Calling Myself

This morning while I was alone in the house the phone rang.

I looked at the caller id display and was somewhat perplexed as it seemed that I was getting a call from my cell phone. The one upstairs in my purse.

My mind immediately jumped to scenes of killers calling from inside the house, asking,

"Are you alone in the house."

I bravely answered the phone with a confident, and I imagine, somewhat menacing,

"HELLO!"

"Um yes, this is Wegmans, someone found your phone....."

"Oh well then, I'll be right there...."

This is actually the 2nd time Wegmans has returned something to me. Earlier this summer I dropped $80 while shopping and some nice soul turned it in. (perhaps I need pockets that button???)

The other rather funny thing about this whole incident is that about a month ago I found a cell phone in a parking lot and immediately called the last person that the cell phone had dialed. They gave me the home number of the woman whose phone it was and I did the same exact thing to her, surprising her as well as she assumed her phone was in her purse the entire time!

Library Date

I'm feeling kind of bookish this week! Sorry if I'm boring any of you!

In an effort to instill a love of reading in my daughter (and also because I'm not about to buy 6 new books every week) Monday has been designated as our weekly library date.

The two of us go around 5 pm, an excellent time to go-Everyone else is either on their way home or cooking dinner. It's relatively quiet and I'm not so worried about all of the noise she makes!

We usually bring a reusable shopping bag of items back and the leave with an equally full bag. It is helpful that we go each week because then I don't have to pay as much attention to the due dates. All of her books can go back in a week and mine are usually done within 2.

Generally our stash includes:

-Books for my daughter-Lately Dinosaurs, Stars & Halloween. I tend to read a lot of non-fiction so I'm trying to also show her that side of the library as well. We also get out a few fiction books.
-a few DVD's for my daughter
-Books on tape for my girl to listen to-Sometimes we listen in the car and sometimes she listens in her room during quiet time (What used to be nap time)
-$0.25 Magazines from the magazine rack for me. Today I scored the Oct 2009 copies of both Traditional Home and House Beautiful-A $10 value right there!!!) I also bring most of my old magazines here rather than recycling them.
-Some fiction & Non -Fiction for me. I have read the most interesting books by just browsing the new non-fiction.
-Books on tape for me.

She's always really excited to go. It's like a trip to the store for something special for both of us. When you think about it really, what a luxury it is for all of us to be able to go in at any time and come home with a load of new material. All because you promise to bring it back! I can't imagine the cost of my bag each week if I had to pay for it!

Thank you Ben Franklin!

Pumpkin (Squash) Side Dish

While we were on our library date, I had my favorite fall side dish roasting in the oven at home.

We call it Pumpkin with Apples but it's really butternut squash. If you call it squash my daughter will not eat it. As pumpkin, it's perfectly acceptable.

This was my veggie harvest from this afternoon. Both of the squash & the onion were harmed in the making of this blog post!

Small aside-I am SO SICK OF GREEN BEANS. I'm just blanching them now and throwing them into a freezer bag for use this winter. I just can't face them anymore.

This is a really easy recipe & everyone who eats it really likes it! I made it up myself but it's really not difficult so I imagine a lot of people make something similar.

1 large or 2 small Butternut Squash
1 Apple (I used a Sweet Tango which is a cross between my favorite Honey Crisp & Something else, generally at this time of year we get a bushell of apples so that I can make applesauce and other yummy treats but we didn't get it yet so I bought those apples at Wegmans.)
1 small onion
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Peel & seed squash. Chop the apple ( I don't peel it) and squash into cubes. Slice onion into rings & separate. Drizzle enough olive oil over it so that it coats everything nicely for your taste and salt & pepper.

Roast in a 350 degree oven for 1-1 1/2 hrs-If you like it really caramelized you'll probably want the longer cooking time. Don't try & speed up the cooking time by increasing the temperature, it won't work. Just let the slow roasting do it's job.

The apple adds a perfect amount of sweetness to the whole dish. At this time of year you can find a lot of roasted veggie recipes which contain maple syrup and while I like those, they sometimes seem too sweet. This is perfectly savory taste with a hint of sweetness.
I put this together right before we left for the library but sometimes I have chopped up all of the ingredients the evening before. The worst part is peeling the squash.

We served this with a roasted chicken & boy it was a nice cosy fall meal. I'm not going to lie to you people, it was a Wegmans Roasted chicken-Nobody here wants to cook on Monday night and I had a date with my girlie to keep!

Anthony Eglin-English Garden Mysteries

Recently I emailed Anthony Eglin, the author of my favorite English Garden Mysteries (Imagine my delight at finding these two subjects woven together in a book!)

Eglin's books are a departure from normal series mysteries, where the writing can be painful at times and plot lines completely obvious (Oh how I hate to figure out a mystery before the protagonist in the book, that just makes me feel like the character is such a dumbass for not seeing what I'm seeing and makes me want to toss the book at the wall)

Eglin's plotlines are airtight and rather clever. He also includes a ton of very interesting horticulture information-much of which has to do with Roses, as he is an expert. These are some of the most intelligent mysteries I've read in a long time. I completely enjoy reading his books.

I emailed him to tell him exactly that and to make a comment about his main character's love life.

Imagine my surprise the next morning when I received an email back. A rather long and friendly one at that. He thanked me for my nice comments and went on to explain his rational for his character's love life and he referenced back Sherlock Holmes to me, which I completely understood! (and people if you know me, you know I'm swooning right now because Holmes is my ultimate detective.)

In addition, he told me a little about the plot of the next book in the series that he is currently writing!

How nice is that!

Thoughts About The Library

Today at the library (the library, Jacquie, is that place where they let you take home books and movies for free.) I saw an older white haired man looking intently at the books in the romance section. I watched while he read the backs and then decided weather or not to put them in his bag. He had a big pile.

It was a bizarre scene to me. I imagined him looking for a new tale of a Vicount and his scullery maid having forbidden trysts in dark stairwells.

And by the way, how come nobility in Romance novels are frequently Vicounts? Who uses that word? I don't think I've ever been with another person who referred to a Vicount. And why are so many romance novels set in Regency England? I mean really, don't those people smell? (especially the scullery maid.) I lived in that time period (albeit it on the prairie) and I'll tell you, I would have been hard pressed to find someone willing to meet me in a dark corner.

I myself am more of a murder mystery fan when I need a light read (which explains my fear of killers) And I sometimes wonder what it says about me that I would rather someone murdered than living happily ever after?!?!?!

But I digress.

The thing about the library is that you get to be anyone you want to be and think about anything you want to think about. Perhaps the old man is a Vicount in his head (or god, forbid, a scullery maid.) Sometimes I am a hard working PI and sometimes I'm Martha Stewart. Sometimes I'm Ghandi and sometimes I'm Suze Orman. Some times I live happily ever after and sometimes I learn to cook Indian food.

I have often said that the greatest gift that my mother has ever given to me was my love of reading. I once told her that and she looked at me strangely, perhaps thinking she's given me a heck of a lot more than that.

But reading makes me who I am. For me, the library is full of possibility. My own pure unbridled possibility.

And While We Are On The Subject Of Romance Novels

While we are on the subject of Romance Novels I must tell you about my dear friend Stephanie Draven.

I've known her since she says that I flipped my hair at her in the 11th grade ( I actually do not believe this...) Stephanie writes paranormal romance, among other wonderful things. She even once, dedicated a story to me! She's exceedingly intelligent and breathtakingly creative! She's also a gifted writer and I have been the lucky recipient of many a manuscript to read over and offer opinion on.

To be perfectly honest I'd never really heard of paranormal romance. Who knew how Romance novels had changed so much since I read my mom's Harlequin romances when I was 14. She has hydras, dryads and immortals woven together with serious social themes. And sex! Who would imagine those things together? Stephanie would!

She has her first full length novel coming out soon and I'll be sure to tell you when it does! For now, you can visit her at Silhouette Nocturne Bites for her first 2 published novellas!

My Fortress Has Been Breached

So my impenetrable fortress of deer fencing was breached last night.

Actually I left the door open. Really, considering that the deer have not eaten a thing from my garden this year I was surprised they ventured to that spot in the yard at all.

They ate most of the zucchini plant, they stripped that bean tee pee and ate a ton of tomato leaves. The thing that I found really irritating is that apparently deer don't like green tomatoes. And they are stupid to boot. I say this because I found a bunch of green tomatoes with bites out of them. Could they have possibly stopped at one???

They also must have had a terrible time getting out because the fencing all around the garden this morning was loose.

At least it's almost the end of my growing season.