Archives for October 2011

Nuggets: Cold Rainy Day

The light rain started last night, continued all through the night, and all day long without stop. Needless to say we didn’t get to spend any time enjoying the outdoors today. At home it’s usually warm when it rains, but here it was quite chilly. So instead we stayed warm and dry with some indoor activities.

::Grandma did some more canning first thing this morning. She was given some grapes that she made into grape juice. I’m still pretty fascinated with the preserving process. I did freeze plenty of fruit this year, but I haven’t been brave enough to try canning on my own.

More canningGrape juice

::The men worked on manly things together in the barn this morning. They got our car ready for the next leg of our trip, changing the oil and the wiper blades.

Changing oilMen working

::I spent more time looking out my favorite, big kitchen window. I just can’t get tired of seeing Fall outside. It’s so pretty, and this is the first time I’ve been here at this time of the season. I’m really hoping the beans get harvested before we leave. We’ll have to wait and see if it gets dry enough.

Favorite viewWindow view

::We brought a huge pile of jackets… the one I want is always at the bottom. They are all different thicknesses for however cold I am at the moment. I’ve been wearing two at once to be warm enough outside since I don’t have a super thick jacket.

Jackets

::We have a high volume of pills in this family. Everyone has their own pill containers, I even have mine for my daily allergy medicines. Mildred noted today that we all happen to have different ones, which is good thing so that we aren’t trying to take the wrong pills.

Pill containers

::Family meals have been interesting this week. With each person having their own dietary restrictions I don’t think there has been a meal yet where we’ve all eaten the same thing. It’s worked out just fine though. We’ve each had plenty to eat.

Family dinner

::Tonight ended with a game of dominoes. We always play dominos when we’re here and we only play when we’re here. Mildred won by far. We tried to gang up on her at the end, but it didn’t work. It’s been a while since we’ve played all the way through each number, but we had started early enough tonight that we had enough time to finish.

Dominos 1Dominos 2Dominos 3

We leave in the morning to head to Niagara Falls. I’m so excited for the next couple of days that we will spend there. I’m sure we will be taking tons of pictures to share. Time for bed now to be ready for our early morning.

Apple Picking

As soon as we had decided to plan another trip to Grandpa and Grandma’s farm in Ohio, my first question to Grandma was whether we would be too late for apple season… since they weren’t quite ready when we left here several weeks ago. She said we would probably be too late, but it turns out there were just a few left. Grandma said she had been watching them, hoping they would stay on the tree just a little longer for me.

Apple picking

Thankfully, I had my first opportunity to pick apples today! We used a nifty tool to get down the ones all the way at the top of the tree. It was a little tricky until I got the hang of it. And I definitely had an apple fall from the tree right onto my forehead. It was so worth it to brave the cold to experience some Fall activities.

Jerry picking applesPicking 1Picking 2Picking 3Picking 4Bucket of apples

We also enjoyed walking around a little and seeing what the farm looks like in the Fall. Even though we were here so recently, the farm sure looks different with the change in the weather. It’s pretty so see the seasonal changes. I spent quite a bit of time today just looking out the window.

Colorful treeField in the fallTall treePlaying in leavesKicking leaves

Later on we cooked up some of the apples we had picked. Mildred made an apple pie and I made some cinnamon apples for myself. I’m pretty excited that I am the ONLY person to have touched the apples before I ate them. I picked them, peeled them, cut them, baked them.. and ate them! Talk about minimal processing… love it!!

Apples on tableApple toppingApple to bakeBaked apples

They sure were yummy! Yay for participating in another farm activity!

Locust Grove Night

Our trip is off to a great start so far. We were loaded and on the road just after 8:00 this morning and made great time, only stopping at a few rest areas and to get some food for Jesse. I brought some leftover stir fry for myself since I’ve heard from several allergy friends that cold leftovers really aren’t that bad. I keep intending to give it a shot, but there is so often an easy opportunity to borrow a microwave. We spotted one in the guard station at one of the rest areas and Jesse asked the guard if we could use it. Having a hot lunch when we jumped back in the car made me one happy passenger!

Hot lunch

We had an easy drive and enjoyed spotting the bits of fall color as we headed north. We hope to see a whole lot more fall color before this trip is through.

Fall color

Unlike last time, we made it all the way to our destination without the car breaking down on us. We decided we wanted to stay in the same hotel that we broke down at on our last trip since it was so nice and cozy. And it’s comforting to be in familiar surroundings and know exactly what our room will look like when we get there. And we even left our car battery in our car this time!

We checked in and had some time to relax and get settled before dinner. I packed leftover lasagna to reheat in our hotel room. Leftovers are so much easier than trying to find a place that will accomodate my allergies, and I’d rather not risk eating something that will make me feel crappy while stuck in the car all day the next day. Jesse says he never gets tired of lasagna so I figured that would be a good choice.

Lasagna dinner

After a super hot shower using as much water as I wanted, we are just chillaxing while we wait for a couple of TV shows we wanted to watch tonight. We have a much longer driving day tomorrow, but I think we’ll be as rested as we can be for it.