Isabel

We received a post card recently  from one of our favorite people, Mac's cousin, or technically his 2nd cousin Isabel.  She's been traveling again, this time taking a transcontinental train across Canada, by herself.  Did I mention that she is in her 80's?  She's always been a traveler, when her Mother, Mac's Great Aunt (and she was still traveling in her 90's) was alive they travelled everywhere: across Russia on a train, the length of Africa on a train, cruises to the Middle East and Japan.  On her own she's been to China, Cambodia,Vietnam, Antarctica (more than once), all over Europe, Australia.
Any time I mention some place I'd love to visit, Petra in Jordan for example, she'll say, "Go, you'll love it, I've visited it several times."

Isabel on the left

Last year she told us about going to the airport in San Francisco to catch a flight to Vietnam where she was to join a tour, but her flight was canceled, but the airline folks told her to stay and they'd try and find her another flight.  They did, it involved flying to Beijing, changing to a plane going to Shanghai and then on to Hanoi in Vietnam.  She said she sat there for a minute, asked the Lord (she's very religious) if he thought it was a good idea and He told her to go for it, so she did and had a wonderful time.
She is elegant, lovely and a joy to be around. Her handwriting is so gorgeous, I'm jealous and embarrassed when I send her a card because my writing is so messy.
 I hope to be half as nice and as well traveled

 when I get to be her age.

Look at that handwriting!

A Nice Surprise

Went out shopping today and had a nice surprise, gasoline has dropped to $2.98 a gallon.  That's less than a pound of hamburger meat.  In the 3+ years I've had my car I've only put a bit over 8,000 miles on it, which works out to about 2700 miles a year, so I don't use a lot of gas, but it's nice to see it getting so low---lol---I didn't think I'd ever have thought that $2.98 was cheap for gas.  When I was a teenager and first became aware of gas prices  it was about 19¢ a gallon and coincidentally hamburger was about the same price and now it's $3.82 a pound.

Autumn in the South

The corner by the front door.

No the leaves aren't changing colors or falling and the weather isn't cold, but you can feel a change.  The angle of light is different, acorns are everywhere, making the squirrels downright giddy, and the humidity is definitely lower.  Yes we had a day that reached 90º this week, but with lower humidity it didn't feel bad.
Mac bought me two huge Chrysanthemums to go on the  front porch and we've set out our jack o'lanterns.  Will be picking up some pumpkins for Mac to carve tomorrow.  So even though the yard isn't looking very autumnal, the porch and stairs are.

Enjoying The Weather

It looks like summer is slowly, but surely, slipping away.  Yes the day time temperatures are still going up in the 80's, but it's been cooling off at night (no overnight temperatures in the upper 70's), we've actually had a couple of nights in the 40's :), and the humidity has been reasonable.
I worked in the garden yesterday and have finally deweeded (is there such a word? word check doesn't think so, but I'm using it anyway) one flower bed and started on another one.
I've also been trying to clear out the summer things from the house and bring in the Autumn ones, love the colors-brown, yellow, orange and black.
Miss Kitty, who lay around all summer like a melted blob of butter, now insists on going out in the yard everyday.  We caught her up a tree yesterday with a squirrel squawking at her.  Today she is restricted to the deck.
Mac, when not working in the yard,  has been busy painting, as always,

 and has finished a lovely little painting that is loosely based on a painting we saw in a Midsomer Murders episode (The Black Book I think).  I love it, trying to decide where it should go.

It's Here!!!!!

The delivery team for our new refrigerator called Tuesday night and let us know they would be here between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm Wednesday, so we let our friend Mike know that if he wanted our old refrigerator, he was going to use it for spare parts, that he needed to come and get it.  So bright and early Wednesday morning he came to move it.  The entrances to our kitchen are small so he ended up having to take the doors off the fridge to get it out.  But out it went, down the stairs and up into his truck.  He asked it the new fridge was going to fit the opening we had and Mac said he thought fridges were all a standard size.  Mike said their width is standard, but not the heights.  So I ran to the computer, looked our new one up and sure enough, it was taller than our old one.  Luckily there was a decorative strip of wood on the bottom of the cupboard that's above the refrigerator opening so we were able to remove it and make more room.

When the delivery team showed up that afternoon we told them they'd probably have to take the doors off of the fridge to get it in the kitchen.  They measured the openings, measured the fridge and removed the doors.  Before you knew it, the fridge was in, with very little room to spare, the waterline was hooked up, all the drawers and shelves were put in and they went over the operation of the fridge with me.

Cubic footwise it's not any bigger than my old fridge, but the layout inside is so much better.

Here's hoping it lasts a long, long time.

Waiting patiently

It's gorgeous!

Love the double door opening on top

Like the freezer on the bottom with pullout baskets

Magic Mike II

In case you're a Channing Tatum fan I thought I'd let you know that he's filming the sequel to Magic Mike here in Savannah during the month of October.  Filming started today and on the news they said they're still looking for extras.
Didn't see the first Magic Mike and I doubt I'll see this one either, but it's always fun to see what movies are being filmed locally.

The Birthday Girl

Today, as I like to say, is the 30th anniversary of a favorite birthday of mine.  In other words I'm not admitting how old I am.  Just let it be said that when I sneeze dust comes out.

I Skyped with our daughter this morning and opened the presents she'd had sent to me.  She got me a Kindle book I'd been wanting A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman
and a wonderful Erica Crossbody purse that is deep enough for my Kindle.

The Agatha Christie Story

Mac always surprises me.  He got me 2 vintage Saturday Evening Post magazines.  One has an Agatha Christie story and the other has a P.G. Wodehouse one.  The Agatha issue is from 1944 and the P.G. Wodehouse issue is from 1933.  Both magazines are in amazing condition and the ads are a hoot.  You can buy a Chrysler car for a bit over $900 and a Hudson for $634.   He also gave me an adorable pig for my garden, my last one has broken to bits, but he's too cute and will live upstairs I think.

Has the P.G. Wodehouse Story

 Miss Kitty, knowing the way to my heart gave me chocolate.
Now, if only I had a refrigerator, life would be perfect..

And Then It All Went Pear-Shaped

Yesterday we were up bright and early to head to the far side of Savannah for my quarterly meeting with my Retina Specialist.  I had to take the dreaded peripheral vision test, which I hate, but all is well and he says my eyes are doing great.  So in under an hour we were out and headed to the commissary to do our monthly shopping.  The commissary is much cheaper than the local stores, particularly for meat, so we stocked up and before noon we were headed home feeling pretty smug about getting everything done so quickly.
At home Mac carried everything in and I started loading the refrigerator and the pantry.  While shoving things in the refrigerator I noticed the light was out and told Mac, he checked the circuit breaker and said that it had been tripped, so he flicked it back on and looked in the refrigerator and said it was making a funny sound.  As it started running we noticed a bad smell and realized that something was wrong and that's why the circuit breaker had tripped.
The refrigerator is more than 14 years old and I'd been muttering about it being time to replace it, so instead of trying to fix an old one, and considering the smell coming from it it probably would have been a major repair, we decided to bite the bullet and get a new one.  So we ordered one from  the local big box store who was offering the best price (by far), but it can't be delivered until next Wednesday.  So we rushed out, bought some big ice chests, a load of ice and packed everything in.
Today my cousin-in-law suggested storing some of it in my washing machine because water wouldn't be a problem.  That's what we've done, we put things like juice, milk, mayonnaise, things that  need to be cooled, but not frozen, in there.  So far the frozen things are still frozen and we've added more ice.
Here's hoping the weather stays cool.
As for my new refrigerator, it's just what I've been wanting,  a French Door one with the freezer down below.  Hope it gets here early Wednesday.

Paella

I said I'd give my recipe for paella today, but first a little background.  I was first introduced to paella by my mother-in-law who was Spanish, her family was f rom Macatera a small village near Salamanca, Spain.  She made a very soupy version because that's how my father-in-law liked it.
Then when we started traveling to Spain I became more familiar with the Valenciana version which is drier and I found that I liked it better.
No one is quite sure where the word paella comes from.  One theory is that it is derived from the Latin word patella which means pan and paella is the Valencian word for pan.
Other say it comes form the Arabic word baqiyah which means leftovers and that paella is a poor man's dish made from leftovers.
It's  a bit of a stretch to get from baqiyah to paella, but it was the Arabs that brought rice to Spain so it's possible.
Typically you'll see several different versions of paella in Spain:  Paella Valenciana which is made with rice, chicken, pork and rabbit, no seafood.
Paella Marisco which is made with seafood, prawns, mussels, calamari (squid).
Paella Mixta which is a combination of  the first two.
Arroz Negro which is rice cooked with squid ink----this is Mac's favorite version.

I tend to make Paella Mixta and it is usually a leftover version with me throwing in whatever's laying in the refrigerator.

                                                                Paella

Chicken Thighs    Use as many as you think your family will eat, I flour mine, but you don't need to
                              I brown them in a large frying pan using a teaspoon of olive oil with lots of onion      
                              and garlic.  Cook about 15 minutes adding nonfat chicken stock as they're
                              cooking, pour in a bit at a time to keep things simmering, but don't drown things.  I
                              also add a bout a 1/2 cup white wine, this isn't necessary, but I like it.

Rice                       After about 15 minutes I add the rice, I put in a bit over 1/2 a cup, but put in enough
                               to feed your family.  Then I add approximately 2 cups of water and the saffron.  I
                               know saffron is expensive, but it just isn't paella without it.  Hard to describe how
                               much I use, I grab a very generous pinch  and smashing it between my fingers I add
                               it to the rice, if the rice  doesn't turn yellow enough I add more.  Cover, lower the
                               heat and cook until the rice is done.

Shrimp                   When the rice is nearly done add the shrimp, I use canned shrimp, little ones and
                               they taste delicious, you could use fresh or frozen ones too.

Green Peas             After the shrimp I put in the green peas, I put in about a 1/2 cup

You can add more water or chicken stock as needed depending on how soupy you want it to be.
I always let my sit for a while after it's done and let the rice soak up most of the liquid.

About anything can be added to a paella, sometimes I put in Chorizo, Spanish sausage and for Mac, who likes seafood better than me, I'll throw in some fish or scallops.
You could use any part of the chicken, but thighs stay the juiciest.

It is so tasty, we love it.  Sorry there's no picture, but we ate it before I thought of taking a picture.

                           

The Coastal Georgia 600

One of my poor flower beds, I've managed to clear one corner
and found a Vince still flowering

So pretty today and the humidity is still being reasonable, so  I managed to get out in the garden again and pull around 600 weeds, thus the title today.  I'm absolutely ashamed about how full of weeds my flower beds are, but in my defense,  the heat and humidity were lethal this summer. I can usually keep them, not out, but under control, though not this year.  If the weather will hold for awhile I may be able to beat them back a bit.
Yesterday's paella was delicious, almost licked my bowl.  I'll write about the recipe tomorrow.
Today in honor of the autumnal equinox, which arrives at 10:29 pm eastern standard time (my aren't they precise) I'm cooking a lamb stew in my slow cooker.  It smells so good.
Good bye summer and don't let the door hit you in the back!

A Taste of Autumn . . . Finally

It's a picture perfect day here today, low HUMIDITY, with temperatures, wait, never mind the temperature, we have low HUMIDITY today.  Mac has been working feverishly outside, whacked back the overgrown weeds, and plants that have been acting like weeds, yes wisteria and lantana I'm talking about you.
I even got out there today and pulled weeds by the handsful out of my flowerbeds, hope the weather holds 'cause I have a lot more to pull.
Mac made a perch for the owl that April gave him as a present last year, he was in the garden, but now he has a perch next to the garage.
Our cat is laying in a pool of sunshine, she's normally hiding out in the darkest, coolest spot she can find so you know it must feel good.
Sort of a paella today, chicken, shrimp, rice and lots of saffron.