old fashioned

While working on our dinner pizza tonight, I realized that I like different times of day for different reasons just like the changing seasons. I love working in front of the open window with the late afternoon light slanting in at a certain angle in the spring, I love the breeze in the fall and now the darkness closing in, giving the kitchen a cozy feeling.

This morning I wasn't worth much because I had my stomach all in a knot until Mila finally came home after her nightly romp - who knows where she hangs out and/or has adventures- she tries to tell me a whole lot when she runs inside and stops to hug my legs on her way to the dry food, but I don't speak much 'cat'.

Things picked up after her reappearance and I harvested, washed, and oven-dried rosemary and sage. The weather report says it will be wintry tomorrow, and I spoke to my friend in Minnesota who confirmed that she was chilled to the bone after walking her dog. Our weather usually arrives from up thereabouts, so...

I do take pleasure in harvesting some of my own herbs, but I have not tried my hand at other preservation methods such as canning. Once upon a time I used to make a lot more things from scratch on a regular basis: yogurt, ice cream, hearty pie crusts, hummus, to name a few.

Old-fashioned or not? I knit, I quilt, bake bread, and cook a meal from scratch most nights. But I am a very unmotivated house keeper. Creating, not cleaning. And, I sometimes channel my great-grandmother when I encourage my family to eat 'just a little bit' more to fatten them up some. On top of that, I have noticed a recent tendency to bring up memories. My eyes have complied with their age and don't cooperate with me without glasses to read, even the not-so-fine print. I find this amusing until I can't find those darn glasses.

Well. Back to my ironing then! Thankfully, with a modern cordless steam iron.