A Week-end of Contrasts

Yesterday we had a day of steady rain interspersed with driving rain--in short, it was the kind of day that I expected as hurricane Matthew went by, but not yesterday.

We made the best of it.  We watched some PBS cooking shows and had an idea for a chowder made with tilapia later.  I had the kind of nap with the quality of sleep that eludes me each night--that fall into a deep, deep sleep.  We made chowder together.  We decided that the pot really needed to be stirred every 4 minutes, to keep the dairy products from curdling while the chowder got hot enough to cook the potatoes.

We sat at our laptops, listening to an old Paul Simon album ("Hearts and Bones" from 1983, critically panned but one of my favorites).  I thought about how lucky I am to have parents who introduced me to such a wide range of good music.  I thought about how Paul Simon is a very different artist from Bob Dylan, and why he is equally deserving of the Nobel, if we're going to open it up to songwriters.

My spouse worked on creating a midterm for his Philosophy class, while I worked on finishing the short story I wanted to finish this week (almost done!).  One of us got up every 4 minutes to stir the chowder as the rain beat against the windows--it was cozy.

It was also so very different from Friday night, which had the kind of beautiful weather perfect for watching the nearly full moon rise.  We built a fire in the fire pit and enjoyed watching the flames under the crystalline light of the moon.

Today will be different yet again.  Today, the pumpkin truck comes to church.  Our church has a pumpkin patch each year where we sell pumpkins.  And they come on an 18 wheeler from New Mexico, and offloading them isn't included in the cost.  So, our church members do it.

 

It was supposed to come yesterday--happily it was delayed earlier this week.  I'd hate to have had to offload in the driving rain we had.

 

By this evening, I'll have pumpkins on the porch--the only way I'll know it's October!  And we may experiment with grilling them this year.

 

If you haven't already bought your pumpkin(s) for the season, drop by a local church pumpkin patch.  Your dollars will go further than if you bought a pumpkin at a grocery store.  We use the funds from the pumpkin patch to support our food pantry, for example.

If you're in South Florida and you want to support my church, it's Trinity Lutheran at the corner of 72nd and Pines Blvd, across the street (but on the same side of the street) from the South campus of Broward College.