What's for Lunch?

 Somehow today I got to thinking about all the meals I prepare.  Three meals a day for Dan and me. At this stage of her life I don't think my mom was doing that every day unless she had family visiting.  My dad would make his own breakfast or at least contribute to the making of breakfast.  I think Mom made the oatmeal and Dad made himself an egg - soft boiled was his preference.  For lunch I think Dad was on his own - a sandwich of his choice.  He had diabetes at this point in his life and was very careful about what he ate and how much.

For breakfast today I made Nova Scotians - a fried egg with Canadian bacon and a slice of cheddar cheese, on sourdough toast which has been smeared with mayo and dusted with chipotle pepper.  Sometimes this goes on an English muffin.  I named it after we had something similar when we visited Halifax one spring. I think the cafe where we got this served it with a slice of tomato too.  I'm not sure what they called it, but for us Nova Scotians works.

Here's lunch today:

The bottom two dishes had leftover egg salad and tuna salad.  We still didn't finish them so I combined them into the tuna salad container.  I also served orange and banana slices with coconut.

Dinner tonight will be a slice of ham, fried apples and onions, and steamed spinach.  Haven't decided if we need potatoes too.  If we do I'll microwave a couple then slice and saute them in olive oil to crisp them up a bit.

I do like to cook though sometimes the planning or the prep is just too much.  When I feel that way I look at the list of what has gone into the freezer from past meals.  Somehow it's almost impossible to just make a meal with two servings.  Leftovers go into the freezer. (When we lived in Maryland and Mom was alive after Dad died I'd take her some of these frozen leftovers to simplify her having to cook.)

Here's the list.

I also have a dated list of the raw meats that go into the freezer after making the mistake of using some ground turkey that had been in there for more than 6 months.  It tasted awful and went into the trash. 

For those of you not living alone, do you still make 3 meals a day for your household?  What shortcuts can you share? 

Oops! Too Soon!

Dan warned me.  Emily warned me but I really thought the bears were off to hibernate with all the cold nights we've been having.

Here are the feeders earlier this week.  Loved by both gold and purple finches, chickadees, tufted titmouse, some woodpeckers too and of course the juncoes on the ground feasting on the spillage.

This morning this was the scene.

Impressions in the grass were the indicators of what feasted on these feeders.

Fortunately the suet feeder and a peanut suet mix had not been put out yet.

Now to see if the shepherd's hook has been bent too badly.  And if the feeders were damaged.

We have yet to see a bear in the yard but this is the second time in two years that we've had one visit.

Wednesday Outing

Come along on our walk on the Northern rail trail.  We parked outside of Enfield, NH and walked south along Mascoma Lake.  The trail is at least 59 miles long and we did a very tiny portion on this lovely Fall day.

Enjoy the scenery with us.

Lunch at the Baited Hook

A photo on their wall of the train along the lake.

Along the way home we stopped to check out this guy

oops he's a pumpkin person!

On another back road to home we spied this fine horse checking us out.

Hope you enjoyed the day out as much as we did.

Tuesday Morning

Frosty mornings here since Sunday.

Yesterday the juncoes arrived. They weren't here on Sunday, but Monday morning they were all over the yard and especially under the bird feeders I hung on Sunday.

Occasionally I'll see a junco try to land on the feeder, but it's never successful. Does anyone know of a feeder type that a junco could use?

Fall colors are the best in years an article in the newspaper said yesterday. 

Two weeks to Election Day!  No early voting here in NH unless you have a reason for not voting on the 3rd.  I hope all of you with early voting option have voted or have a plan to vote.