Quandary...38º

Usually my blathering comes easy, but this morning the mind is blank...The ink well has dried up...The keyboard is stuck...The pencil is but a stub...Am I in a funk?

I have things on my schedule today...Pat and I will fix trays of finger food for tonights opening at the Josephy Center, "Native American Art Show" and we will meet Pam there at 7pm to visit and enjoy the show.

Yesterday I did send my essay to Katey, fixed a nice dinner and started reading a decent book..."The Ordinary Truth" by Jana Richman...It is definitely not a page turner and for my taste they are taking way too long to get to the meat of the story...No problem because I have another book waiting to be picked up at the Joseph Library...At this stage of my life I don't waste much time trying to find the "story" between the pages...So it better get more interesting really quick...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Writing 101...41º

I'm back to writing on my essays assignments for Katey to critique...After a 6 month hiatus it is very difficult to get into the writing mode again as it is much different than blogging...It seems to take a deadline to get me moving...Had a couple of questions for Katey this morning and when she answers I can send this months submission winging its way through cyberspace.

This daylight savings time is really getting to me, the dark, dark evenings have me yawning and falling asleep over my book at 6:30pm...Actually stayed up until 8:30 last night after Becky and Tate came for a visit...But I was awake at 3:am this morning...GRRRRrrrrrr.

Yesterday Herb and I did errands in Enterprise and grocery shopped...Stocking up a bit so we could get a turkey for the sale price of 59 cents a pound...It will eventually be boned, cut up, put in jars and pressure canned, right now it waits in the freezer.

Our "Thanksmas" is quickly approaching and my mind is a blank, also I better get started on next months essay for Katey...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Fall Days...32º

The beautiful colors are all but gone and now fall is beginning to look bleak...My least favorite time of the year...Black and white is what I see...The time of year when you have to think about wearing a coat, then add gloves, hat and boots...I learned to love winter when living in Lake Fork, Idaho, as a child...Snow piled deep, drifts covering fences, cold, a bone chilling cold...Rides on a sleigh pulled by our team of "work" horses...Crisp, cold, sun filled days...That was my world...I knew little of the struggles of my parents, snow to shovel, ice to break, animals to feed and shelter...Enough wood  and food for the winter to feed a family, vehicles that wouldn't start...Snow and cold for months on end.

Looking for a little sun to break through this morning...Hugs to all...OWAV:)

Last of the tomatoes.

Mundane to Important...22º

That annual time of "fall back" arrived on a cold, snowy night...Officially at 2am, Sunday, November 3, 2013...Herb is the changer of the clocks in our house, if left up to me (especially digital clocks) they might or might not get changed...The entire concept makes little sense to my practical, common sense brain...I would be perfectly happy leaving the time as it is year round...No matter what the clock says I go to bed early and get up early or you could say that in the summer I go to bed when it is still light and get up when it is light and in winter I go to bed in the dark and get up when it is still dark...It doesn't matter what the CLOCK says..Having said that I better get moving because daylight is burning and its not ever 7am...Hugs to all...OWAV:)

PS...Cienna has found a sport she loves, (of course it takes place in a swimming pool)she had a great season, learned a lot and improved as a player and team member...We are so proud of "The Girl".

Cienna as she finishes up her second water polo season.

Oyster Stew/perfect day...29º

Oyster Stew (borrowed from the internet.)

I haven't always been a fan of oyster stew...Way back in time my Mom, on a cold blustery evening, would open two small cans of oysters (the only way they were available to us in the 1950's) and make oyster stew for my Dad...The smell coming from the can made my nose wrinkle up in distaste...She quickly dumped the oysters and liquid into a sauce pan added, cream, milk, salt/pepper and heated it to just below a boil...This was now poured into a flat soup bowl, a dollop of butter floated on the top, tiny oyster crackers on the side...Dad ate it with gusto, a welcome change to our diet of beef, pork and lamb.

Smattering of snow.

Mom ate a small bowl of the stew and the rest of our family had a different kind of soup (maybe chicken noodle) that tasted better than usual because we also were treated to oyster crackers on the side...The oyster stew smelled better after it was heated and Mom would offer me a taste from her bowl... "Della, you don't have to eat an oyster, just taste the broth." Over time I developed a liking for oyster stew, so when I married into the Allen Family and they always had oyster stew for Christmas Eve supper, I didn't wrinkle up my nose but dove right in...It has become a tradition at our house on Christmas Eve although to please all palates we serve oyster stew and/or clam chowder, sans oyster crackers...Toasted, crunchy sourdough bread is usually served.

Might be the only sun we see today.

I don't limit oyster stew to Christmas, and on our recent trip to Costco I spied the large jar of oysters and added them to our cart....Oyster stew yesterday and fried oysters for dinner today...It snowed just a skiff last night perfect weather for oysters....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Breezy...36º

Melodic sounds of the wind chimes on our front porch, brought me out of a fitful sleep...Now as I sit in the living room, scrabble games are done and the sky is lightening in the East...Winds at times are picking up, the front of the storm coming in...Soon the wind chimes will have to be put away or the wind will cause havoc with them as it blows and bangs them every which way...The geraniums that graced the front porch, all summer, Herb had carried upstairs to winter in a south window...When I went to water the geraniums yesterday they are all blooming or budded ready to bloom...So I carefully carried one downstairs to brighten the living room...Maybe if I am diligent enough with watering and fertilizing,we can have blooms most of the winter...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Stormy Rainbow...33º

Another sunny day with prediction of snow coming this weekend...Still amazing to me how fast the wether can change...The last couple of days Herb finished putting the garden to bed for the winter, then anchored the leaves, straw etc down by laying fencing panels over top everything.

Four little "trick or treaters" visited our house last night...We handed out baggies of fresh popped popcorn...A small serving of something other than candy...That's whats happening on Barton Heights on this sunny first day of November...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Below are photos of our view of a storm and rainbow moving down the mountains Wednesday morning.