A GOOD DAY IN THE WOODS!!!

Rocky the Squirrel

This morning I had a little greeter outside the bedroom window. This little guy was eating the dogwood berries left on the tree limbs. He gave me a disconcerting look and then a brush of his tail as he scooted down to a lower limb.

Morning coffee. The morning light was fantastic, begging for photographs. Inside the cabin, couldn't resist taking a photo of the ridge pole and beams, the light giving the beams a golden hue.

The morning light was so inspiring inside the cabin

Mickey staking out his winter rocking chair by the fire

Cash in his usual in-the-house pose

Garden Cabin - ready to clean and prep for next guests

Ohhhh the laundry - bedding and towels

The Garden Cabin emptied out this morning, so that means a "clean" to get ready for a new set of guests tomorrow. Stripping off bedding and towels, putting them through wash and dry cycles. Dusting and mopping, putting dishes away. All in day's work during the cabin rental season.

Chicken broth ready for chicken and veggies

Cooler weather means soup on the stove. We decided on making a chicken/rice soup. Dropping the chicken into a stock pot, Tom seasoned with creole seasonings, onion and a couple of hot peppers. We let it cook on the wood stove for about an hour until the chicken could be taken out of the pot and cooled. I sliced peppers, carrots, chopped celery, minced some garlic, then added to the simmering broth while the chicken cooled enough to take the meat off the bone. After this, I added the chicken to the soup, along with some cooked brown rice.

And, a special treat: Shiitake mushrooms harvested from our "plugged" logs.

The soup simmered the rest of the afternoon, adding the Shiitakes to the soup about an hour before we ate dinner.

Tom begins stacking the dried firewood for the winter

Cash and Brutus out for a romp

Don't ya just love fall colors? 

Mickey, too

Also, this is really cool!!! Last weekend Tom bought an old deck chair from the antique mall. Obviously, it had once been on an ocean liner at some point in time. The chair was a dreary weathered gray, but all in all, in good shape structure wise. Tom convinced me that he could have the old deck chair looking beautiful again.

Well...he did...and it is gorgeous. Look how the brass shined up!! Amazing. I'm especially partial to the little brass plate that says 'FIRST CLASS ONLY"

I told Tom that the chair probably fell off  the Titantic when it went down, then floated in the water until it came to shore somewhere, and now it sits in Ohio!! Okay, I might be exaggerating just a tad, but it's a good story anyway, don't ya think?

Just look at how that brass shined up!!

Okay, this sold me the chair: First Class Only

Glass of wine before dinner

A glass of wine before dinner, and then....

Soup and salad - who can beat that combo? 

PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE, 

Sherry is the author of Three Moons Over Sedona, Island Passage and Chasing Joe,

 Sherry Hartzler's books can be found on Amazon.com