ME II: cooking day

· Maine Event

We woke up late to a cloudy day. It was cool inside and our morning walk was cool but muggy. Indoors the cool of the previous days was still around but outdoors by afternoon it was warm and muggy. Eventually the rain came and lowered the temperature a bit making the mugginess more comfortable. Soon the warm muggy soft air will be gone and it will be cool to cold all the time.

Most of the day was a cooking day. We made several things including stock from the chicken to end all chickens. I mean, whoever heard of a 10# chicken! It is very good stock. I find making stock a soothing task. It takes several hours, and it smells good. I give it small amounts of attention to make sure it is still bubbling but not too much otherwise mostly it just needs to simmer for 4 or 5 hours with little intervention. I also made another batch of those red-eye beans (aka. soldier beans) and used some of the stock to cook them. The texture is really nice. We will be using some of the stock along with some coconut milk to make a Thai green curry with chicken and lots of vegetables. With three hurricanes/typhoons being active in Japan, Puerto Rico and Alaska it feels like we have it easy here and thank goodness that Northern California is getting some rain to help put out some of those fires and give the parched land some respite.

We also had a nice walk in the Western Cemetary. It's such a nice space, slightly broken down and yet a useful part of the city and not made into a "thing" like the Eastern Cemetary that is set up with daily tours. If you want a tour of the Western Cemetary you can contact some volunteers and find a time. The largest and fanciest gravestone is an obelisk that is in honor of a teacher and it was erected by his students. I'm often struck with the amount of power teachers have to shape the kinds of citizens and workers we have and yet we pay them so little and they are not thought of as the framers and shapers that they really are.

grave stone that is a large obelisk
This is the aforementioned gravestone that is for Henry Jackson who died August 22, 1850 at age 67.
marble plack with writing on it
This is the back of the gravestone above. The clear appreciation of his influence is delightful.
crabapples on a tree
Crimson crabapples on a tree in the Western Cemetary.
dark spots on leaves
Polka-dots on the leaves are other signs that autumn is here.
brick house with green trim
More lovely brick and green trim. Such a nice combo.
rainy intersection
Rain arrived YAY! It will be cooler. It is supposed to rain for the next few days but it looks like we will get a few breaks today as it rolls in.
rainy day with a man pulling on this dog in a downpour
People caught out in a downpour. They predicted light rain.
Gray clouds over the Fore River
Gray clouds over the Western Prom no sunset for us.
Maine medical old buidling
Maine Medical. The old part of their building is so cool and mysterious, like some place important. It doesn't give me the same sense of dread as new hospital buildings do. I love that they have maintained the old parts and built up the new buildings around it.

Have a delicious evening.

Sending love, Tawnia

Some nice birds today:

  1. Blue Jay
  2. Herring Gull
  3. House Sparrow
  4. American Goldfinch
  5. Black-capped Chickadee
  6. Northern Cardinal
  7. American Crow
  8. American Three-toed Woodpecker (a new bird for us)
  9. Downy Woodpecker
  10. Eastern Phoebe
  11. Gray Catbird
  12. Osprey (flew through the waning light over the Western Prom)