Rain, cold, and cozy

 

Lovely morning today—thunder woke me, followed quickly by the gentle paw of a very nervous dog. I just buried into the covers and dozed, listening to the thunder and rain. Sophie lay next to me, as though mere proximity to me would protect her. When I got up, she followed right at my heels to bathroom and kitchen. When I opened the door to give her a chance to go out, she hung back and looked at me resentfully. When I settled at my desk, I looked out at a world as dark as though it were evening. Sophie may cower, but I love such a morning. I love being cozy inside and watching a storm.

The rain and thunder eventually went away but the temperature continued a downward slide. It’s in the fifties now and predicted to go to the mid-forties tonight, a huge change from yesterday eighties. I may have to turn on my fireplace. The one regret I have about my cottage is that it doesn’t have a fireplace, but there simply is not room for it. Every square inch of space is put to good use. Jamie met the need by getting me a desktop electric fireplace—it’s a miniature version of those TV screens you see that show a fire. Mine has a remote monitor. Jamie envisioned it on my desk, but that too is crowded—it looks great on a side table by the couch.

It’s definitely soup weather. Tomorrow I’ll make freezer soup again. I’ve collected several small icebox dishes of odds and ends. I think the soup will be more beef than chicken, given the nature of my leftovers. I know there is a good-sized container of beef gravy from my ill-fated experiment with short ribs. Two short ribs also, but I’m not sure I’ll fix them.

It’s been a week of leftovers, broken one night when Christian made Mongolian beef, served with rice, and tiny vegetables—broccoli, carrots, etc. We sometimes get so carried away with recipes we’ve found that we have to call a halt to new cooking and eat what we have. Tonight I’ve fished out the one salmon patty I knew was buried on a freezer shelf and will cook the green beans Jordan brought home. I’m the only one in our little compound who eats fresh green beans—go figure, but they all like canned better!

I’ve had a busy week—produced a 28-page monthly neighborhood newsletter, which effectively takes three days of my time. In between I’ve been proofing the pages of a reprint of my 1990s historical novel about Jessie Benton Frémont. I finished it but realized that somewhere about page 100 I hit my proofreading groove, so now I’m going back to review that first 100 pages. But my Kindle is calling—I have downloaded samples of four or five books I want to try. Ever buy a book you’re sure you’ll love—and realize twenty pages in you didn’t want to read it? Kindle’s sample program lets you try the prose, the style, get to know the characters. Another problem I have in bookstores—I buy a book, get it home, and realize I’ve already read it! If you order a book from Amazon that you’ve already read, they tell you that you already own that book. I sometime feel guilty about my heavy use of Amazon, because I’m a big advocate of the independent bookstore. But I can’t get past the convenience, especially for me as almost a recluse, of Amazon for everything from books to kitchen supplies and bug spray.

It’s a book kind of weekend, and I intend to take full advantage of it. Hope you can curl up with a good book.