Tuesday, May 18, 2021

rainy days and fallen limbs



I haven't done any yoga since last Wednesday at class though I could still be doing my core strengtheners and hip openers. My upper arm/shoulder was really aching and I even opted not to do some of the asanas during class that would put pressure on it. So, I thought, give it a week to heal except, of course, I'm out in the yard doing shit every day but at least I'm trying to use my left arm for the work, favoring my right. So the day of rain Sunday was good, forced me to take a day off and Monday too being too wet to do anything outside and because it's a sunny day, horribly humid. I suppose I could get the azaleas fertilized for the last time this year which just involves tossing handfuls of the stuff on the ground around the plants, which ideally I would follow with a layer of mulch but that's more labor intensive and since it's supposed to rain more this week, I'll wait. So two days of being lazy. I always feel like a slug when the day ends and I haven't accomplished a thing. I have to keep reminding myself that resting is also an accomplishment. Well, I've been to the library today so I have two books to help me accomplish resting.

Sunday night, closing up the house about 8:30 I looked out the back door to see a huge dead limb had fallen off the tallow tree in the little backyard. Hard to believe we neither heard it break nor thud to the ground. Gonna be a major effort to get that cut up and moved to the burn pile. I swear, some days it feels like all we do is pick up and cut up fallen branches off the pecans, oaks, and now the tallow.

Also Sunday, since I was housebound and had finished the book I'd been reading I figured it was a good day to make these,

an idea I got from Boud of Field and Fen and her creative cooking that she posts about. I don't know what to call them, if they were smaller, I'd call them empanadas. I had been saving the pie crust that gets trimmed off when I make pies and had five balls of dough in the freezer and also some shredded roast from a previous meal. I chopped up some onions, garlic, celery, carrots, broccoli, boiled some small potatoes til they were still a little firm and then cubed them, skinned and cut up the five or six very ripe little tomatoes I got at the market last Saturday, sautéed the vegetables, added the potatoes and tomatoes and let it cook a little longer and then spooned some of the mixture on the round of pie dough I had rolled out, sprinkled on some parmesan cheese, folded it over, crimped the edges, and baked for about 20 minutes. Rolling out the pie dough proved to be a challenge though as I don't have a rolling pin but a tall smooth sided glass did the trick.

You might remember I did a spate of cooking with butternut squash a while back and the seeds went into the compost pile. This is what my compost pile looks like now

and it's producing two nice sized butternut squashes.



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Well, it rained most the day yesterday, Monday, off and on, but not heavily until last evening. It had stopped by late afternoon though still overcast and so Pam and I took off for El Campo for yoga class. As we were sitting in the car waiting for Abby to arrive Pam got a text from a friend telling her some bad weather was on the way. We looked up to the north and it was black and roiling and moving toward us so we checked the weather and radar and heavy rain was bearing down on us and would hit about the time we would be leaving for home. Neither of us wanted to drive back on the highway in that so we decided to skip class just as Mauri drove up. I jumped out to explain why we were leaving and to please tell Abby and she had just been looking at the radar map as well. Better leave now if you want to miss it, it's coming fast she says. So we did. It had just started to rain when we got home and then the heavy stuff hit and another, smaller, branch fell out of the tallow.

And we're supposed to get even more rain this week.




18 comments:

  1. How ironic, I was at my doctor yesterday and mentioned my sore right elbow and she recommended that I start pulling weeds with my left hand! Ha! Just like you mentioned in the beginning of your post!
    How nice of your acorn squash to produce again in the compost heap!!
    Your baking looks good - maybe like a pasty, altho, I have never had one it sounds similar...

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  2. Glen's rotator cuff injury had almost healed when the doctor gave him a set of rehab exercises to do. Two days of those and he's right back where he started. The lesson here is that sometimes rest is exactly what you need for healing to occur.
    We're not supposed to get rain for at least a week. And it's going to get hot as hell. I suppose I should just be grateful for the cool days and nights we have had.
    Take care, Ellen.

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  3. I love those baked treats up there. They sound great. Making notes..

    Tree branches can be unnerving when they come down silently. I always disasterize what if someone had been right there, even if no harm's done!

    Weather like yours is not to be trifled with, good thing you turned for home.

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  4. Wow! That is a very big tree limb to break off unnoticed. I do hope the weather calms down there and you get to do yoga and work in the garden. Your baked empanada looks delicious. You always inspire me to come up with new things to cook. Thank you for that!
    Take care there, stay safe and well.

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  5. And what are those, may I ask? Yes, tho I have never heard of a tallow tree, that tallow branch sure did make a mess.

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    Replies
    1. what are those? as in the tallows? Chinese tallow trees, an import from China and considered invasive. we have three on our property, did have four but I had a small one cut down to give me more sun for a flower bed.

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  6. I saw the nation's weather this morning, the report forecasts loads of rain for you. Just what you need- 4 inches of rain in one downpour!

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    1. fortunately the worst of it has been missing us so far. but not unusual to get that much rain or more in a day or two. come June, if the past five or more years is any indication, rain will be scarce til fall.

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  7. Pasties or hand pies - YUM! I used to buy these from street vendors in Zambia.

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  8. Hi Ellen, Enjoy resting up a bit. The tree branches aren't going anywhere:) What is that plant in the last photo?

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    1. it's elephant garlic, large bulbs but much milder than the garlic you get in the store. it blooms every year. I took this picture last week and the flowers are opening now.

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  9. The pasties are lovely, and the butternut squash even more so. My gardening is off to a good start, all the seeds I harvested in the fall are sprouting well.

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  10. Well, I wonder if that rain still is missing you. I just ran through my weather sites and discovered tornadoes had been on the ground in Swiss Alp and La Grange. Now, I see the warnings are up for Colorado County. Those storms are heading trhough you toward us. I just made a pot of coffee to set aside in case the power goes out. I charged up my phone, did a load of laundry, and and have it in the dryer. Now, I'll bring in the bird feeders, and wait it out. Hope the worst misses you.

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    Replies
    1. doesn't seem to be. really pouring out there now, lightning and thunder. the little dog is insane.

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  11. I make similar things - pasties.

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  12. You missed yoga but you probably got an even more intensive workout in your garden and in your kitchen, though I must say, those pastry goods look delicious. I hope your shoulder pain goes away soon.

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  13. My physio gave me a stern talk about age and that muscles do not get thicker and stronger nor tendons more flexible when we get older, that we should look after our muscles and joints and tendons, not push them or hurt them or overstretch them or force them because that's all we have left once we reach that certain age and that there is a natural reason why bodies get stiffer and slower with age and it's not because we are lazy.
    My granny walked and cycled and gardened until she was over 90. Never learned to drive a car or use a power garden tool. Never knew about yoga either. Abhorred any sports.

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  14. I'm also surprised you didn't hear that branch fall! Maybe it's dead and not as heavy as it looks. The pasties came out well!

    Also, you have the nicest-looking compost pile of anyone I know.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.