Changing Times and a Hearty Recipe

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Today is downright cold. “Sweater Weather,” my Mom called it. In Florida where I grew up Autumn announced its arrival with a delightfully cool breeze that offered blessed relief from Summer heat. We knew more of that was coming and we could not wait to greet the season.

Virginia is different. Things can and do change overnight. Winter’s warnings here are loud, clear and insistent. Last night the warning came with a breeze too cold to leave the windows open and a sudden need to cover up.

Yes, summer tops look strangely out of place in the closet now and shorts, bathing suit and sun hats are ready for wistful hibernation. I should have been prepared for this since the little market down the road has been showcasing mums and pumpkins for many days now. And the internet is featuring autumn decor and Halloween.

Even recipes emerge that I haven’t even thought of all Summer. I suddenly want to make more stews and hearty meals. I am famous for simple, easy, recipes that taste like they took alot of work. Here’s a good one for Old Fashioned Meatloaf with a great tangy twist.

DOR’S BARBECUED MEAT LOAF

1 ½ pounds ground beef

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 onion, finely chopped

1 egg, beaten

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 15-16 oz. can of tomato sauce, divided

½ cup water

3 tablespoons vinegar

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

            Combine first 6 ingredients in a large mixer bowl; add ½ can of tomato sauce, mixing well.  Place mixture in a 10x6x1-inch baking dish, and shape into a loaf.  Combine remaining tomato sauce and remaining ingredients in a small mixing bowl and pour over loaf.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until done, basting often.  Yield: 8 servings.

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Eunice and the Moon Landing

Yesterday was the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing!

It was a beastly hot day here on earth in Virginia too.

And The Pink Cadillac Diner was so full of people it would be a 25 minute wait for lunch.

And that’s where fellow blogger Eunice of Nutsfortreasure landed for an in-person meeting with me, Dor!

She came way out of her way for this meeting too, making a side trip from Virginia Beach en route to her home in New Hampshire!

It is a beautiful thing to meet a fellow blogger.

Eunice and I have been blogger pals for years and years.  She probably knows more about my ups, downs and happinesses and tragedies than even close in-person friends.

And now Eunice is my revered in-person friend too.  We wound up having lunch at my house where she met Bill and the little dog, Elsa.  And we took a short tour of the surrounding wilderness.

Eunice is a nature lover, a master gardener, and a retired truck driver. 

She actually drove a big semi truck for over 30 years!

She is also a fabulous artist!

 

We both agreed there will be a next time visit, and perhaps Eunice will bring her paints to give me a lesson in water coloring!  She is an awsome artist.  Above is a picture of the painting she sent to me.  I love the dog-walking couple on a snowy day, especially when it’s sweltering in Virginia!

Thank you Eunice for coming all this way to visit.  It feels like we have been friends for a very long time.

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An Autumn Leaf Dreaming of Spring

And so it went.  Day after day after day I waited.

At first, from my faraway post it might have been an injured red Virginia Cardinal fluttering on a barren branch in a forest now devoid of any leaves.

On closer inspection it was actually a lone leaf fluttering in the breeze.

“It may be the only leaf still clinging to life in the state of Virginia,” I thought.

Then we had 60 mile per hour wind gusts.

“Surely it will release its grasp though this,”

But there it stayed and stays still.

I never see a singular leaf like this even though I look along our roadsides.

Now it is snowing and raining and snowing with a sometimes stiff breeze making for peculiar weather.

And there she is, hanging on

as if dreaming.

She is to be admired – an Autumn leaf dreaming of turning green again for one more chance at life.

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Dream Beagle

 

Yesterday was an icey cold day in this part of Virginia and I was napping.  A mix of rain and sleet, plus wind and a light coating of snow made sleeping midday pretty cozy.

And I was dreaming.

I dreamed about a little Beagle dog who was crying to enter my house.

She was out in all that frigid weather.

And she was walking right by my window, looking in.

I awoke with a gasp!

And in spite of anticipated pain in my BigFoot from radical fast movements, I quickly got to my feet and actually rushed to the nearest window.

No Beagle.

Was it real, that dream?  Was there really a little dog out there begging for a permit to enter?

I was so sure it was real,  I actually staggered from window to window peering out and hoping.

But, No Beagle.

Last night I saw once again my Dream Beagle, and this time I let the poor pup in.

I have wanted to adopt a dog for so long now that the dream became an entirely plausible reality.

They say, “Dreams are wish fulfilments.”

I am still checking all around the house for my Dream Beagle.

But a Mutt would be fine too.

Daily Post WordPress Prompt –  

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/permit/

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Holiday Advisory

Great white flakes kept falling,

but our lights stayed on

and the roads remained clear.

It must be winter come calling

with her snowy advisory

for a merry time of year.

 

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Magic and the Week that Was

Random Ramblings

Enhanced Rainbow Free Stock Photo – Public Domain Pictures  www.publicdomainpictures.net615

• Big Foot returned after several weeks of ordinary shoes and attempts to increase walking.  This time it feels like stepping on a nail.  So the Big Boot is back.  I never thought I would be glad to see it again, but it’s like an old friend now.  Another appointment scheduled with the foot man, but I now accept this on and off stuff will continue until there is a complete healing.

• We have had some “wild and wooly” Virginia weather this week.  My Mom always used to say that about wild and wooly things.  One night the wind was so strong it took shingles off my friend’s house and the power went off in the middle of the night.  At 6 AM I retrieved the number for the power company to report the outage and just as I picked up the phone, the lights came back.   Magic!

• Then things settled down  for a sunshiney beautiful day.  Lovely.  Except there was another outage.  Too bad the lights went off at dinner time so I couldn’t cook!  Ha! Sigh.  Friends came over for laughs and even though the power was restored between drinks, we all went out to dinner.  Magic!

• And then the wicked winds and blowing rains returned, along with patches of intense sunshine, and there were rainbows – double rainbows and one so big and bright I thought we were in the land of Oz!  Magic.

It has been a wild and wooly week for sure – mostly due to wild and wooly weather patterns.  I keep humming a song from the earlier days.   I hum silently of course since I can’t carry a tune and people run out of the room.  But I am humming the tune to April Showers, as sung by Bing Crosby and give thanks for the magic of a beautiful Spring.  Also hoping the next power outage is around dinner time!

Though April showers may come your way
They bring the flowers that bloom in May
So if it’s rainin’ have no regrets
Because it isn’t rainin’ rain, you know
It’s raining violets

And where you see clouds upon the hills

You soon will see crowds of daffodils
So keep on looking for a blue bird
And listening for his song
Whenever April showers come along

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