What's cookin'?

 Well, the weather cool down did not last long.  That was what was predicted, though, so it was not a surprise.

Next week's mid to upper 90s, though?  Do we really need to do that?  Ugh.

They're saying, though, that actual autumn WILL arrive the week after next.  Once again, I will believe it when I feel it! 

My treatment went just fine last week, and, over this weekend, I have finally started sleeping again!

After weeks of intractable insomnia, I can't put into words how WONDERFUL it is to wake up at 3 am to use the bathroom, and realize that I've slept past midnight.... AND THEN TO GO BACK TO SLEEP!

I feel SO much better, in so many ways, just due to being able to sleep!

Anyway, as I have mentioned before, and as happens so often during this time of year since I moved to Oklahoma, I have gotten tired of waiting for cool weather to begin to enjoy cooking some of my favorite things.

Yesterday, using my new cast iron stove top cauldron, I made one of my favorite soups.  It's a recipe I developed when I was doing living history, and it's SO very good.

Butter beans, onion, carrots, celery, cabbage, barley or farro... It's so simple, but so nourishing and yummy! 

Today, I will be making pot roast with potatoes and carrots! 

Dave got the front yard mowed and edged yesterday, and it looks so much better.  He will be doing the back yard today.

I want to start putting Halloween decorations up soon, too! 

Have I mentioned that I want to start back with the practice of hand written journaling?  

It's been an urge bubbling away inside of me for a while now, so I have ordered a nice, leather bound, re-fillable journal, and gotten ink refills for my "fancy pen."

The pen is a Mont Blanc that I found in the parking lot of the carpet installation company where I worked WAY back in the 1980s.  

I know that one of my bosses dropped it, because they drove expensive cars, wore designer clothes, and used Mont Blanc pens......but I decided, then and there, that if they were so careless with a $400 pen, then it was meant to be mine!  Finders keepers, after all!  

Neither of them ever asked about it, so I kept it! 

It's taking weeks, however, for the journal that I ordered to get here.  

Even though the company I chose is supposedly in the US, their merchandise is shipped from.... you guessed it.... China.

The package was SUPPOSED to be here between Oct. 1 and Oct. 5, but, according to tracking, it is JUST NOW leaving China.  There's no telling when it will get here.

This disappoints me, and I am hoping that I can find refills of  paper the right size that doesn't have to come from China!

Despite the fact that I will be keeping a written journal, with memories, recipes, ideas, poems, or whatever I might feel like writing, I will continue to keep this electronic journal as well.

The idea of leaving something behind, some day, FAR into the future, that is in my own hand writing, appeals to me.    

I have so few treasures that are in the hand of my parents or grandma...and I know how special they are.

That being said, I am so anxious to get started that I am already thinking of what I will write in my first entries.... It's sort of become an obsession, HAHA!  I'm really looking forward to it.

In other news, our oldest feral kitty, the one we named Luke Skywalker when he and his mom, Star, showed up in our back yard WAY back in the 20teens, has been coming around for meals again!

Our yard cat, Sammie, had driven him away about 3 and a half years ago.  He started staying with the other feral cat helper across the street, and we saw him only rarely, always on the other side of the street.

Now that Sammie is gone, though, he feels safe coming back to visit us, and we are SO happy.

He is doing GREAT for a street cat who is about 13 or 14 years old!!   That is because of us.

We trapped him and his mommy at the same time... in the same trap...when he was still very young.  

We got them both TNR'd, and they took up residence in our back yard for the LONGEST time.  They adopted the one we called Silver when her mom abandoned her.  They were fixtures. 

Then, they started wandering, as feral cats will do....going back and forth to the other cat friend across the street.

When her time came, Star came to us, and died in our back yard. We were finally able to pet her, and to comfort her, in her last hours.  Luke watched us bury her.

The year Sammie and her mom, who is long gone, showed up, Luke started coming around less frequently....but when Sammie had her kittens, and raised them in our back yard, she drove him off once and for all.

Anyway, I went to the back door last Sunday evening, just to look outside, and THERE HE WAS!  He has come almost every morning and evening since.

He has had recurring infections that have rendered one of his eyes possibly blind, but he's doing just fine otherwise.  He meows to us, and last night, he ate while I sat on the stoop just a few feet away.

Then he flopped down on the patio and rolled around, onto his back, feeling completely safe.  It did my heart SO MUCH good!

Let's hope he continues to thrive, and to safely come to see us.  I hope that I can get him to play with me again, like he used to, using one of those wand toys....basically a long stick with a strip of cloth tied to the end, and a little toy at the end of the strip. 

We used to play with one of those while Star watched. 

Anyway, I am off to make myself some breakfast.  Part two of my treatment is Wednesday.

Have a great week!