Tag Archives: seasons

Dec21

a little something to warm you on this dark and stormy solstice day

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my children, friends, family, co-workers, and visitors of all kinds, know that i love my coffee. new, old, freshly ground, from a bag, from a tin, just dripped, just perked, re-heated, from all corners of the world, as well as the local coffee shop, gas station, or grocery.

when i make my own pot of coffee, i love it strong, black, with a bit of cream. i love to heat what’s left, in the microwave, or on the stove, over and over, until it’s all gone. it gets stronger and thicker and more potent with time. my daughters have taken to calling it my ‘chernobyl blend,’ my version of ‘turkish prison coffee.’ at least i know i could survive most any coffee, most anywhere i may find myself, be it a prison, a truck stop, or at home in my own cottage kitchen. and that’s a life skill.

here’s wishing you a hot cup of coffee, however you most like it, wherever you may be, on this, the shortest day of the year. and if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by my cottage in the morning, for a cup of my own special blend. we’ll share a pot, and toast to the beginning of a return to the long and brighter days of sun. happy winter solstice!

                                      If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.  –Abraham Lincoln

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Nov25

moose and squirrel

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image credit: abc television

with an excess of fruit left in the fields, the seasonal phenomenon of drunken animals has been reported all over the world. included in the mayhem are both moose and squirrels, who are experiencing crazy behavior as a result of indulging in a bit too much of these fermented treats. be on the lookout for animals behaving badly. 

You may have seen the story of the drunken Swedish moose (or elk, as they call the antlered behemoth in Sweden) that got stuck in a tree. “I thought at first that someone was having a laugh. Then I went over to take a look and spotted an elk stuck in an apple tree with only one leg left on the ground,” Per Johansson, who spotted the inebriated mammal in the garden next door to his house in Särö, told The Local. The moose likely got drunk eating apples fermenting on the ground and got stuck in the tree trying to get fresh fruit. “Drunken elk are common in Sweden during the autumn season when there are plenty of apples lying around on the ground and hanging from branches in Swedish gardens,” The Local states. 

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2011/09/the-alcoholics-of-the-animal-world/#ixzz2leeSf3UN 

and then there are the squirrels: 

This year was a bumper crop for local farmers that grow and sell pumpkins. They were able to sell loads of them, so they were able to pick and choose the best compared to last year when the summer was so dry the yield was much lower. So, a local farmer was telling me that he lets the ones that didn’t look as good rot in the fields and that it would be good for the soil and they would simply turn them back into the ground come spring. This year there was quite a few of them.

Well I guess a few squirrels decided they were good to munch on, and as they ferment they are like alcohol, so the squirrels are acting drunk afterwards. If you didn’t know that they had been into the pumpkin patch you would think it was some kind of horror movie when you see them trying to navigate, almost like zombies! He said he watched a few that finally just laid down for a while in the shrubs and most likely had to nurse a hangover, but they didn’t go for the pumpkins the next day! 

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 “Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.” ~ Ernest Hemingway