For a lot of reasons, October is one of my favorite months. For one thing, it is when it actually starts to FEEL like fall around here - usually that's not quite until mid-October, but whatever. (I admit to feeling a mixture of vicarious joy and envy to hear of the places that have already had snow showers. Yes, I like snow. I like cold weather and precipitation. I realize that's "perverse" by a lot of people's lights, but whatever. I like snow and I'm not going to apologize for it).
I can begin wearing different clothes again. As much as I like my little cotton summer dresses, and as fun as it is to break them out in April, by the end of September I'm all "Oh, which one haven't I worn 20 times yet?" The other day I wore wool socks again for the first time this fall. And today I have on a heavier skirt (one I made, it's 'doesuede' which is like a cheaper version of ultrasuede) and one of my cotton cardigan sweaters on.
And even the food starts to seem better: I've gotten good this-year's-crop apples at the store. (I have several pounds of Macintosh in my fridge. If I get up the motivation later this week I might make a batch of homemade applesauce). And soup begins to have appeal again. (A bowl of hot soup when it's 110 out, not so much. And I've never liked gazpacho.) I made a wonderful cream of tomato soup over the weekend, it was just the standard old recipe (the one I used came from Marion Cunningham's "Lost Recipes"). But it was delicious, I think in part because I used the fancy San Marzano canned tomatoes from Italy (I can get the Cento brand at my Kroger's). They're more expensive but they really are more like the home-canned kind, and they are plum tomatoes, which means they're darker and stronger-flavored and not as watery.
(I can't remember who put me on to the San Marzano tomatoes...it may have been Cook's Country. They're more expensive but I think they are worth it to me).
I'm thinking about doing a pot of beans this weekend - cooler weather seems like bean weather. And sometime I might break out the bread flour and bake bread again...I kept wanting to all summer long but when it was so hot, the thought of kneading and rising and then baking just seemed like too much.
I also get a little more free time this month. The first big push of the semester is over, things have settled down some. Also, this week is Mid Semester Assessment Testing, which means we cancel Wednesday morning classes for the testing - so I'm going to use that time to get some schoolwork done. And I get Thursday afternoon off from PI lab, because labs for that class aren't meeting this week.
And in just over two weeks, I get my mid-fall break. I am not entirely sure what to do with the break yet. At one point, I thought maybe I'd do a "staycation" and just stay home and knit (that was after the IRS nasty gram and I got worried about money...). But on the other hand - I so rarely feel like I have even a day free to go out and do what I want to do....even the Saturday trips to Sherman are "flying" trips, where I go to as few places as I can, in the interest of time. So I like the idea of being able to take a leisurely day, a day when I don't have to be anywhere the NEXT day, and do what I want. I had a half-formed idea a while back of going to Spiro Mounds state park, which might be interesting...Or I might just go back and have another fun day at Longview, with the added thought of trying to do some Christmas shopping, I don't know. (I do know I don't want to go to Dallas or anywhere with hairy traffic. I don't like city traffic and frankly Longview is about as trafficy as I can take).
I'll have to think more on it. Right now I'm leaning towards going to Spiro Mounds and maybe even swinging up to see the Heavener Runestone...if they're still open. (It was rumored they were going to close).
No comments:
Post a Comment