Taken aback

Hey, I put some new shoes on!*

I had a great weekend.  It was good to get out of the chair and away from the computer screen.  Well, not completely away.  I visited a few blogs, answered a few comments, checked email, explored new possibilities.  That sort of thing.  But I spent more time away than here than usual of late, and that was lovely.  I have to tell you that my post on Friday was a bit of a shock to me.  Not when I posted it of course, because I knew what I had written.  I was surprised when my mind and fingers found themselves in agreement about not participating in NaBloPoMo this year.  I hadn’t consulted myself about it.  It was just there, the decision, in spite of having made preparations to participate.  I am pleased I followed my heart.  Once I hit publish on Friday’s post, I felt a sense of great relief.

*From Paolo Nutini‘s New Shoes.  The song is semi-appropriate for my recent life and times.

Stickers and all. (M said I should have removed the stickers from the onions and fruit. I said, “But that’s how they come when you buy them at the grocery store!”)

I went shopping on Saturday.  I don’t normally associate shopping with a great (or lovely) weekend.  Shopping is one of my least favorite activities.  To my great surprise, I enjoyed it this time around.  That may be because I found what I wanted without any trouble, and managed to get pretty decent deals, too.  I have a new winter coat, a ski jacket that I’ve badly needed since my other one was falling to pieces.  Literally.  It was shedding purple everywhere.

Because today’s locally grown garlic comes with a plastic handcuff.

I officially declare, with no authority whatsoever, that it will have to be a snowy winter now that I’ve finally invested in a new jacket.  Oh, and a vest!  Cross-country skiing can really warm a body up so I decided a Thinsulate vest with a fleece would be just the thing for those days that aren’t cold enough for the ski jacket.  I already have the fleece pullovers so all I needed was a vest.

Canvassing

As you may have noticed, I also got new shoes.  I’ve been wanting a pair of lightweight shoes for cross-training (the Tabata interval drills I’ve been doing a couple of times a week).  New Balance had some that interested me since they’re taking a cue from Vibrams.  As much as I love my Vibrams, I don’t really like wearing them for Tabata drills.  So I went to the New Balance store down in Canton, picked out a pair of shoes I liked after asking which shoes would best suit my needs and feet, and as luck would have it, they had a pair that fit my feet.  This is not usually the case.  Cute shoes often elude me because I have wide feet.  I am seriously considering buying another pair just for wearing when I’m out and about.  Now that I know the style and size that fits my feet, I can order them online the next time I receive an email from New Balance offering me ten or fifteen percent off.

Butternut squash and kale

Other things I did this weekend include playing with my food, photographically and in a culinary way.  M and I made this fantastic sauteed butternut squash and kale.  It was like a warm salad, including walnuts, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and lemon.  Incredible combination of sweet, tart, and bitter.  M and I often pair up in the kitchen on weekends.  It’s fun, and it makes the work part of cooking (the peeling, slicing, chopping, and dicing) go faster.  M took care of the butternut squash while I chopped up the kale.  I think he got through the squash faster than I ever could (I find them difficult to peel and cut).

The barn with Saturday’s cloudy sky overhead.

The weekend weather has been cloudy with the occasional spritz of rain or snow.  It’s the kind of weather that gives me a good excuse for sitting by the fireplace and reading a good book.  I’ve been enjoying A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1).  There’s nothing like sinking into a good fantasy.  I took long walks, meditated, did chores.  It was a full weekend, all in all.

Once upon a time

That’s about it from the Bogs for now.  It’s still chilly and cloudy here.  The weather folks keep saying the sun will come out again soon.  They said that on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and this morning.  They’ve been wrong so far.  But the ground is starting to dry up, the creek has moved back into its usual banks, and a walk around the pond can be surprising.  You never know what you’ll see this time of year.  There are two deer living in the woods.  Ducks or geese fly in every now and then, and the woodpeckers are drumming away in the woods.

Downy Woodpecker. It’s not a very good shot, but I’m lucky he stayed still for as long as he did.

Thanks for dropping by.  How was your weekend?

---