mournng the end of summer

Regis and I spent the afternoon raking leaves and putting away the remnants of summer...the lawn chairs, the patio table, the bird bath, the lawn mower. It was a wonderful summer and a not so nice fall so we really appreciated today. If we could have days like this for a few months, winter might not be so intolerable.

I've started planning my Thanksgiving menu. This is the part of it that I love. I have a big binder full of menus and recipes from the last Thanksgivings and I look them over and decide which ones to make this year. Not like there are that many choices, you might think. My family likes the old standards: turkey and gravy, green bean casserole, bread stuffing.

I like to throw in a few new side dishes like the corn bread Andouille sausage stuffing I made two years ago and loved. That gets a repeat performance every year now. Regis made some little onion tarts one year that were a big hit. We don't stray too far off the beaten path...no tofurkey or roasted parsnips and rutabagas.

This year, I'll make a couple changes to things so I can eat them. I have a recipe for no-sugar cranberry fluff (it's got the dreaded Cool Whip in it...) that I think I'll make. And a peanut butter pie that sounds good. If you don't have a place to go and think this sounds like a menu you could eat, let me know. We always pack a crowd in our tiny house for Thanksgiving.

I have a big pot of chili bubbling on the stove. It is such a big pot of chili that I had to dump it from one pot into another bigger pot. We like chili and we'll freeze the rest of it into serving packages with the vacuum sealer tomorrow.

On Monday, Regis and I travel to Rochester for my six month post-surgery visits. I have an appointment with a humorless dietitian, a psychiatrist who makes me nervous, and with my nutrition specialist who is a little aspergery but very nice. I feel attached to him like I did to the doctor who delivered Peter. Is that a universal thing? Regis sent an email to his heart surgeon on the tenth anniversary of his bypass so maybe it is. I'm anxious to see what my lab work reveals...if I get enough protein and calcium, etc. And it's always nice to get props for your hard work. I'll give a report on my visit when I get back.

So, that's it for the end of the week. Tomorrow we get ready to move into the next week by making an early morning visit to the HyVee. Regis has been shopping alone on Mondays since school started so I bet the guys at the meat counter think he either got divorced or I passed. They'll be glad to see me alive and kickin'!