Changing With the Season

Autumn has arrived! I woke Monday to the beautiful sound of steady rain. It was a welcome sound to mark the change of seasons. Then we were treated to three glory days of sunshine before more rain arrived Friday. Another steady, pouring rain. I love it and I found multiple excuses to walk out in it today, ie: walking the dog, getting the mail. I don't think I was quite as silly as the old man I drove by who was on his riding mower, mowing his lawn in the steady downpour like it was the perfectly normal thing to do. I'm still a little worried about him and I hope he has some family watching over him.

Steve has been gone T-E-N days and is due home today. Hallelujah! I have purposely not made a list of broken things for him to fix when he's home.We will celebrate his homecoming with Slow Cooker Barbecued Beef Ribs.  I like the fact that I can assemble the meal in the morning. We'll be out to the airport in the afternoon and that can be a waiting game. It's still pouring rain and a perfect kind of day to be in the kitchen. While I'm at it, I'll make several chicken pot pies in individual aluminum pie tins. These are for hard working daughter #3 and her husband to keep in their freezer for all those long days when they have no time to cook . (All the daughters are hard working, but only one lives nearby whom I can support with frozen dinners.) I hope she doesn't read this before I get them to her because it's a surprise.

I cleaned out one of my dresser drawers and found an old notebook I had journaled seventeen years ago. Of course I stopped cleaning and sat down to read it. The memories of what I'd written came vividly back to me and I was caught in a time warp for a half hour. I'm glad I wrote down those few day-to-day memories, but it made me sad to read them because I will forever miss my girls. I never could have dreamed how children capture a mother's heart forever and squeeze it with never letting go. This cartoon sums up a typical day from all those years ago. Oh we had many of these days! Now multiply this times 6,570 or more. Even though the children have moved away and their beds are empty, that love just keeps on beating in my heart. The words in Box #4 are declared and always given thanks for in my prayers.

So, everything changes with the seasons: families, wardrobes, gardens and a refreshing change in menus. I made Baked Potato Soup this week and it was delicious because we haven't eaten it for months. We had sweet Italian sausage on the side along with plenty of the most adorable, miniature saltine crackers. (Those little crackers made me happy- just ask Tess.) There are a wide variety of Baked Potato Soup recipes out there to try, but I've linked the recipe for the one I always use.