As fall looms on the horizon, the bees know they have to make every minute count. Soon winter will be here and they and their fellow sister bees will be clustered in a tight clump in the frigid hive. The cold girls will work their way into the center where it’s warmer and closer to the food they’ve stored. When they are warm, they make room for the colder bees. You may ask, where are the males (drones). They’ve been…
One of my fond memories as a child is raking leaves with my dad when we lived in town. Our house sat across from a lot filled with huge walnut trees. We’d rake those leaves into huge piles on the brick street and then light them on fire. Those days are gone forever. The brick streets still remain but the house is gone, replaced by a retirement home. No one burns leaves any more, so that delicious aroma is missing…
In honor of the changing season I pulled these plants from the patio, tucked them in the basement under grow lights, and wrote this poem: Season’s Change October has come and gone. Time to bring plants in before freeze. Gone is the gentle south wind and warm summer breeze. Check the furnace and fireplace. Make sure they’re ready to go. Tune up the blower in preparation for snow. Pull dead plants from flowerbeds, winterize the hoses, rake leaves, sweep the…
With the cooler days of fall, my mind turns to baking. I found a yummy cookie recipe the other day on the Kitchen Aid site. They are crunchy, but the cranberries give them a chewy texture. Brown Butter White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies 1 1/2cups all-purpose flour 1teaspoon baking soda 1/2teaspoon sea salt 2sticks unsalted butter (browned and cooled, see Chef’s Notes) 1cup light brown sugar (packed) 1/2cup white sugar 1egg (room temp) 1egg yolk (room temp) 1teaspoon vanilla 1cup old fashioned oats 1cup white chocolate 1cup dried cranberries Equipment: KitchenAid® Cordless Hand Mixer with both…
It’s November again. Time to take in earth’s beauty before denuded trees stand stark against winter’s wind. Where did the year go? Every November I join Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem a Day Challenge. http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2018-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-4 Robert is the poetry editor for Writer’s Digest. He feeds poets a prompt every day during November and April. The prompt for last Sunday was, “Write an I’m sorry poem.” These lines popped in my head when I read the prompt. It’s now been over six months…
The temperature is dropping–time to take the plants off the patio and put them to bed in the basement. Darn! My son, Josh, wheeled the largest ones from the patio to the garage on a dolly just before the rain began. I’ve spent the afternoon pruning the tallest plants so they will fit through the basement door. Even though the trees are beautiful this year, fall always makes me sad. I guess it’s because winter isn’t far away. I looked over…