Rainy Monday

Last week's weather was a rotten tease.  It was a little cooler on Saturday, Sunday wasn't any better in the heat department and it was windy too.  Today it's overcast, chilly, and drizzly.  Whoop.  Yeah, yeah, we need the rain and it is only April 20 but it was so nice last week--warm and sunny--that I was fooled into thinking that Global Warming was really a thing and it was here.  But, no, it's a normal Green Bay spring, mercurial and unsatisfyingly random.  I wanted it to stay the way it was last Friday--sunny and 70--for a while, like until Halloween, then autumn could come, the leaves change colors, and fall would stick around until Christmas Eve when it would snow 6" for Santa's sleigh ride.  After New Year's Day the snow would melt and temps would start inching back up to 70 by mid-April.  (Did I  mention that I'd like to live in Camelot?)  I am very glad that I spent all of Friday out in the yard so I got to lap up all of the sunshine, warmth, and vitamin D available.  Now I can glare out the window at the rainy and chilly and wish I hadn't put my warmest socks downstairs and that I'd worn full-length jeans today.  Oh, well, no one ever got a cold in their shins, plus my socks don't match once again.

I got the Red Marl sweater parts out of their wool wash bath, spun the water out in the washer, and patted and pinned them out to dry in their proper shape and size.  That tub of wet wool did make the basement smell like I was hiding wet sheep down there while it was soaking but I noticed this morning when I was down there that the aroma is dissipating.  I got a little bit of organizing and shifting around done yesterday afternoon but my knitting pal, MW, came over so we had to visit and then I asked him to stay to supper so Durwood got to have company too.

That Italian Braised Chicken Durwood made was excellent.  Since we had twice as much chicken as the recipe called for I suggested he make a double batch, which was all well and good except it was too much for the crockpot, but it did fit in the largest Dutch oven, so we set the oven on Low-ish, set the timer for 6 hours, and hoped for the best.  It was perfect.  I ladled off a lot of the juice and Durwood thickened it a bit before stirring it back into the pot.  We're both big fans of one-pot meals and this one's definitely a keeper.  I took a picture but it's not the most photogenic plate.  You'll have to trust me when I say that chicken, white beans, onion, bell pepper, fennel bulb, diced tomatoes and tomato paste, all seasoned with rosemary, oregano, salt & pepper, and garnished with Parmesan cheese and parsley is one yummy combo.

April 20--Amos Chan, New York Skyline.

From the water
you can see them,
the twin towers
of the World Trade Center,
dominating the skyline.
Bastions of capitalism,
they are the tallest
by far,
dwarfing every other
building.
Who would guess
that they'd become
targets?
~~~~~

Not so cheerful for a rainy Monday but I don't select the prompts, I just write about whatever picture comes to the top in the rotation.  Enjoy your Monday.  Stay warm and dry.  I'm trying to.
--Barbara