Chapter 88
I continued harvesting apples all through November, but I think they’ve all finally played out here at the end of the month. We finally got cold weather – Thanksgiving was surprisingly brisk – and I’m glad Mom kept all of Mitchell’s old clothes. It meant that we were able to get the boys into new-to-them cold weather coats. They’ll have to layer up once it gets even colder but for now what they have works. Nat was able to use one of my old jackets. It’s a bluejean jacket Mom lined with the remains of an old sheepskin rug she picked up at an estate sale. I remember how I loved that thing when it still fit and how sad I was when it had to go in the “Too Small Tub”.
School this month has been a bit of a mash up. We studied Veterans Day, Pilgrims/Thanksgiving traditions, and New World Explorers. For that one we even got in a bit of Florida History. It has kept me hopping because Derek has been really busy with EMS and then really tired once he gets home, and not much better when he is playing catch up at the law firm.
My garden is slowing down and so is the farmers market. I’ve added the following but much of it we are eating fresh though I try and freeze dry at least a little bit: broccoli, cabbage, tangerines, Myers lemons, satsuma oranges, navel oranges, tangelos, red grapefruit, avocados, carambolas, guavas, mushrooms, passion fruit, peanuts, squash, sweet corn, garlic, persimmons, Natal plums, chestnuts, pecans, tree tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, orange flesh watermelon, Charleston gray watermelon, cranberry bean (dry), edible soybeans (dry), Country Gentleman (white shoe peg corn), moon and stars watermelons (red, yellow flesh), rattlesnake watermelon, kohlrabi, Nantes carrots, Trucker’s favorite white corn, Trucker’s favorite yellow corn, Bloody Butcher (red corn), Blue Hopi corn (blue), Delicata winter squash, pumpkins, Hickory King corn (white), strawberry popcorn, yellow sweet onions, lettuce, miniature blue popcorn, butternut squash, cushaw green striped pumpkins, Big Max pumpkins, brussel sprouts, leeks, and burdock which looks like a giant white carrot.
Derek and I talked about the holidays. His family draws names out of a hat usually, but this year it looks like only the kids are going to receive gifts and that each family group will get one gift from each other as well.
“So what’s the problem?” I asked.
“You don’t see the problem?”
“Nope. I see a solution. A goodie basket. I’ll make some quick bread and include an Amish bread starter, some recipes, and some ingredients to keep them going for a little bit. Popcorn balls. Cookies. Some homemade candies. I’ve got enough baskets around here to make Little Red Riding Hood jealous. And decorative tins, some of which are probably older than my mother was because if you think my mom was a packrat, she got it honest from her mom who was twice as bad. I can even lay hands on them as they are stacked in one of the rooms on the third floor with roughly a dump truck full of craft supplies including wrapping paper for every special occasion on the calendar and a few you’ll only find on foreign calendars.”
Derek laughed in relief, and because he thought I was exaggerating. Unfortunately, no. The amount of stuff that came out of Memaw’s house only to be moved up here could have been turned into one of those horror comedies. It was a mess and I’m still organizing it and the stuff in the barn when I have a little bit of time to devote to it.
What I’m not having to devote time to is keeping Ms. Thang out of the billing program. Her wings have been clipped, and not by me. Taylor must have finally realized what she was doing (I’d given him enough hints) and had a showdown with Dayton over how his clients were being billed and where the credit was going. Dayton played dumb and threw some of his staff under the bus, blaming the war for taking his previous accounting staff. He tried to throw me in the same place until I showed where I had gone in and “corrected” as many errors as I was catching for Mrs. Barnes’ office but that perhaps he should do a review of the Tallahassee and Jacksonville offices as to avoid any investigation by regulating agencies. That did not go over well but he agreed to it for both appearances and because I wasn’t kidding. Once everything was explained to him in detail, the he had “over-relied on the people in charge of his billing department,” he got a little concerned for his own skin since as a senior partner he would definitely be held accountable and billable hours is taken seriously by the Bar and their minions. I still have to wear a Kevlar vest when her and I are in the office on the same days (not often) but I can live with that if it means protecting the ones that I’m loyal to.
On to more pleasant things. The house is now decorated for Christmas. We did it the day after Thanksgiving much to the caballeros happiness. Instead of putting lights outside, I offered a compromise and I let them string some inside. One of the third-floor rooms has been turned into “Santa’s Workshop”. If they want the lights to actually work, they have to charge the batteries by using a stationary bicycle as a generator
[1]. It was one of their school projects. I figure the desire for lights will come and go depending on how busy they are and how many projects they have going. They are talking about setting them to Christmas music. Yeah, I could do it, I’ll just leave them to work out how on their own unless they ask for pointers.
I have projects going was well, and that includes gathering as many Amish Friendship Bread recipes
[2] as possible. I’m doing the same for ways to use cornmeal in bread
[3]. I depend on bread a lot to cover any shortfall in meals. Mom and Memaw used to say that it was gravy that covered a multitude of sins. That was about as “blasphemous” as those two women ever got. It is really grace that does. On the other hand, I’ve been known to put it down to bread.
Take for instance the other night. I was running late after a long day in the office. I got home and … OMG … I forgot to turn the crockpot on before leaving that morning. I threw the crock part into the fridge and tried not to panic. The kids were starving. Derek was going to be home soon, and I knew he’d be starving after a 24-hour shift at the EMS station. The power was going to be going off and it was cold and getting colder. Well, my brain started working and cold meant chilly which meant chili. I got a couple of quarts of the home-canned stuff out of the pantry and put a cast iron skillet on top of the wood burning stove. You laugh but I made hoe cakes that had creamed corn in the batter. Chili and cornbread to the rescue. For dessert we had the gingerbread that I had made the previous day while I was experimenting. First version was from the bread machine
[4]. Second version was the Amish Friendship Bread version of Gingerbread
[5]. Quick fix for a potential tragedy all because I was able to put some bread on the table.
I need to get to work on the holiday baskets. I need to make at least five for the family, one for the pastor, and then put together a goodie platter for the office and then one for the Christmas get together at church. The one thing I do know is the one for Mr. David and Lorena will have pickles and hot peppers as part of its contents. And I’ll give Taylor and his family a jar of pickled garlic and another of pearl onions.
So much to do, so little time. I just have no idea what I’m going to do for Derek.
[1] View: https://youtu.be/k6-0PXRyVoo?si=zkTq36sBE7WawRRJ
[2] Recipe for Making Amazing Amish Friendship Bread
[3] Cornbread
[4] Bread Machine Gingerbread - Bread Dad
[5] Gingerbread Amish Friendship Bread