TGIF

Friday is my day off ... Sunday is a day off as well but since I am often involved in "command" performances at the parish where I work, it seldom feels like a day off! And although today I will be seeing one of the many medical specialists one gets to visit on a regular basis once one reaches a certain age, I still intend to have a marvelous time: stitching, mucking about with fall garden chores and maybe even doing a little cooking and baking. Housecleaning is entirely optional and will be included only if I have the time and energy ... rather unlikely, considering all my other plans.

First, my plans for stitching: I want to make the final push to catch up with the Bride's Tree SAL and, time permitting, finish stitching my current Halloween ornament WIP, Winifred Witch from M Designs. I'll post photos on Saturday or Sunday, as my progress warrants.

Second, my plans for the garden chores: purchase concrete sealer and white paint suitable for giving a fresh look to the tired old raw concrete retaining wall in the back yard. Before I start applying the sealer though, I'll have to rake and sweep and then wet down the backyard to eliminate as much of the airborne dust as possible ... I really want the finished back wall to look clean, smooth and fresh, rather than textured with paint-embedded debris. I hope to finish cleaning and sealing the wall today. Perhaps by Sunday, I'll be able to give it a first coat of white paint. I figure it'll probably take two or three coats of paint. Next weekend's project will be finishing the painting. After that, I want to construct a mini-rockery at the foot of the wall ... I have all this stone that used to mark off my vegetable garden [from those long-gone stay-at-home Mom days] and more that was "excavated" when we had the Belgian block patio installed. I have plenty of soil left from that same excavation, and I use the term soil very loosely ... this dirt came from an area of the yard that was once a pitiful excuse for an 12'x8' lawn ... it may best be described as depleted dust. But I figure if I enrich it with lots of the fallen leaves that are already beginning to mold and a fair amount of manure, I should have a rockery suitable for spring planting with plenty of sedum, hen & chicks and a few suitable flowering plants. Next fall, I should be able to introduce some interesting bulbs like snow drops, snow stars and wild hyacinths for early spring color. I plan to spend this winter reading up about rock gardens and suitable plants ... particularly relating to these conditions: filtered sunlight, sheltered location, fairly enriched soil. There's also the back door and doorstep to clean and repaint, and the screen from the screen door to bring to the hardware store for repair, and all the fallen tree limbs to gather and stack for kindling [though I don't yet have the outdoor fireplace I long for] ... so much to do ... so little time.

And if the weather turns uncooperative, there's always the cooking and baking: I have plans to make a couple of trays of eggplant and chicken parmigiana to take me through the next week ... a busy one professionally, with lots of late night classes and meetings ... since I know I'll be too tired to cook and I just can't afford to keep doing take-out ... calorically as well as financially. And as the weather cools, I have been longing for some apple crisp or some bread pudding with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream or perhaps some serious New England style gingerbread, with a lemony custard sauce.