288th day and a holiday pause

 There is no excitement, no splendid meetup with kids or grandkids. (Another set of very isolated grandparents is visiting with the young family this weekend). No celebration, no cooking craziness in the kitchen. It's a winter day, a quiet winter day. A pause in December's whirligig of activity. 

A working breakfast, in that Ed is trying to keep the handle on my 40 year old pot from falling off. All my pots are very old (except for the nonstick medium frying pan, which gets replaced every five or six years). And they work beautifully! Except when a handle decides to disengage...

There is a lot of catch up work around the farmhouse. Tidying, putting away, washing. But by mid-afternoon, we're ready for a substantial walk. We drive down to one of our favorites -- the Brooklyn Wildlife Area. And we do wear our blaze orange stuff. It's still the hunting season and indeed, we spot at least four hunters with their big rifles and their hounds.

But apart from that, the trail is empty and the air is bracing and the path is ... not too slick!

The next three photos are all about the sky, because really, in these hilly areas, you climb up a bit and look out, and feel yourself always to be dazzled by the enormity and great beauty of the sky. Today we actually veer off the Ice Age Trail (to avoid some hunters) and are rewarded again and again by lovely views across the forests, farmlands and prairies. With a moon, showing off its belly, up above.

And, too, we see an unusually large number of airplane contrails (some actually casting a shadow in the sky), crisscrossing the heavens as if in search of something. There must be little wind up high, or else they'd long be dispersed.

 

One more sky, just a few minutes before sunset. Over a corn field, of course.

By the time we return home, it's growing dark.

Supper? If you like eggs (as we do), here's an idea from Xi'an's Famous Foods chef Jason Wang: scramble up some eggs in a pan, but take them off the skillet just before they're done. Then throw some chopped green onions on the same pan, cook on high for literally less than a minute, then add some roughly sliced tomatoes, and now return the eggs, add a little soy, a dash of salt and you have yourself a super supper! I also roasted some tetsukaboto squash, because we have so much of it from our CSA!

 

And a salad. We are the true salad crunchers. Every day. Green stuff, today with chopped up beauty heart radishes to brighten up a winter plate.