Goldengrove unleaving, déjà vu and a fine looking pie

- I had to have a tooth pulled last Monday morning, so this week has been rather confining.  And there was nothing good about the experience except it wasn't as bad as I expected.  But when I got home, I thought the golden leaves lingering on this tree were a beautiful sight.  And that turned out to be the only photo of the week. The reference to "Goldengrove unleaving" is from the poem "Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins that I was obsessed with when I was a young girl. 

- So as I have done before, I Googled "good things happened" and clicked on Images.  And in a déjà vu moment, this one came up from my post on November 16, 2010.  How about that?  And the weather looked about the same five years ago.  I remember that I was on a work errand, took a wrong turn, and was turning around here on this access road when I spotted this scene.  The funny thing is - I've never been able to find that spot again. I think it looks as if the two benches are having a conversation about the weather and lack of golfers on the course at Chastain Park.

 Photo from The Smitten Kitchen

- I'm excited about the American Thanksgiving holiday next week - my sister from Virginia is coming to visit and we'll be with family and extended family throughout that week.  She and I will make this pie that I discovered on The Smitten Kitchen blog to take to our cousin's home in Fayetteville, Georgia for the big day meal.  She's a wiz with pie crust and I am not.  And this recipe calls for "golden syrup" rather than the usual Karo syrup.  I have some cane syrup from one of the plantations in northern Florida, so we'll use that - it's definitely golden.

I'm taking a wee blog break, so my next post will be on Tuesday, December 1.  I'll be around to visit your blogs though.  Until then, may good things happen to you!  Cheers!

Wind collection, peachy and resilience

- The wind collected the leaves into a nice little pile on my back porch on Saturday.  I was going to sweep them away, but then decided I kind of like them there.

- The sun was hitting the bakers rack full of cookbooks in my kitchen just right on Sunday.  This is one of my mother's teapots - she had an extensive collection of them.  This one honors the state of Georgia as "the Peach State."

- And like everyone - my thoughts and heart are with the people of Paris.  There's no making sense of this tragic event.  I loved the display of resilience of the fans leaving the soccer stadium event Friday as they sang La Marseillaise. 

Meanwhile in Georgia..., the sun came out and at home

- I spotted this on facebook and laughed out loud.  Yes - after so many days of rain, it was amazing to see some sunshine. 

- My day was spent indoors on Wednesday, but I managed to get to the park near the office just in the nick of time after work.  There were so many runners, walkers, playground kids out - it was like a big celebration of the sun.  I got the tail end of it, but managed to get back to my car just before the sun completely shut down for the day.

- And I was thinking how cheerful this corner of my kitchen looked this morning, so I snapped a photo of it.  I got the aluminum tray at an antique shop in Murphy, North Carolina last summer.  I love its etched vine pattern.  And when I got home with it, I couldn't think where it would go, so I put my hodge podge of sugar dish and cream pitchers on it.  It's always bright in my kitchen.  :)

Happy weekend, my friends!  I hope yours is lovely.

Fallen foliage, it has its perks and pretty

- And the rain in metro Atlanta continues.  I was leaving for a meeting early on Saturday morning and thought the fallen leaves on the wet sidewalk were beautiful.  That's my 10-year-old car ahead, photo bombing the photo.

- A friend is posting on facebook one thing per day she is thankful for during the month of November.  I am thankful not to be the one who has to bag all of these leaves!  That's why I live in a condo. 

- Ending on a cheery note with the pretty flowers in my kitchen.  I kind of like the leaf pictures though.

I hear the sun might make an appearance tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!

Smiling faces, remnants and not stressed out

It's pretty telling about the week I've had when all I have to post about is a sandwich, cheese and bad traffic.  :)  But here goes anyway!

-Tuesday was National Sandwich Day, so I went to Jersey Mike's - my favorite submarine sandwich near my office.  This is the #4 regular served "Mike's Way" (onions, lettuce, tomatoes, olive oil blend, red wine vinegar and spices).  The #4 isn't on the menu, but was the featured sub a couple of years ago, so they still make it for me.  The employees behind the counter were all smiling at me when I walked in on Tuesday and the lead sandwich maker said, "#4?" and pointed up to the sign above him.  It's the featured sub once again.  :)

- I like to go through the cheese "remnant" basket in the Whole Food cheese shop.  It's a great way to sample interesting looking cheeses at a low price.  Wednesday lunch was Cotswold cheese - I always seem to love cheese from the UK. "Cotswold is a variation of Double Gloucester, which has been supplemented with chopped onions and chives for added flavour. Cotswold originates in Gloucestershire County of England."  It was delicious and a perfect lunch with a cup of soup on a rainy day. 

- Friend Caroline and I were grumbling last night about driving in rainy traffic this week (she referred to us as "the grumpy travelers" to another friend)  :).  It took me 1.5 hours to go 20 miles yesterday morning and the same in the evening - pretty common in the rain and not the worst commute in the Atlanta area I've heard of, by any means.  In the morning, a song by 21 Pilots came on the radio and I really listened to the lyrics.  It's called "Stressed Out" - the link to the video is here.  I love that their parents are included in the video!  Somehow this song made my morning go better, as I passed accidents and arrived safely at work (only 1/2 hour late) in the rain.

It's supposed to rain until the middle of next week.  I think I might go to Jersey Mike's for lunch again today - where smiling faces always await me.  Have a great weekend, my friends!

The answer has to be yes, bobble heads and the Pilgrims

- Spotted at the shopping center near work last Friday - this wondrously pink Thunderbird.  If you click to enlarge, you can see the pink dice hanging from the rear view mirror.  A woman walking up the sidewalk said, "Isn't that amazing?  I wonder if she's wearing all pink?"  The personalized car tag told that tale.  It read "PINKBRD" (Pink Broad.)

- These adorable bobble-head Halloween figures at the drive through window at Starbucks on Saturday.  I love that the girl has a blackbird on her head.  Alas - no trick or treaters came to my door that evening.  I had even bought some chocolate to add to my collection at the drugstore that afternoon.  Favorite moments there:  a woman, also buying chocolate, and I agreeing that it was really for us, not them.  And an Uber driver buying three large bags of candy for the "drunk" people he would be driving home from bars later.  Very thoughtful, that.

- And at home yesterday, my Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers got to come out of the cabinet, where they reside most of the year.  I firmly believe that Thanksgiving should be celebrated before we even start thinking about Christmas (having spotted Christmas stuff out in stores already.)