Forcing my way out of the doldrums

We've endured entirely too much unseasonably cold, cloudy, and sometimes downright nasty weather this fall.  I actually feel like summer never came.  I kept waiting for it to get steamy and sweaty, like a Japanese summer, but it never happened.

And now I feel like winter is upon our doorstep.  I missed my best chance for fall photography last weekend when I was attending a conference.  A reminder of why I left graduate school after my M.A.  Who wants to be cooped in a dull classroom discussing the finer points of say, pornographic Japanese fiction, when you could be outside frolicking in piles of golden leaves?

So, I'm taking us on a virtual tour back to summer, and my warm and wonderful trip to England.

I already wrote about the world's greatest country boutique hotel ever.  

The New Forest

The hotel was in the New Forest, which is basically a big national park area, with towns and villages within it, that hosts thousands of wild ponies.  They are everywhere.  In parking lots, in the street, and in fields everywhere.  

Besides our stay in the Whitley Ridge, we also attended a family wedding in the New Forest.  Sadly, rain paid a visit, but Sweetie and I had fun with the children in the hotel garden.  We had run out to the car to get something, and the children were slinking around the garden and running from everyone they saw.  When they saw us, they'd run in the other direction.  This was amusing for about 5 minutes, and then the kids saw us, pointed, and shouted "Murderer!" and at that point, we decided we were very much done playing their game!

Motisfont Abbey

We visited the most glorious garden at Motisfont Abbey.  I could have stayed there for hours snapping photos of the bright flowers and bumble bees flitting from bloom to bloom.  The sun made an appearance and really warmed things up.  

Porchester Castle

Sweetie took me to the impressive Porchester Castle, in his home town (castles and gardens were tops on my list of things to do on our trip).  Located on the sea, it was an impressive fortress, still in very good condition.  We climbed up to the top, with its panoramic views of Portsmouth.  

Boo~~!

Have you been "Boo"-ed yet?  Or ever?  Do  you know what I'm talking about?

Last night, the doorbell rang wildly.  It was pitch black outside and we didn't have any outside lights on.  I was scared.  I didn't know who it was.  I gingerly approached the front door.  I then went around to the kitchen and peeked through the blinds.  I didn't see anyone.  

Across the road, I saw that our neighbor was outside his house, so I figured that if I opened the door and someone tried to attack me, he would notice.  So, I opened the door.

And there I saw a small, elegantly-wrapped bag with "Boo" written on a piece of white paper sticking out of the top.

After a moment of deliberation, I decided that a bomber would probably NOT wrap an incendiary device so elegantly.  So, I grabbed the bag and opened it up inside.

There was a poem with the "Boo" sign that explained that I was to do the same thing for two other neighbors within the next 24 hours.  The bag was full of all sorts of cool goodies like a really nice Halloween candle, some apples with caramel dip, Georgia pecans, assorted candy, and a Halloween towel.  It was really sweet!!

At that point, I figured that many neighbors had not yet been "boo"-ed and that I would have my pick the next night.  But alas, by the time I returned from a post-work shopping run, all of the friendly people we know on the street had already been "boo"-ed.  I found it interesting that the none of the folks we don't really care for had been boo-ed!  Apparently others share our taste in neighbors.

So, I ventured down to another cul-de-sac, where the two other people who work at the college live.  They didn't have Boo signs visible.  It wasn't quite dark yet, but I didn't really fancy walking around on a dark, cold, rainy, windy night, so I went out just before dark.  I think I might have been spotted after my first drop.  And by the time I made the second drop, I was very hesitant when I pressed the doorbell.  I'm not even sure it rang.  Oh well!  Hopefully they use their front door occasionally:-)

Try starting a Boo tradition in your neighborhood!  Now is about the time to get started -- two weeks before Halloween.

What ARE you doing?

This is what Sweetie said to me the other day.  I knew he was going to ask.  It's not everyday that you see someone boiling strawberries and rasberries and then setting them out to dry on the counter.   

I read about this method of keeping berries fresh and mold-free for longer in the New York Times.  I read that parboiling them could not only stunt or prevent mold growth, but actually REMOVE moldy bits.  And I needed a miracle, as roughly half the box of rasberries I had bought the day before was moldy.  

Definitely the boiling seemed to freshen up some of the berries.  But the clumped masses encrusted in mold, sadly remained....clumped masses encrusted in mold.  But, the boiling definitely seemed to improve the flavor, remarkably! 

Try it sometime!