Talking about the weather...

The seasons sure can change fast. We went from a taste of winter on Monday to a full course meal last night. This is what I woke up to this morning. A perfect storm! Pretty snow, no need to shovel! Daisy has always loved the snow, but I think now that she's a 10 year old she actually notices that it's cold. Unless you are tossing a snowball of course!

The seasons change...

Is Daisy ready for the snow? I'm not so sure!

The seasons change and so do I.... yesterday was my big fall day, the day I needed to get over my pantsaphobia. Pantsaphobia you ask?? It's my phobia of wearing pants, an illness I get every year around May, when the weather warms up and I start wearing shorts. Once I make the transition to shorts, I can't bring myself to start wearing pants again until the weather cools off in the fall. I think it has literally been years, perhaps even a decade since I've worn pants in the summer. It's shorts and skirts and dresses for me, the only exception being occasionally pulling on a pair of sweatpants if I'm camping in the mountain and it gets cold at night. Eventually fall comes, the weather cools, and I have to break out the pants again. This weekend the the weather turned and yesterday I realized it was the day I had to buck up and get over my pantsaphobia and actually dress appropriately for the weather. And so I did... and, thankfully, the pants still fit.

My pantsaphobia day was not a day too soon, as despite that the leaves are just turning down here in the valley, this morning we woke to the first snow of the year. Just a little at my house, but it appeared the mountains got quite the dusting. To go along with my pantsaphobia, tonight I had to rummage through my closet to find my running tights and a long sleeve shirt to wear jogging, andI was still ended up being a little chilly. After my run, when I came home to a 54 degree home, I realized it was time to conquer the next fall milestone... closing my remaining open windows and pushing the 'on' button on the furnace thermostat.... I think winter is on it's way!

At the park this afternoon.


From the parking lot at work this morning.

Sign, sign everywhere a sign

As I said in previous post my trip up north to the springs was a fall family tradition. Well I said family and now I'm a empty nester, so as I did for the state fair I decided it would be great opportunity for a photo safari. There are some place in Ogden I always wanted to take pictures of so I decided to stop there on the way up to the springs. One of my favorite Ogden places is Historic 25th street. Ogden was quite the turn of the 20th century railroad town, and 25th street was the center of bawdy action, drinking, brothels, gambling, all very un-Utah. Things were still fairly bawdy when I moved to Ogden in '85. The old hotels were home to lonely old men, Angelos was the big biker bar, prostitutes were recognizable on the street. It's a street of character, and I always enjoyed stopping there for dinner or coffee or a beer or a trip to an antique store. Over the years the street has become more gentrified, many old buildings replaced with new, which has lessened the interesting character of the street a bit; I kind of found the mix of high class and low class interesting. I guess I like diversity, and I certainly like old historic places.

So I headed to 25th street with my camera. One thing I always wanted a picture of was the cool neon dragon sign outside the Star Noodle restaurant. Sadly I found the sign gone, but you can see some pictures here. I decided to snap shots of the other old historic signs. My disappointment over the missing Star Noodle sign made think that that I'd better go take a picture of another favorite Ogden spot; the huge big bellied Buddha that sat on top the roof of the China Nite restaurant on Washington. I ate there once, back in '85. The food was terrible, I recall egg rolls that were battered and fried and served with ketchup and yellow mustard, but I liked the my Buddha buddy. Sadly, when I went to snap the picture, I found it was also gone. You can catch a glimpse of him here. I guess things change and you can't go back. All the more reason to carry my camera and get pictures of favorite spots while I can.

So it looks like there was a time where coke, which "relieves fatigue" and beer were both the same price 5 cents!!!




I miss Buddha!

Not 25th street, but nearby, another cool Ogden sign... although I think it is a strip club.

More Produce...

Of course my favorite farm stand had more to offer besides the incredible selection of squash. Most noteworthy was their incredible cabbage. I have to say that I have never seen such big heads of cabbage before. The small ones were the size of volleyballs, most were even bigger. They all looked fresh and delicious, and I was very tempted to purchase one, as I do like cabbage. But what would I do with that much cabbage? That is the one big problem with farm stand shopping. Everything looks sooooo good. But everything is perishable, and there is only one of me to prepare it and eat it, so I have to use some self control,that way I avoid purchasing veggies that end up in the compost bin because I don't find time to cook them. Thankfully winter squash keep a long time, so they were safe choices, but I decided that maybe I should pass on the cabbage.

Apparently the nice woman who checked me out was psychic, because as I headed toward my car with my bags full of squash she said "Do you like cabbage?" To which I replied, "Yes I do, and yours are magnificent." I guess she read my mind and knew I really wanted one because she piled one into my arms. "How much is it?" I asked and she relied "Nothing just take it".

So what should I do with my big cabbage? I decided to make stuffed cabbage, something I love but never have cooked because I've always lived with cabbage haters. Well, that took a bunch of the outer leaves, leaving me a cabbage that is still huge compared to anything I've ever bought at the grocery store. So what next? I'm toying with trying to make homemade sauerkraut; I've scoped out some recipes and it look surprisingly easy. Maybe cabbage soup? Or coleslaw? Any ideas?

Squash Madness

Sunday I headed up north for my fall tradition, a trip to Crystal Hot Springs and a stop along fruit way to buy Halloween pumpkins. My favorite farm stand, conveniently the one that is also open on Sunday, has always fascinated me with it huge display of winter squash. All sorts of squash in a myriad of colors and textures and sizes. Huge boxes brimming with the biggest squash I've ever seen. Unfortunately, nobody in my family likes squash, so I've rarely cooked it. But since I just cook for myself now I decided to bring home a few new squash to try, not the standard acorn or butternut varieties but some I've never had before, like a sweet potato, buttercup and banana squash. Well, I thought I bought a banana squash. I searched and searched for a small banana squash and finally found one that was only about 15 inches long and 4 inches in diameter so I bought it. Believe it or not that was a small one. As I carried to to the car the bag broke and it slid to the ground. I picked it up and set it on the hood of my car while I juggled my pumpkin and other squash into the back seat. When I got home and went to carry all treasures into the house, it wasn't there. I must have driven off with it on the hood of my car, where I must have lost it the parking lot. Poor baby squash. Poor me, because I really wanted to try that variety. The lady at the farn stand said they were delicious. I'm wondering if this means I should splurge and enjoy one more fall trip to the hot springs, just so I can get another one.

Fairies do exist!

Looky what I found! A lone tomato perched upon my front porch railing. I think perhaps the garden fairy has paid me a visit! A nice surprise as I didn't plant any tomatoes this year, and not much beats a luscious homegrown tomato. Now if only she would do some weeding!

Falling

There's a nip in the air tonight. Perhaps fall is finally really here. Leaves have been turning in the mountains for a little while, unfortunately they seem to be going more green to brown... I think it has been too dry this fall. Nevertheless, I did find a little bit of good color on a recent Millcreek canyon hike.

One more carnival ride...The Octopus!!