Season Firsts

We made our first pot of soup for the Fall. We tried a new recipe from Martha Stewart's Living...Beef and Barley Soup...no weird ingredients in this recipe...often Martha's recipes call for something that there is no way that we could find the ingredient/s in Tullahoma. Now that I have said that, this recipe did call for a specific kind of mushroom one I had never heard of)...we just substituted mushrooms we could find here.The soup was very good...a keeper recipe. Today was cool enough for soup...but by the time that I finished making it I was rather warm. Martha said that it should take four hours...and she was right! It would have taken longer if I hadn't had help with cutting up the veggies...Graham and Woody helped with that. Another first for the Fall, I sat on the front porch and drank a cup of tea this morning and then sat for a while this afternoon when I took a break...it was cool enough (but mosquitoes were out in the afternoon). I was enjoying the new pillows that I have finished. The acorns in the picture...are not the first for this season...we have many underfoot! As a matter of fact, they can be a hazard to one's health. I don't think that the squirrels will go hungry this winter!

Woody got up early this morning and walked his four-mile route. He ran errands this morning, too. Then later in the morning he took Graham to Lowes. Every other week they have a free project to make. Graham headed off with his work apron and goggles that he got the last time. This time he made a fire engine that has a siren. He was pleased. I'm guessing that he gave it to Elijah. Graham came over mid afternoon...that is when he helped us in the kitchen...he peeled carrots and chopped them, sliced mushrooms, and chopped onions...using a neat chopper/slicer and a new vegetable peeler that we got recently (always fun to do chores when there are new "toys" to try out! I have been cleaning today too...not my favorite thing to do! Woody has been practicing...more about that tomorrow!