Reading:  So are you dying to know if I finished Tattoo Girl and what I thought of it??  I did finish even though I had purchased it only 10 days before bookclub (well, I was 30 pages from the end of my 644 page version when we discussed and all the big stuff had already happened).  And, I ... didn't mind it too bad.  It was graphic and icky and disturbing.  Violent, sick and either not terribly well written or not translated very well.  But the story was interesting and kept me reading through the disgust.  I did throw it down at one point and tell E that I hated it and couldn't believe that had happened and it was just too much.  But the next day I picked it up again and tried to block the image from my head.  And I finished.  No, I will not be reading the rest of the series (unless "forced" to by bookclub), and no, would not recommend it.  But I read it, got through it and now can offer my opinion on this book that everyone in the world seems to have read.

Now, on to Treasure Island.

Weeding: This time of year is a little sad in the garden.  Yes, the asters are blooming their beautiful purple heads off and mums the size of small shrubs are also covered with flowers.  There are a few others with leaves that turn brilliant red or golden or purplish.  And of course my tomatoes are still going (though I looked at the forecast for the week and this may be the end of them now).  But overall, things are dead or dying.  I did some cutting back this weekend: daylilies, peonies, and a few others that looked more scraggly and sad than not.  I also cut back the monarda.  Though I usually leave their seedheads for a little winter interest, they have been seeding a little more prolifically than I need them to, so chop chop.  I tidied the garden some, emptied some of the pots (I have a hard time cutting back or tossing things that are still green so they didn't all get done) and put away my 'garden art'.  I wore the metal ladybug on my head as I carried the ducks and a small hedgehog (who seems to have lost his toes on one foot!) back to the potting bench in the garage.  I still need to rescue my gnome (though he is so adorable walking out from underneath the huge mum!) and some dragonfly stakes, but by that point I just needed to be done with it for a little while.  I will say goodbye to the garden a little at a time.  Until it snows and I am running around grabbing stuff and shoving it in the shed. 

Eating:  We made a delicious roast chicken last night.  It was my first time cooking a whole bird.  It turned out wonderfully and we will make it again.  It is packed with flavor (squeezing the orange over the chicken made it amazing) and the gravy was easy and very flavorful.  Here's the recipe we used.  I like Tyler Florence a whole lot.
We always buy boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Once in a while we will get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  Why did we have a whole chicken this time?  Well, it's like this.  E is on the board of a really cool camp.  The camp does a fundraising silent auction.  One of the items on the silent auction this year (and in the past also, I believe) is a half a "chicken share".  If you are familiar with a CSA (community-supported agriculture), it is a similar idea, except instead of veggies, you get chickens.  I really like the idea, but was hesitant because I had never cooked or cut up a chicken before.  Dave, the chicken man (as we call him), was at the auction and when I told him that, he started telling me of at least 3 ways to cook and use a chicken without having to cut it up (aka "butchering it").  This convinced me to bid on the chicken share and we won the bid.  So this summer we got our first 2 chickens (the other 3 will be here in November, I think).  And we finally cooked one this weekend.  Now I plan to stick the rest of it (aka "the carcass") in the stock pot with some water, celery, onions and carrots and make a nice stock and then some yummy, warm-your-tummy chicken noodle (or dumpling) soup.  Yay for the chicken man!
Also, in late October/early November we will be getting our 1/4 of a beef.  Roasts and steaks and stew and various ground beef recipes for the winter (actually it will last us about a year and a half).  The ground beef is so lean and tasty, I hope to never run out again.  I just can't bring myself to eat the stuff from the grocery store.  Bleh.  Yay for the cow men!

Creating:  I know, eating reading weeding... creating.  It doesn't exactly rhyme (or rhyme at all for that matter) but I have been trying to come up with another headline for my other interests and that is the best I could do.  I did some scrapbookingHmmmm... retreating rhymes...  Other suggestions?

How are you spending your time?  What are you reading?  Eating? 

Until we eat again,
Hallie