I Get Around...

Hi all,

No, no no...not in that way. Far too much gossip happens in this village for me to be even tempted to do that. Anyhow, I spent a majority of my day in the van today. After making pancakes by myself - : ( - I did the garden market/meat run and got back to send Connie off to work. Then I took Franklin with me to the doctor's office, then we zipped into the IGA (or Eye-ga as poor Hum thought...), post office, pharmacy and bank. And we got back before 10:30. Nice.

After a tea break, Franklin did some jobs while I whipped up a really good spaghetti sauce. I browned a garlic shoot thing, onion and then the hamburger, and the 3.5 year old helped add the mushrooms (and was very put-out later when he couldn't find them in the sauce...lol). I sloshed some red wine in and put a cover on it. Then I browned some zucchini, added a little wine and fresh herbs from my pots outside. Several forms of basil, oregano and rosemary found their way in. And some garlic powder. Then I added the crushed tomatoes with basil, tomato paste and finally 6-7 chard leaves. Then I added the meat. It was pretty darn good. I didn't do bread today, but I'm saving my sanity.

Lunch with Connie was a disaster. We had 3 guests and she wouldn't stop talking, breaking her just 'listening' rule that we've had in place successfully for months now. Some of it is post-vacation stress, some is the new family I'm sure. However, it was very hard. Hum thinks it's kind of mean (but I am making time for her in the evenings now, and she wasn't here for the bad months!), but it's truly a slipperly slope. You can't just have one meal where you engage her and expect her to go back to listening. Or ask just 1 question and not open the flood gate. Unfortunately for me, Hum seems determined to learn this lesson the hard way. Maybe she'll find an even better solution though, I'm trying to look on the bright side!

Dinner went little better. I was late, as Franklin had a routine doctor's appointment over an hour away. So we both missed afternoon work. We had time to got to Target quickly and have a tea break at Barnes & Noble. It was nice to get out and we had a good time. Mostly because of Pegasus - Bean let me borrow her GPS again. I'll need it for tomorrow night when I go and pick up Sam from the airport in Albany. Urg. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. Hum is feeling a little better, but the younger child has lymes. Not good, but she's been on treatment for a while now. Although if I get lymes, I'm going straight for the allopathic drugs. Sorry.

Anyhow, it's been another long day.
Enjoy the pictures.
Hope all is well,
Steph