Jan and I haven't had an opportunity to talk at all since before I left for Scotland, so we had mega stuff to cover, both from my end and hers. Sadly, her father passed away just a few weeks before Alan, so she's spending more time down south than usual to help her mother sort through things.
Then, before I could do much more than get my pot of chili cooking--something I had planned on all week for Sunday dinner--Morag called and we chatted for another length of time. We only saw each other that first day I arrived in Edinburgh, though had scheduled the following Tuesday for our afternoon lunch and get-together. Unfortunately, she fell on the Monday as she was leaving her volunteer job at a local thrift shop, and ended up in the hospital for the duration of my stay. She is still recovering from a very serious fall last Christmas which broke her pelvis in two places, so this was a wretched setback. It was good to talk yesterday, to find she was mending a bit, and her spirits were high, etc.
So. The chili cooked all afternoon and into the early evening, the smell filling the house with such a wonderful, homey aroma, the perfect thing for a nice Fall day. I made cornbread muffins, and totally enjoyed my dinner--except for the fact I made enough chili to feed a small third world country. I am going to freeze meal-sized portions, which should pretty much cover any future chili dinners until sometime next year.
I usually simmer the chili in the crock pot all day, but I haven't used my dutch oven for months, and thought I would try it instead. It rocked.
Monday morning and the weather is just perfect today. Sunny, warm--but not too warm--and all the trees changing colors for the season. I decided to take the dogs to the big county park outside Roseburg, not only for somewhere different to walk, but to see how the river looked with the turning leaves.
I tried to take a photo of the boys when they weren't paying attention, but the minute I raised the camera to my eye, Max looked up in horror and darted away in panic. I snapped this as he was just spinning to run. Honestly, what in the world could have frightened him so much in his other life that the mere pointing of a camera would make him so crazy. In any case...here's the boys. Notice that Ozzy's hair STILL hasn't recovered from his scalping, which is now one year ago. Aarrgghh.
I had to sneak the camera out from under my sweatshirt to take these next shots. Max caught me, but I managed to keep the camera pointed away from him so he wasn't so scared. What a goof...
Walking across the park, headed for the river. The trees are slow to change out here; the ones in town are more colorful. I'll try to remember to take my camera to the city park tomorrow.
The view up the Umpqua River...
...and the view down river...
Very pretty Monday morning, isn't it..??. We had a really good walk, one of the better ones the three of us have had lately. It was quiet, hardly anyone about, warm and sunny, and well, just peaceful. The dogs were off-leash for a bit of time too, which they loved and rarely get to do.
Later today I'll get back to the travel diary. We left off just as I was meeting with Miles and Avril. I think I'm sort of procrastinating as the next installment was written on Sunday, and covers Friday night, Saturday and part of Sunday. I had some very painful moments during that period. Though...I'm also realizing some important things, which was part of the purpose of this whole journey, wasn't it..?? Stay tuned...
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