A Fall Friday, New Additions and a French Dip

Finally Fall Colors

I mentioned it before, but our Fall colors have been a little off this year. They're not as brilliant and they're late. The weathermen haven't really been able to explain the reasons 100% certainty. After patiently waiting for those much beloved colors that are the announcement of fall, they have arrived. Muted and a wee bit late, but arrived.

As the sun was coming up this morning (can I get an amen for that? G-man has worked in the pouring rain most of the week), it hit the field in that wonderful way that morning light does. I went across the street with my camera, and........oh yeah, I was in my pajamas. The things I do to get a good shot.

I love the way the light is just barely touching the barn at this point.

Our great Fall view.

A closer shot.

See the way the trees aren't quite in sync this year? Some turning, some turned, some still yet to turn. Very odd, but still beautiful.

For comparison, here's a shot from almost 2 years to the day (10/20/09).

See what I mean?

I am happy to have some Fall color, even if it's not the usual. It would have been really disappointing to have a 'no show'.

Good News

Bates Mercantile Co. is on the front page of etsy as I type, thanks to the lovely treasury making skills of KimberlyAnnMarie (who makes the loveliest sea glass jewelry). If you don't know about etsy, I'd like to shout it from the rooftops- it's the most wonderful online marketplace for handcrafted and vintage things. You'll also find supplies for making things on etsy. Once you visit etsy, you're sure to be back. It's just too much fun and they're is far too much talent to ignore.

Here's a couple of vintage items I'm about to add to Bates Mercantile Co., our etsy shop.

Very chinoiserie.

None the less, Made in the USA by Syracuse.

This pretty bowl was not made in the USA, but rather in Germany.

Such pretty flower detail.

After I get these items into our shop, I will have to squeeze in the regular Friday fly through cleaning routine. I have a thing about starting the weekend with a messy house. It bugs me. Am I the only one?

Then I hope to get to enjoy the outdoors for at least a little while and maybe take the dog for a walk. That is, if I can wake him up from his nap on the lawn.

Roast Beast To French Dip

Wednesday was especially rainy and miserable, so I cooked a roast beef for the man who'd been rained upon all day at work.  It was an Angus top round.

Basic Roast Beef - Medium Rare

350F

20-25 minutes per pound

s,p and garlic

Let rest 5-10 minutes before carving or all the juice will run out of the meat

De-glaze the roasting pan.........basically that means, throw some liquid in (wine, broth,water) to get all the nice roasty bits up from the bottom of the pan. I used a combo of wine and broth. Makes a nice au jus. Basically, just meat juice gravy.

Well, it came out perfectly, but it was a pretty big roast. So last night, with the leftovers (though there are still more), I made French Dip sandwiches.

Fresh Salio Loaf from the market

Mixed Hellman's and some horseradish

Thinly sliced leftover Roast Beef

Put the sliced salio on a cookie sheet, spread the dressing on the bread, topped one side with the roast beef, and topped that side with other slice of bread. Popped in oven at 350 for about 5 minutes just to warm up. Also stuck left over au jus in a bowl and in the oven with the sandwiches.

Serve sandwiches with the au jus for dipping. Hence the name of this sandwich.

Heavenly.

I know I have a long way to go on my food pics. It's just always at night with bad light. I'll keep working on that.

For now, without further ado..........

Freeform Friday

This one's for sister Di.  A Dylan cover, by Old Crow Medicine Show.  If you receive this by email........click here!

Rock me momma anyway ya feel, rock me momma like a wagon wheel......hey, momma rock me...

No big plans for the weekend that I know of, though we may take a run up to the new meat market and if we could squeeze in a trip to Applecrest for cider donuts, apples and cider, it sure would be nice. What's your scoop? Anything special going on in your corner of the world.

Toot-a-loo,

Take A Walk, Miracles and Free Form Friday

Where's My Wellies?

We had such a beautiful stretch of weather from late last week, through the weekend, right up until Wednesday night.  Did I tell you Sunday was hot? I'm talking 87F hot. Glorious. So the hound and I enjoyed field walks everyday.  Since it's absolutely miserable today, with periods of torrential downpours that the Gar-man is working in, I thought I'd share a few pics from our last walks this week.  Tuesday was still sunny, and we ran into a Great Blue Heron when we got to the top of the hill. He was in the low end and stood ever so nicely and then gracefully took off. If you've never seen a B52 (as we affectionately call them due to their huge size), the are really impressive.  One thing that hasn't been so impressive so far is, our fall foliage. It seems to be late and muted. The weathermen are trying to explain it, but they have no real answers. If it doesn't pop this week, the way it usually does, I'll have to post pictures of what it usually looks like. Can you say 'field on fire'?

Here's one last parting shot I snapped as we headed up the hill home.

Classic.

Miracle of Miracles

This was such a wonderful story, I had to share. They broke into programming on the TV this morning for a news conference from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where they were announcing their first double hand transplant.  Absolutely amazing.  The patient was 65 years old and had lost both hands and both legs from the knee down due to a fast moving infection when he was having kidney issues several years ago. He was completely high functioning with his prosthetics, one of the reasons he was a good candidate, but had a wish to be able to touch and feel his grandchildren's faces. 

The doctors gave much credit to the giving family who chose to donate the hands of the loved one they lost, so that Richard Mangini (the patient) could have hands again. Richard gave them much credit too. 

The transplant was performed back in May and Richard is doing very well with his therapy.  Today though, the doctors asked him not to 'show' off for the press and keep his hand movement to his therapy sessions for the time being.  When Richard spoke he addressed how people thought it was a miracle that he had lived after the infection, how it was a miracle that he learned to use prostethics, that he then taught others how to use theirs, that he continued to paint- all miracles in their own right. This he said, was the biggest miracle of all because of the people who have cared for him through the beginning of his ordeal, his transplant staff, his friends and family, his community, but most of all the incredible strength of the donor's family to give him this gift.

I cried. 

What's a bigger miracle? That the staff at Brigham & Womens, over the last 4 years, have performed other groundbreaking transplants including 4 face transplants and hand transplants in addition to Richard's bilateral hand transplant.

Miracles, each and every one.

Read and see more about this miracle if you'd like- just click here.

Sunset Meadows

Very moody and mellow the other night. No sunsets since Tuesday. How disappointing.

Freeform Friday

Here's a perfect reminder for a gloomy Friday, and everday for that matter.  Guess I picked another video where embedding is disabled, probably at the request of the movie company, so you'll all have to click here.

That Elsie had great advice, don't you think?

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Muse's first Gotta Have It link party yesterday. If you haven't yet, link your online shop up here.  You can link up your shop until Saturday at 6pm.

Do me a favor, ok? Start your weekend right. That means no sitting alone in your room.  By the way, I think Liza rules.