What a week it has been. We spent the whole time getting ready for the arrival of our new grand daughter and her mums. There was so much to do, not the least of it was making sure we had a place for them to stay. Here is how it went.

Monday Eric, the wall expert, came back to prime the walls in the bonus room and the bonus+ room. He uses a spray paint system which can really only be used in a closed area therefore he couldn’t do the front hall. He did the other two rooms and when he was done we felt that it was such a good job we didn’t need to paint the ceilings which meant we were ahead of the game. Tuesday and Wednesday the floors were installed. Tuesday saw the bonus+ room done in about 2 hours. Wednesday the bigger room was done. The installer who came was in a bad mood from the get go. He was sent to do it by himself and he was not impressed. The day before there were two of them and it went very quickly. Part of the problem was that the big room needed quite a lot of prep work to make the floor ready to have the new floor installed. Not quite sure what he put on the floor but it smoothed things out so that the new floor went in perfectly. Despite his being grumpy he persevered, with some support from James Taylor on the radio, and managed to get the job done. Awesome.

John and I, meantime, painted the bonus+ room. At some point it will become an office but it is serving as grandchild Edie’s bedroom for this week.

We had gorgeous weather for most of the week but the day we wanted to set up the rooms it rained. This was problematic because the mattress and box spring for the bed we wanted to use was in the attic of the garage. To get the mattress out of the attic the simplest thing to do was to push it out the barn doors onto a tarp that we spread on the ground below the doors. Well, you can’t do that in the pouring rain. We moved some things into the room and John put up some temporary curtain rods so we could at least have curtains on the windows for everyone. There was a slight panic when I could only find half of the curtains that I knew I had somewhere. Ultimately they were found but I was not happy until I did find them. When it came to curtains for Edie’s room we gave up on the curtain rods and just went with the staple gun. The big room looked much better though.

So while all that is going on in the house, John was building wood racks for the cord of wood that was delivered. This, or course, would have gone in the wood shed but it got turned into a bedroom/office so now we have wood racks and tarps covering the wood. The best ideas that are never realized. We created shopping lists and menus and also tried to keep on with our lives.

Walking Was Fantastic

The dogs and I had some great hikes this week with lots of interesting events happening. The most fun was running into a helicopter that was shuttling some workmen back and forth from the power lines. Turns out they were inspecting the power lines and tagging them and they were using the fields where we walk to land and take off from. I must say it is not what we expect when we are out walking in the woods and along the river but there you have it. Sometimes you run into thing you never anticipate. A helicopter falls into that category.

We met some new dog friends, one named Stella who is a gorgeous Great Dane of about 1 year old. She was a little shy the first time we met but the next time was all in for a good romp. We also ran into Bower a new friend who looks a little like a wolf and is very fast but seems to really like Wyke and Bean and then wonder of wonders we ran into their old friend from last winter’s walks, Zeke, and what a reunion that was for them and for Molly and me. It really was a good week. We only managed 24 miles because of all the things we had to do plus the rain that we don’t really enjoy walking in. A respectable mileage however. We closed out September with finally 100.9 miles. First time since April when I injured my foot doing 121 miles in bad shoes. Feels good to be back.

Cooking This Week

There is lots of cooking going on in the house this week as we prepare to celebrate John’s 75th birthday on October 5th. That is, of course, the reason the Asheville family has driven up here. It is therefore, the reason all the work was done on the house to get ready for the visitors and it is the reason so much cooking is being done. My nephew and his wife arrived for lunch – socially distanced, outside, around the firepit to have a visit with the Asheville family and us. It felt very festive and fun and felt almost normal. We sat outside and had a delicious hot soup (recipe below) and bread and brownies and there might have been an adult beverage or two. Birthdays really should be celebrated over a longer period than just one day.

Tortelini Vegetable Soup from The Washington Post

I doubled the recipe which worked out perfectly. This is really delicious.

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion (about 6 ounces), diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 medium zucchini (about 8 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon dried basil
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One (14-ounce) can no-salt-added petite diced tomatoes, with juices
4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups water
One (9-ounce) package fresh store-bought cheese tortellini
3 cups (2 ounces) lightly packed baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute more.

Add the tomatoes, the broth and 2 cups water and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the tortellini, return the broth to a boil, then cook, uncovered, 1 minute less than the directions on the package indicate; the tortellini should rise and float. Stir in the spinach and cook until just wilted, 1 minute more. Taste, and season to taste with more salt, if desired.

Ladle into 6 bowls, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve hot.