Friday, October 23, 2009

First Fire of Fall

We welcomed the day of Pat and Will’s departure with our first fire of this fall. It’s so nice to climb out from a nice warm bed to be greeted by cozy flames in a wood-burning fireplace and the smells of bacon, banana muffins, and coffee wafting across the kitchen. That’s my idea of a fall stay at a country bed and breakfast.

Pat had traveled with fresh fruit, but her bananas were getting a little ragged looking. Upon my arrival in the kitchen to prepare coffee, I spied them on the counter. Since Pat, Will, and Richard were still enjoying the comforts of their beds, I decided that a parting meal of a country breakfast would be an appropriate way to send Pat and Will off on the next leg of their adventure.

After breakfast, as Will loaded the car, he could stop by the fire and chat with us between summonses from Pat that the next piece of luggage was ready for transport. And Pat and I enjoyed a too-short last visit in the rockers in front of the hearth. Armed with a picnic lunch of sandwich halves left over from our visit to Tellico Kats deli and fresh banana muffins, our visitors departed. With so much left to see and say, Pat promised they’d be back in the spring.

The bright sun warmed our world nicely by early afternoon. We were scheduled for mucking with Mary, but were relieved when she postponed that task until the next day. It’s always nice to stay home and enjoy the afterglow of overnight guests once they leave. It’s a perfect time to putter, and putter we did.

Richard took the opportunity to continue washing his winter stores of black walnuts. He still doesn’t know how he’s going to access the actual nutmeats, but that doesn’t deter him in his efforts to acquire a good stash. The fact that the squirrels don’t beat him to this harvest should tell him something. If cracking these nuts is too much trouble for the squirrels, maybe the work isn’t worth it.

He interspersed this nut job with his ongoing work on indexing and cataloging the digital plans of the PT boat that his beloved Higgins Society is refurbishing for the World War II Museum in New Orleans. I continued cleaning and cutting up basil while visions of kids and grandkids, nieces and nephews visiting for Holidays in the Holler began dancing in my head. It’s dangerous to leave me alone with my thoughts when I’m getting used to an empty nest.

Next week, I’ll begin in earnest clanging around the kitchen again. Even though it’s not even Halloween yet, it’s time to start roasting pecans, and finish preparing pepper jellies for inclusion in the many Christmas packages Santa Richard wraps. Closer to Christmas, there will also be bourbon balls and coconut macaroons to make. With an out-of-town wedding and Thanksgiving looming in November, we have little time to waste while we’re at home.