) 

When I want to bake bread, I start with water, flour, yeast, salt, and maybe a little melted butter or olive oil. I could start with frozen dough, but where is the fun in that. I can be creative, varying the ingredients and the proportions as I wish, you can't do that with frozen dough. 

I read cookbooks, like many people read novels. The best cookbooks include history and social context in addition to ingredients and technique. I enjoy reading them, collecting them, and sometimes referring to them when I feel like making something new. Though often I just wing it based on what I know, and make up anything I don't know as I go along.

That is creativity in the kitchen.     

* We spent a few days without electric power in the house in Lexington one winter after and ice storm. The kitchen was all electric, I cooked in the gas fireplace quite successfully.  I was surprised what I could do when I tried. 

 

Artsy Friday: AiM

 I have talked about organizing and installing the latest community Arts show. It is Arts in Montebello, or AiM for short. The opening program features one work from each artist. The theme of this show is Landscapes and Dreamscapes. Here are the program images. 

We have tickets to ride that train next May.

Anna can really paint. 

Kevin's first time showing photographs.

It is a photograph, taken through the haze of wildfires. 

North of Spo Land 

She will be 4 years old soon.

The artist's first time showing with us, this is stunning.