Counting the Days

As my retirement creeps closer now.....only five working days left, I reaffirm my decision to leave my library job by going back and re-reading the best retirement book ever.  "How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free" by Ernie J. Zelinski.  The author stresses to think of retirement as a reorientation of living.  In other words, think of yourself as soaring to a new phase in your life, both outward and inward.

So, today I got a little taste of what retirement will be like.  As I inch closer to the end of 2015, I still have unused vacation time, so I decided to take the day off from work and join Bike man on a work day.  I mean a physical work day.  

It all started by leaving home at 7 am this morning and driving southwest towards the Pepin/Stockholm, WI area along the Mississippi River.  We arrived at the Maiden Rock Bluff Nature area, owned by the Wisconsin DNR.  This particular land was acquired by DNR back in 2010 and their intentions were to restore the bluff back to a natural prairie, however, it's been a slow process so they need help.  The DNR and the Pepin County Land Conservation planned a work day today and asked for volunteers to help cut woody invasive vegetation like buckthorn, prickly ash, sumac and small cedar trees.  Yup, it was a very physical job today....we worked for almost thee hours cutting vegetation along the bluff, but it was also gratifying work.  A type if work that you can be proud of through all the sweat and muscle aches.  At times I would just stop working and admire the beautiful view of the Mississippi River.  

To get a better prospective of where we were working this morning, we drove down to HWY 35 along the Mississippi River, between Maiden Rock and Stockholm, and took this photo looking up at the bluff where we were clearing vegetation.   The bluff is actually 400 ft higher elevation than the highway in this picture.  Was I scared to be working on the bluff?  At first yes, but then my nerves calmed down after I got busy cutting the woody brush.  Nothing like sweat and hard work to keep your mind from wondering too far!  Occasionally, I saw an Eagle flying nearby, but it wasn't close enough to get a good photograph, darn.   

After a good day's work, you gotta treat yourself right?  Since it was a cold and breezy day, my first thought was, I need COFFEE.  We found this great coffee and homemade pie shop in Stockholm, so Bike man and I shared a big piece of pecan pie and we each ordered our favorite coffee.  It's the little things like this in life that keep me smiling.  December 31st can't come soon enough.........

Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving friends & family.  I truly have lots to be thankful for and sometimes I just need to step back and think about the little things in my life that matter the most.

So today, Bike man and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving with our son Chris and his new bride Trisha, at their new home in Roseville, Minnesota.  If you're not familiar with the Twin Cities, Roseville is a suburb north of St. Paul.  Our daughter Becca, from Minneapolis, also joined us today.  I just have to say Trisha did her homework and researched hosting a Thanksgiving meal....I'm so proud of her.  Chris and Trisha hosted the most delicious meal, along with a beautiful table setting designed by Trisha!

A lot has happened since I stopped blogging back in March!  Chris and Trisha got married August 1 in St.Paul, Minnesota.  Right before their wedding, they bought a cute little house in Roseville.  This is only the second time we've been here to see their new house and I've instantly fallen in love with their cozy home.  It' so fun for me to see Chris and Trisha starting a new life together.

I have so much more to tell you all........it's good to be back.  

I'm Coming Back.....I Promise!

Me, hubby Bike man & our daughter Becca

Sorry for my absence since last March.  2015 turned out to be a good and bad year for me.  I'll explain later in a future post.  My biggest news I want to pass along, is that I've made the decision to retire at the end of this year.  My last day at the library will be December 31.  It's bittersweet, but I will be starting a new chapter to my life. Hang tight my friends, I'll be posting again soon.

PS.  I really miss my blog friends!

Lessons From Mollie

There is nothing more satisfying than creamy ripe avocados.  The flavor and texture is like none other, really.  There are so many uses for avocados, but my favorite is fresh guacamole.  Did you catch the word "fresh"??? 

Years ago when I was young and naive, I would actually buy commercial guacamole in one of those plastic tubs.  It was obviously full of preservatives, glucky thickener and probably too much sodium.  Now, I'm older and much wiser....thank heavens!  I started making guacamole after purchasing a copy of  Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.  She has a great recipe for chunky quac.  As you can see in my photo, I used a fork and semi-creamed it, carefully leaving nice chunks. I just happened to use about five avocados today, but sometimes I only use three or four.  

When making guacamole always use a fresh lemon or lime so the avocados don't turn brown too quickly.  

Mollie Katzen's recipe suggests adding diced tomatoes and onions, along with garlic, salt and pepper to taste. I don't measure anymore, just eye-ball it.  Must be that older and wiser thing. 

One small change I made is adding Cholula chipotle hot sauce....oh, probably like 100 shakes!  Just kidding, more like 50 shakes.  If you don't like spicy, than skip the hot sauce.  BUT, if you know what's good for you, you'll add the hot sauce.  Trust me.

For pictures purposes, I grab a pretzel to use for dipping, but actually I prefer a tortilla chips.  Guacamole is one my (hubby) favorites.  I especially love using it on a taco salad or with fajitas.  If you want a specific guacamole recipe, just Google it. There are lots of variations.  Happy guacing my friends.

The Perfect Cup

Once again, my predictions were right.  Coffee is good for you!  Actually, I've known this along time despite the bad rap that coffee got with the health officials. So, because of the new guidelines just released on how coffee can actually be good for a you, I wanted to feature my newly found friend.  It's called the AeroPress.  Bike man bought this handy device about a year ago, but I wasn't really using it because we had our fancy dancy automatic espresso coffee maker.  Well, now that fancy dancy espresso maker has decided to quite working, so this was the perfect time to start using a less complicated device.  

Just to prove how easy it is to make a delicious cup of coffee....or espresso, let me show you.  Unscrew the bottom of the AeroPress and put your coffee filter in place. FYI, you do have to buy these little coffee filters.

Grind your coffee beans on espresso setting, or purchase already ground espresso beans.  Two scoops!

Boil 8-9 oz water, then place your AeroPress over a nice wide coffee cup and slowly pour the hot water into the device.  You do get a little paddle with the AeroPress that you can use to lightly stir the water and coffee grounds inside.  

  

  After pouring all the water inside, I wait about 20 sections, then I use the plunger and slowly start pushing down to express all the water into the coffee cup.

Once you've pushed the plunger all the way down, you're done.  Unscrew the bottom of the AeroPress and give another small push and your coffee grinds and filter will push out.  I do this process over my compost bucket!  And that's it my friends.  I promise you will get the best cup of coffee.

If you're interested in the AeroPress, just look on Amazon.com.

Alberta Clipper

We've all heard of the Alberta Clipper right?  It always appears quickly with lots of boldness.  Then, when the roads are all slippery, bam, the wind hits.  It was slow driving to my meeting and then even slower going back to work.  But hey, this is January.

Unfortunately, it's been five days since I've been able to really enjoy the outdoors.  If we can get through the month of January, then it's all uphill from here, right?

The North Winds Blow

The January blast has finally hit us.  With 15-20 mph winds blowing most of the day, Bike man and I really didn't wanted to venture outside.  I think our high temperature today was -1 degrees, and now as the sun is setting, the temperature as already dropped to -3 degrees.

This cold weather always puts me in the mood for soup, so today for lunch, I made my favorite Tuscan soup recipe.  You'll find my recipe above in my Turtle recipes.  I love this soup because I always load it with lots of fresh kale....dino is one of my favorite kale's. 

Oh, if only I was a cat!  I could just sleep all day and not have a care in the world.