Musings

Saw cranberries; had to buy them, then sauce them. Mmmmm.

Posted at 9:58 PM | No Comments »

Grocery shopping almost always tops the chore list after a trip, as it did this morning. I looked in the fruit fridge display and thought, hmm, blueberry prices are cheaper, just a bit, but cheaper. Then, it hit me: the packages are the same, but now they have 11 oz, not 12. I’m still hot about it. [I tried to include the “flames” emoji, but my software won’t post it.]

Posted at 8:34 PM | No Comments »

We motored east sometimes close to Lake Erie, sometimes a few miles inland, and finally saw Cleveland in the distance.

Over on the east side, we met up with a college buddy of The Guru at a lovely Thai restaurant. My dish: Siam salmon…salmon wrapped in a napa cabbage leaf with veg and a rich yellow curry sauce. Oh, just yum. Perfect. Thanks, FK.

We continued east, still under the lake effect smear, and, while in Amish territory dodging horse-drawn buggies, spotted this pair of planes that looked to me as if they were slowly degrading. I did not see a for-sale sign.

Then we turned south, and outran the snow-smear, and are now on the PA side of the OH/PA line, enjoying temps just a smidge above freezing. We understand that a winter storm is headed this way tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll be out of here before it ramps up.

Posted at 9:38 PM | No Comments »

Our evening began with this platter, and the yumminess continued. Mmmmm.

Posted at 10:43 PM | No Comments »

On today’s grocery expedition, we found autumnal antioxidants, the red and blue flavors. I was particularly excited by the early cranberries, early meaning before T-giving week.

Posted at 7:11 PM | Comments Off on Toothsome fruitiness

Our morning began west of Traverse City, and therefore off our typical I-75 axis. Pleasantly. So, we stayed west of I-75 all through Michigan, where farm stands selling pumpkins and big pots of mums were abundant. Look for mums on the far left between the arch-roofed structure and the RR tracks.

Our trajectory took us through the “heart of Amish country,” Shipshewana, Indiana. Hence: buggies and many farms with paddocks of horses. We even saw a four-horse team on the road, but pulling no farm equipment, only the driver’s platform with an empty hitch-bar.

We decided on a buffet dinner (a vast improvment over Arbys and the like). The offerings of course included red jello. [Not sampled.]

And here’s today’s sunset, complete with windshield flares. No Great Lake in Southern Indiana, even a bay of a smallish lake, although we did pass by Big Lake at some point.

Posted at 7:03 PM | Comments Off on Ah, the Midwest

I know you’re supposed to eat more protein as you get older, and I’m surely more elderly, in fact elderly enough to eat more protein. The latest numbers I’ve read are that I should bump it up from my “adult” days on the order of 20% to something like 70 grams or more (probably more). I need to consult nutrition tables to figure out how to do that.

Posted at 9:11 PM | Comments Off on Protein consult

Tonight, we enjoyed a group dinner-on-the-deck, with four younguns in constant motion (more or less), around us assorted adults. Here, the two six-year-old boys attempt to hoover up all the smoked whitefish appetizer. The moms sent them elsewhere soon after this, and the rest of us were able to nosh….

Posted at 9:36 PM | Comments Off on Great fun

I have read that some folks eat lily bulbs or use them for medicine, but I’m sticking to enjoying merely looking at the flowers. Besides, if you consume the bulbs, that means no flowers next year.

Posted at 10:01 PM | Comments Off on Nicely pale yellow

Proof of bridge crossing. Also proof that traffic flowed at 45 mph in two lanes each way, as normal. [Ignore bug smears on windshield and assistant photographer’s quirky focus.]

Ah, we’ve returned to the land of rhubarb. I was taught to pull the stem gently yet forcefully (no tugging) away from the crown (the direction varies from “up”), and I didn’t intend to select a leaf that was nurturing a wee leafette—oops. BTW, the sauce was the strongest pink of the year, almost luminous.

Proof that the lupin remain gorgeous, although somewhat disguised since the grass has shot up to full height, sometimes higher than the lupin.

Posted at 9:35 PM | Comments Off on Arrival