Fall Happenings

Well I can tell you that it sure feels Fall-ish today and the trend will continue all week, it seems. Yes, I know the trend will actually bring us significantly colder temperatures, but for us October can be a fairly warm month. Sometimes Halloween is downright toasty. Anyway - the weather turns my thoughts to all the fun Fall happenings going on here in Northwest Ohio.

For starters, it's time to get into the apple orchards and pick! Probably the best thing about a sunny chilly fall day is a gorgeous Honey Crisp apple fresh from the tree. My mouth waters just thinking about it. My favorite orchard around here is MacQueens, and they have a great apple festival every year. You can pick your own, shop in their market, buy apple fritters and amazing pies and drink fresh cider made right in front of you. I had never seen an apple tree until I moved to Ohio, and MacQueens was the first orchard I had ever been to, so it has a special place in my heart.

Another event we make effort to get to is the Grand Rapids Apple Butter Festival. This ranks right up there as a top 10 thing to do, and we go every year. I have no idea how many people head there for the one day event, but it sure feels like 50,000 - tons of people, but so much to see and do. I particularly like the primitive village and the antique threshers, but the best thing going are the hot apple dumplings with vanilla ice cream. I could eat my body weight in those things, I swear.

Of course, our Farmers Market, here in Perrysburg is a big draw every Thursday, but we're right at the end here now. People come for miles to buy all the wonderful fresh produce and organic meats and veggies. It's a sad day when the vendors pack up for another year.

Speaking of endings, it's also Docks Out time at the boat club. The Maumee River freezes here and so we have to get the docks out come mid-October. It's work to close down the boat club for the season - not just the docks but the clubhouse gets tucked in for the winter. Our club is pretty cool because unlike other boat clubs, the PBC is a Workingman's Club - which means that you can't just pay money and park your boat ... you have to give hours of service for the benefit of all. Each family contributes 8 hours in the spring and 8 more in the summer so the club runs smoothly. We have emergency days too - rising or falling water levels, debris tangled in the poles - and we all get down there and work to put things right.

With the bounty of activities, it's no one Fall is my favorite season :))

Mushrooms in the garden

Today, while wandering about the yard, I stumbled upon several white softball sized things in the grass and garden beds. They were Calvatias, or Giant Puffball Mushrooms! Apparently, this is the time of year for them.

I had always heard to be very careful of mushrooms. In the past I would never have contemplated doing anything more than throwing them in the compost, but I was ambitious yesterday, so I looked them up and discovered that the variety I had in the yard was safe to eat.

Naturally, I was the only one who was willing to try them - even Tim was a chicken - but I don't regret not having to share ... they were delicious! This is what I did:

• Washed and peeled them - I read the skins can make some people have a tummy upset
• Chopped them
• Sautéed onions and garlic in some olive oil
• Added chopped mushrooms and a bit of chicken broth
• Cooked for about 10 minutes
• Sprinkled a bit of parmesan

Ate with relish! Yum!

A resource for wavy glass

If you saw my recent Facebook post, you know that the gorgeous window in the living room recently cracked. You can see how beautiful it was. Anyway, I am having it repaired and had hoped to find wavy glass to repair it with.

Alas, the expense was a bit much, but I did want to share a link to a company that I found who makes hand blown glass panels ... Restoration Window ... I couldn't afford to use them for a window of this size, but a resource is always good to have! :)

Adding storage

Storage can prove to be a problem when you have an old house like mine. The closets leave much to be desired, and in some cases, the basement and/or attic is not an option. Thankfully our basement is dry and a good size, and our attic is usable. But more importantly, our garage has a ton of space that, until this week, we have not utilized.

Our project this week? Put in a loft in the garage!

Here are a few particulars:

• The garage is a 2.5 car
• It has a little loft in the .5 space
• We have a lot of stuff

You may be wondering - why not use the basement and attic? Well, while the basement is not a bad size, it isn't huge, it is chock-a-block full, and Tim deserves a Man Cave. So, the basement will eventually be finished for his drums, geeky computer stuff, and more geeky Star Wars collection. No, I'm not kidding, and yes, I have a room of my own as well. The attic, while decent, is sort of hard to access due to the way the stairs walk you right up into the roof. Decidedly hard to get stuff up and down, therefore. Plus, I like to park in my garage. Both cars. That isn't happening right now.

So, Tim is adding a ceiling (or floor) to the garage! I will very happily be able to move all kinds of stuff (that we really should be getting rid of) up to the new garage loft in the very near future. Then I can forget about it, never look at it again and have a nice clean garage below, a vastly improved basement and PARKING!

Life is very good.