Summers end

Summer has finally ended in the south.  It's so beautiful here this time of year, dry and cool with just a hint of warmth on the skin.  I'm always sad when all the leaves have finally fallen off the trees because I know winter is just around the corner.   I think I'm also sad about looking the leaves because they are my privacy.  My den, dining room and deck are on the second floor and look out into the green lushness of the leaves, when they are gone I can see other houses and the starkness of winter.

I've been making beads in fall and winter colors and doing a bit more etching of beads.  I love the feel of the etched beads, the shininess is gone and they feel soft and smooth.  If you don't want to make jewelry out of these you can always carry them in your pocket so that you have something soft there to touch when you need to.  Kind of like a worry stone.

I've been retired eight months now and I still feel like I'm on vacation and it's about to end.  I wonder how long that will last.  I love just being home and am starting to enjoy cooking again.  Just the other night I decided that I would try a different breading on some pork chops that hubby brought home from the store.  They really don't have a lot of flavor unless you do something with them.  I put some tortilla chips in the blender and chopped them up and added all kinds of spices and used it as a breading for the port chops and they were wonderful.
The secret to keeping the breading on your meats is to first coat the meat in flour, then the egg and milk mixture and finally the breading you have created.  I have four different dry breading mixes in the frig for meats so we don't get bored with what we eat.  Me thinks I've been watching too many cooking shows...LOL