Friday, October 26, 2012

After Indian Summer...

The road our gravel lane intersects... the leaves are now mostly on the ground. :(

I knew it was coming.  I even planned for it in the three days of lovely Indian Summer as I worked long hours to accomplish needed tasks before the cold returned.

Even then... the ache in my head is asking a simple question of What Happened?  Such is life in the Midwest as one season merges with another.  Yesterday's high temperature was 79 and today it will be a chilly 49.  Sigh...

The beautiful warm weather (interspersed with a couple small rain events) made it possible to get the deck, the porch, and most of the garden ready for winter.  All that is left in the garden is to pull up the old kale plants and give the raised beds a good hoe-ing... garden chores better left to someone with more muscles than me (I?)... whatever.

The cold weather and an abundance of apples enticed me back in the kitchen this morning.  I needed a simple recipe but one I could share with Mr. & Mrs. Christopher when they stopped by to pick up sleeping bags.

I remembered an interesting recipe in Coming Home With Gooseberry Patch and sure enough there was a recipe for Farmhouse Apple Bread... a very simple apple quick bread that made two loaves.  One loaf was still a little warm through its' foil wrapping when it left for their camping trip.  :)

My prayers are with my friends in the Eastern part of the U.S. as the big storm approaches... and especially with the New England Contingent of our family.  I am hearing the conditions are very similar to those that created The Perfect Storm years ago (why is it that I cried like a baby at the end of that film when I knew the ship was lost at sea?).  I hope you are all prepared and ready to stay out of the wind and rain (snow for some!).

6 comments:

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

We've had the same big temperature swing, here in northeast Ohio! And most of the beauty of the leaves is on the ground. Most, but not quite all....

My daughter Em and her family are in Tall Timbers, Maryland expecting a lot of hurricane fallout. Please pray for them and everyone in the path of this.......

Vee said...

We are in total denial here praying this thing out to sea. Unfortunate indeed that it threatens at all when the news would be better used for other more pressing issues. Sigh.

Oh and apple loaf bread sounds like a bit of heaven. I'm sure that Mr. and Mrs. enjoyed every morsel. They must be hardy souls to be out camping in this cold.

Kim Stewart said...

Started storm prep today as best as I can with my leg in a cast! Cleaned up the garden and got flower pots emptied into compost pile with the help of my boys. Stashed potential projectiles under the deck. We are filling an extra propane tank and the gas cans for the generator tonight. Getting all laundry done and all beds changed. We live in a waterfront community just outside of Annapolis and with hurricanes we always seem to lose power for at least 2 days and quite often closer to a week. Brenda, your Amish Pumpkin Bread is on list of storm comfort foods that I need to bake tomorrow. Hoping for the best but certainly planning for the worst!
Kim

Anonymous said...

Does your daughter and son-in-law have a couple of generators? We invested in two small gasoline powered generators that provided enough power to run the refrigerator, chest freezer, space heaters and the television a couple of years ago. We also bought three 5 gallon gasoline cans to have enough fuel to keep those generators going. We just live in two rooms of the house at times like this and sleep in sleeping bags. Power can be gone for weeks and this is really a good solution. We keep our cell phones charged with car chargers. We have a gas stove and water heater, so that helps.

Anonymous said...

Adding my prayers to yours for people in the path of that storm.

That was a terrific movie but such a sad ending.

Karen Andreola said...

To say that apples are eaten in our house all day in some form or another this time of year really isn't much of an over-statement.

Thank you for your prayers for our safety during the east coast storm. I've been preparing most of the day. My parents are fleeing the NJ Shore tomorrow to be inland with us in PA.

Dean watched "Perfect Storm" with the children some years back but I chickened-out.
The news sounds frightening.
Karen A.