Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Tomorrow is Doc’s birthday, and Auntie M is busy today cooking and baking for a dinner party in the afternoon.  Per his request, we are grilling a whole  20 lb. turkey on the porch.

Sides will be a tomato casserole, as Doc would eat them three times a day if he could,

a mixed squash casserole with onion, thyme and fenugreek, and mashed yams with brown sugar (Splenda) and orange.  Yeast rolls glazed with honey butter on the side.

He asked for a molasses cake with plums and apple baked on top, served with fresh whipped cream~ is that enough are you still hungry?

Befores will be steamed shrimp from our own waters, fresh mozzarella with TOMATO and basil, and of course, can’t have a nice meal down south without deviled eggs.

And yes, I pipe them just like in the snap.  Much less messier that way.

Thanks to all the other bloggers whose food photo’s I used.  Now I’ve got to get crackin’!

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Today Auntie M left Middle Son and his Wife hard at work on their Master’s stuff and drove off into the mountains in the direction of Ballston Spa, where we knew there was a huge antiques emporium just waiting for our credit card.

We stopped for lunch nearby at a place called The Whistling Tea Kettle, where I had a tea called Earl Grey Cream and Doc had iced Huckleberry.  He bought some loose Giverny Monet to take home after smelling its combo of chocolate, pineapple and walnut.  We ate panini’s and salad, and forged out, bellies full and ready to do our damage on the goods waiting to be discovered.

We poured through sheet music from the 1920’s and furniture from the 1860’s.  We sighed over the patina of old woods and inspected china and pottery for chips and flaws.  We sifted through boxes of ‘smalls’ and baskets of linens, and eventually came away with a few keepers of to take home.

Just how successful were we? (I can hear you out there asking.)  We managed to find a small fleur-de-lys pin for moi (we have them all over our house as our ’emblem,’ representing the two of us and our blended family of Our Three Sons.  There was a very inexpensive but delightfully starched and pressed tablecloth, some tiny plates with roses for Mom and Friends Back Home, but our Big Purchases boiled down to two:

One was from a neat place called Genevieve’s, which is named after the owner’s grandmother, and is a metal trellis with FIVE fleur-de-lys that Doc found.  I am now designing a flower box to go on our screened porch for year-round flowers that will climb their way up this trellis–once Doc builds the flowers box, of course.  Neat.

Find Two was Doc’s, who sometimes surprises me.  This year Paramedic Son finally has a holiday off–he’ll have all day of Thanksgiving, so we will have a big family dinner with assorted guests at our house.  Doc spied a huge turkey platter with eight matching plates, all with different scenes of turkeys in the wild, and bargained them down to a reasonable price.  We’ll christian them this November, use the platter at least all year round, and recall our trip to the Catskills whenever we do.  Did I mention that Doc’s fave adult bev of choice is Bourbon?  You got it–Wild Turkey!

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Auntie M first visited Howe Caverns when she was a little girl and super-impressed.  The next time shes was there she took Paramedic Son, who was 7 at the time. Through his eyes, it was still impressive.   Today with Doc?  Not so much. . .

For the exorbitant (I thought) sum of $18/person, we got an 80-minute tour, part walk, part boat ride, with a knowledgeable guide, along with sixteen other people.Oh sure, Auntie M thinks stalagmites and stalactites are neat geological formations.  But the WOW factor was long gone.  The ice cream on the way home was the highlight.

All has led to Auntie M’s conclusion that she is Getting Old.  Signs of this have been occurring for a while now, but Auntie M is nothing if not a spectacular ostrich ignorer.  Tomorrow should be much more fun: at least a part of the day is going to be spent at a Border’s going-out-of-business sale/40% off everything.

Now THAT is right up her alley~

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Doc and Auntie M are having a great time in the Catskills.  Our grandcats are adorable, Hamilton and Pumpkin, two feral cats Wife and Middle Son took in and treat royally.  There have been nice sunny days, NOT hot, and my deodorant hasn’t had a workout yet.  At night sleeping under the open windows to a cool breeze has been heavenly.

Today our plans were thwarted by closing on Labor Day, so we flexibly made Tuesday’s plan for Monday and it worked.  After outings to a few local farm stand that WERE open, we will have homemade crab cakes tonight (from NC crab Doc caught and we picked and brought up), fresh salad with homegrown veggies from the gardne up here, local sweet corn, and multigrain bread Middle son made in his bread maker today.  Oh, and fresh tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil from our garden.  Bliss.

This afternoon saw me heading for the hammock strung between two shady trees, research book and notebook in hand.  Now, Auntie M hasn’t actually been in a hammock in a few years, BUT it must be like riding a bike.  Once you learn, you never forget.  How hard could it be to get into it?

I backed into it as instructed and promptly flipped ass butt over head onto the other side of the grass, hat flying off, ditto sandals, crunching my neck and shoulders.  I came up laughing and not a little bit embarrassed…with Middle son holding the side, I managed to wedge myself into it a bit better.  And was afraid to move.  Finally I relaxed, and two hours later, with stripes from the ropes on my back, the research is done, that book packed back up, and NOW I can relax and read the brain candy books I’ve brought along.

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