Dr Seuss week amid weird weather and great produce

I got a Bountiful Basket last Saturday!!! It was the first time since last August, when our local site closed down. The next nearest site is Athens. I don't get into Athens much, nor do I want to. And besides, the pick up time is early. So I put it out of my mind, and decided to simply fondly remember a blessed period filled with inexpensive yet high quality produce, ephemerally here today and gone tomorrow.

A friend at work said she was getting a Basket and would pick mine up for me, so I happily accepted her offer and got a basket. Plus, three add-ons.

The add-ons:

Banh Mi bread, a dozen baguettes. The flour is organic and the bread is FRESH.
Heirloom tomatoes
California Strawberries, about $1.50 per flat, 8 flats total.

Included in the basket were two heads celery, two heads lettuce, sweet red peppers, huge carrots, pineapple, bananas, avocados, asparagus, broccoli, and more that I am sure I am forgetting!

I roasted the red peppers, broccoli, and carrots. For breakfast I made fritatta with red peppers and feta cheese on the toasted banh mi, and a fruit salad containing strawberries and pineapple with homemade granola. Life is good.

----------------------------------

When I'd received a gift certificate to Amazon.com for Christmas, one item I purchased is a laptop stand. Here it is. This was a very good purchase. It lifts the laptop just enough so that it does not heat up so much. For my personal settings, it lifts the laptop enough so that I don't have to hunch. (My chair is high which makes the laptop low). See it here-

The proper name is Ergonomic Aluminum Portable Foldable Cooling X-Stand for 12"-17" Laptops, Notebook PC, MacBook. It was $20. I recommend it!

We have had an incredibly confusing two weeks of weather. We had snow, ice, sleet, black ice, wind, and storm. We have had interspersed with that, dense fog, near 80 degree temps, sun, breeze, and blooming daffodils. So weird! One day I'm in a coat and scarf, the next I'm in bare fet and short sleeves. Oy.

One thing that spring brings is tornadoes and windstorms. So be assured that the weather radio now has a fresh bank of batteries in it.

By the way, lunch was ziti in fresh pomodoro sauce mixed with steamed asparagus and Parmesan cheese. I love Bountiful Basket.

Dr Seuss week is over. Each year we have fun with the kids at school by celebrating the notable author and illustrator's birthday. One day the cafeteria even served green eggs and ham! The kids were split on it, half tried it and liked it, half either avoided altogether or tried and didn't like. I think the character should have kicked that pesky critter Sam-I-Am's butt out of there and gone to get a pizza.

We have daffodils blooming out front. Sheep are bleating in the back.

Flowers there

Flowers' flair

Shep rest

Sheep sleep

And Dr Seuss fun is done.

Life on the farm

I call my place a farm, it's a semi-farm. All the properties around here if they aren't an outright farm, are a semi-farm, keeping some animals. Horses, a few chickens, a cow or two, or in my case, sheep.

The weather turned unseasonably cold, but it'll be back up to the high 60s/low 70s in a day or two. That's the great thing about Georgia weather in the winter- it might get cold but it doesn't last long. Here is the cold/freeze map-

However the growing season is pretty much over. The farmer's market goes until Dec 2 though. Farmers & growers might squeeze one or two more weeks if they cover things. I plucked my last little pepper from my plant. I ate it in eggs for breakfast yesterday.

The yard still looks lovely. The leaves don't turn much here. That's a school playground across the street.

The last morning glory?

The neighbor on the other side of the house's windchime. Her son made it.

The sheep are comfy in their winter coats. I'll have to wear a coat this morning. Practically for the first time ever. I am subbing for a friend's outside car duty this morning. It's 29 degrees. Yes, I'll need a coat if I'm going to be outside for 40 minutes. I'll get teased about this. I haven't worn a coat in 8 years. When I have outside duty it's usually at 2:00 and the day has sufficiently warmed up enough for me, this Yankee.

My friend gave me this cute tea for one set. It's by Whittard, a British tea company established in the late 1800s. You put the hot water and tea in the top and set it on the cup, which warms the cup. It is terribly cute and I got wildly excited over it. I enjoy tea every day.

The utility company put up this new pole near the fig tree. I like the yellow letters and the cool medallion on top. I'm going to add this photo to my Color Series: Yellow page.

So that's all that's happening at the homestead. I love fall in Georgia.

My drive home

Come along with me on my drive home from school. It is 6 miles, down one road, and passes many beautiful sights.

It's rural here, and the pastures in any season are gorgeous. Right now it is still in the low 80s and the overnight temps are in the low 60s. There has been little rain, though, and the fields are brown. Pardon the dimness of the photos, I took them while driving at speed through tinted dark glass... Oh well.

Leaving school, the skies are blue-blue-blue with gorgeous puffy clouds.

I whizz past pastures with occasional barn.

 

There's one of our County school buses. Hello Driver!

Poor barn! Poor shed! Needs repair...

Chicken barns! Agribusiness dominates the local economy, with poultry production particularly important. Farm gate is over 300 million for this small county. Horses are also raised here.

Approaching Gholston's Stand, so named (the oral tradition goes) because of a skirmish between county settlers the Gholstons and their neighbors, and the local Creek Indians, in the 1700s. Read about the tale here. Still loving those clouds.

The traffic is a killer.

A large, fine home. With a fantastic rock wall.

A nearby farmstead. Getting close now.

One of the other county schools. I live close by. I hear the opening and dismissing bell, the busses crank up, and the children at recess.

There's Ralph's Farm Stand. Hi Ralph!

A church on every corner. Literally. There are two other churches within stone's throw.  Both are mine, we own two buildings. This one is sad...hardly anyone goes.

My street. Man, I really need to clean my windshield.

The shed on the property. And the small herd of sheep. Hello sheep!

I'm home. 6 miles, 10 minutes, from a great apartment to a great school and pretty all the way. Life is good!