Feel The Heat

Trying to stay warm without cranking up the heat or blowing through your entire budget? Come check out my heat-saving suggestions for being a "Cold Warrior" this Autumn over at Design Sponge. 

Today G. and I picked up beet and preserved lemon ravioli, parsnips, huckleberry potatoes, kale, beef kielbasa, fennel bulb, and an exquisite croissant from the local tailgate market. After that we stopped into Over Easy Cafe for brunch, followed by a bit of market shopping. Once we returned home, I fired up the mower and spruced up the bee yard, then planted Russian sage, Matrona stonecrop, Autumn Fire stonecrop, White Swan coneflower, and Creme Brulee coreopsis in a little raised stone bed we're christening "Pollination Station" for all the bees (honey and bumble) it draws, not to mention the butterflies, sweat bees, and other winged friends. I did a bit more yard work (including harvesting all of the remaining basil, out of which G. fashioned an incomparable pesto!), played ball with the dogs, and then relaxed on the patio with a Fraoch heather ale, first sampled in Mallaig, Scotland during August of '06 (I took myself to the U.K. in honor of my 30th birthday). Good stuff, folks, good stuff. 

Sometimes I find myself in awe of just how easily satisfied I am these days. The smell from a nearby pile of burning leaves; the morning sunlight as it creeps into the kitchen, gently warming up the room; the easy heat radiating out from my morning cup of smokey black tea-I find these simple experiences enriching beyond measure.  May we all find the eyes to experience, appreciate, and share such profound contentment. 

Have a lovely Sunday.