HOW did I MISS September

Ok. I don't get it. Why is time FLYING by right now? Is it going to fly by for this whole year? It's not right. I don't like it. How did I miss September? Why does it seem like I only saw five days during the month? Will the whole year seem like 60 days rather than 360?

I have to get to work. Yesterday, I made some progress, I think, on the javascript on my pages for my study. Today, I suppose I should work on the PHP. It seems like a waste, though, not knowing if I'll be able to even run the study this year.

I'm going to go ahead and send a manuscript in some time this week. Why? Because i can't think about it anymore. I don't have a lot of hope for it; it was a conference poster once upon a time and fine for that purpose. But, it is not the type of work I typically do, and as a result, I don't know how I feel about it really. But, getting it off of my two-do list (it's been there a few years) will be a happy thing.

The classes I'm taking take up more time than I expected, if only because I consider the drive there to be part of my "work." Two and a half hours is a long long time to be in a car for a course. I'm not sure how my grad school friends did this every week for three years! Some of them came from 3-4 hours away! Nutso.

I was thinking about brandied apple rings and apple pie jam today. I doubt I'll get to that, although really, that's what I'd rather be doing (hence, the reason the whole month of September passed me by I guess).

I think I'm going to make a trip to NY to see my nephews and niece the weekend after this coming one. They are all going on vacation, so I think I'm going to meet them. My nephew with the very broken arm will be there, and I need to see the little guy to put my mind at ease. He's my little buddy, my sunshine. Well, they all are. But, he's the one I'm worried about now. I heard, though, that he got a 100% on a math test and on a spelling test, so it appears he's doing okay PLUS learning how to write with his left hand, which seems like it might serve him well in the future.

Then, it's off to Portland to meet one of NoL's friends for a day (and hopefully find the tie-dye pjs I've been wanting ever since I saw them years ago). At some point, I suspect we'll have to make a trip back to NY - NoL's computer is ready - and I need software installed on mine - and I think there will be a meeting we have to attend at some point. But, when that will be, I cannot say.

I haven't heard from my friends lately. The blog reports have been sparse, which must mean that they are very busy with classes and exhausted. I hope all is well.

Mismanaged Motivation

I can't seem to get motivated to do those things that would most help me professionally. I need to get my act together and get a study developed (the materials), get some writing done (two articles which should go out this semester but at this rate will not), and get some reading done for another study. Additionally, I need to read several new texts that I bought. But, the only thing I am really able to accomplish is canning. It is not good. Yet, I still have plans to go apple picking on Saturday morning. I plan to make brandied apple rings. I plan to finally make my apple pie jam. I don't know what else I might end up making, but those are at least two possibilities.

While I've gone to the gym twice this week, and I think I'll make it again tomorrow, my shoulder muscles are causing me such pain (probably from over lifting Monday) that I will be unlikely to lift any weights again tomorrow. The range of motion in my neck is very limited, and I spent two hours this morning in bed with a heating pad on my neck. But, next week, I shall lift again, I think, and hopefully I will be able to determine which of the machines caused this problem (I have my suspicions) and limit the weights I do with said machine.

With the type of baking and cooking going on here, I think we are eating healthier. I hope that we can find a way to continue this next year and beyond, although I'm sure the canning will be somewhat limited next year (nothing could probably ever compare to this year). I love doing it, though, and it's really nice to use my own tomato sauces and pizza sauces and so on when cooking. In fact, I may do double that next year, depending on how quickly we use up things this year. Rather than making some of the more obscure things I made this year, I will likely just find various spaghetti and tomato sauces and pizza sauces and double up on those.

I doubt, too, that I will make quite as much fruit jam. This year, I was simply obsessed with trying various combinations because I had never really combined things before. There are several holiday recipes I still plan to make, but I refuse to buy any more jars, so I can only make things as we empty enough jars to have for any one recipe. So, anyone who I gave jam to who has no need for the jars can return them. However, if you are going to use them, feel free to keep them. Having fewer will limit what I make! Although "fewer" is a strong word...

Ok. Really. I am off to read the new instructional design theories and models text. If I get really motivated, I'll work on the study materials tonight while watching the red sox and other things.

Preserving the Harvest... Or Other Things

It's always interesting to see that NoL has updated the blog when I go to post something new. Since she's done so, there is no reason to write about the apple picking event, though I'm pretty sure we are going to need to go back. I managed to make the apples in cinnamon red-hot sauce today, with NoL's help (she peeled the apples). I don't know whether the jars are going to seal or not (I haven't heard anything but that doesn't mean that haven't made that satisfying "pop" sound. Now, I'm making the Thai Dipping Sauce I have been planning on making for a while, but I kind of didn't read the directions correctly, so it might end up being stronger than it is supposed to be. Oh well. As long as it seals, we can try to use it.

I might try to do some candy apple jelly, which I have not yet done, but have planned on doing, soon. Then, I want to do apple pie jam, brandied apple rings, and perhaps even caramel apple jam. Cause apples are fun.

Once done with those, I will have exhausted my apple stuff, although applesauce is always a possibility.

There are multiple other things to be made yet, but happily, none require things I must pick. So, just through the winter I'll be making more things.

The curious similarities between MA and Quebec

1L and I headed to Peabody today (pronounced Peebuddy around here, but Pea-Body by McTommy and other GPS units and non-MA people) to go apple picking. We picked a peck of apples (I've been trying to think of a P word for apples, but can't thing of one, so the alliteration has to stop at the peck). We got Cortland, since they're good for baking (or so sayeth the sign when we picked up our bag to hold a peck) and 1L has plans for them - she's making a cinnamon-red hot sauce for them, which apparently is tastey with roast pork. The apple picking was quite fun, although it kept looking like the apples that were just out of our reach were the ripest. But we managed to get a decent peck of them - enough that I think 1L is now wishing she had an apple peeler/corer.

The picking place was pretty packed. But, between the Macintoshes, Galas, and Cortlands, there was room for people to spread out. After picking, we headed to the store that was related to the picking place. Judging from the kid in the car next to us, happily munching on a donutey looking thing, they had apple donuts and other apple creations there. However, there was a line of people to get in to the store. We decided that it's not just Quebecians who like their apple donuts and apple pies and such, and also decided to come back during the week, when it might be a bit less crowded.

What to do in Canada on Labo(u)r Day Weekend

This past weekend, Michele, Sedwick, and I headed up to Canada. Now that Sedwick knows where the dropzone is :), he wanted to visit it again. Plus, there was a CRW gathering. And we had some left over Canadian currency, so it was off to Canada we went.

On Fri, we headed for Gatineau, which is just outside of Ottawa. There was a hot air balloon festival there, and there were reputed to be lots of artisans. Michele was hoping a wood carver guy we'd seen in Quebec would be there. However, while we did get to see about 25 hot air balloons take off (which was very cool to see), for some reason a red flag was put up, which meant (we learned from the announcer person) that the weather wasn't right for ballooning. We were a little puzzled about that, since the weather seemed to be perfect (and the announcer had even said it was perfect weather during his initial announcements). And, there was no wood carver from Quebec. There were, oddly, stripper poles for sale, but very few artisans. So the festival was both fun and a little bit of a disappointment all at the same time.

That night, we found a hotel (Motel Joliette) that was straight out of the 50s, complete with a 50s car out front. But it was clean and reasonably priced, and had wifi from the neighbor, and just a 10 minute ride to the dirt road that lead to the dropzone, so we were set.

Sat, Michele and I had originally planned to go to Ottawa, but Fri had shown us that that's a decent drive away, and we were a little sick of driving. Instead, we did what apparently every other person in the area does on the Sat of Labour Day, and headed to apple orchards. We got apple cider, apple donuts, apple cookies, and apple ice wine (we haven't tried that last yet, but the others were pretty good).

Sun, we headed for small towns in the Laurentines. We tried to see about 6, but found about 3. When McTommy (Michele's GPS) told us we'd arrived at a few, there didn't seem to be much there. In particular, one town (Esterial) seems to be comprised of an intersection, a golf course, a hotel, and a city hall. Oh - and a fun curvy road that, when is driven quite quickly (as Michele did the first two times we were on it (the third time we were behind a slow car), feels like a roller coaster. We managed to find two promising towns - one where we had quite tastey cappuccinos (with chocolate shavings on top) and discovered that the salesperson has the same taste as Michele (she owns the same sweater and purse that Michele bought), and I got some cute tiny purses. We also found another promising town that, sadly, was closing once we found it (because of the detour to the town that didn't exist). But that gives us something to do the next time we go up to our neighbors to the north. All in all, it was quite a fun weekend.