Friday Fragments

Fall came rushing in this past week, with lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of rain. And gray skies and chilly temperatures. It's been perfect soup & fireplace weather.

The rain finally tapered off yesterday and today, and the drop in temperature means Rosie has extra energy that needs to get walked off. Which I don't mind, either, now that it's cool!

These are the first beauties of the season! Fifteen years ago, when I was in graduate school in Indiana, I couldn't resist the gorgeous reds and violets decorating the sidewalks on my way into campus each day. Finding myself in the departmental office with pockets full of woodsy-smelling fall leaves, I started leaving them as gifts in some of my friends' mailboxes. These days I leave them for Miss Chef, beneath the lamp I leave on for her at night. She loves it, too.

And you'll notice...now that the ripe persimmons are pretty much out of reach, I've switched my attentions right across the path to a pecan tree that's started dropping its fruit! We already have a pretty good supply--the dishwasher at Miss Chef's restaurant gathers them, and had so many he gave her a ton--but it's so fun to pick up your food off the ground! I delight in seeing nature be so generous, just leaving food around for the price of bending over and filling your pockets.

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Speaking of the restaurant...Chef Adam went to interview today for the next season of Hell's Kitchen. Miss Chef interviewed a year or two ago, but she's too nice and sweet outside of the kitchen--I'm sure they're looking for potential hotheads, and she doesn't show that side without tongs or a knife in her hand, a window full of tickets, and lots of fire at her back. On the other hand, Chef Adam is from NYC, so he has the ability to play up his asshole side (even if some of us know better). It all depends on how well he can act the part.

Callbacks are this evening, so he'll know soon whether he made it to the next round. I suspect not, honestly...but still, it's fun to think about, huh?? Especially since the five weeks of taping would give Miss Chef lots of experience running a restaurant on her own!

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The foodies among you will be very aware of what this is:

It's the very last issue of the oldest food magazine in the country. Yep, for those of you unaware, the November issue is Gourmet's last. When I pulled this out of the mailbox, I stared at it a while...before flipping it over and seeing THIS:

(Well, I didn't flip it over sideways, even if stupid Blogger did.) What the hell??? Yeah, I'd love to send you some money for your NONEXISTENT MAGAZINE. As it is, Miss Chef somehow finds her subscription paid up through 2012; we're very interested to see if she has to jump through any hoops to get a refund. Oh, yeah, she'd better be getting a refund!

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I love traveling; nothing makes me happier than knowing there's a trip on my horizon, and right now I've got TWO to think about.

This weekend Miss Chef and I are planning to make the two-hour drive to Raleigh for the NC State Fair. She's heard me wax nostalgic about my hometown fair--The Great Geauga County Fair, boo-yah--for years, and is getting interested in the farm-to-fork movement, so she suggested we make the trek.

I don't know much about the state fair; in fact, for all its central importance in my 4-H years, I never even made it to the Ohio State Fair. But I'm looking forward to the sights, sounds and smells--even cow poop can make me nostalgic. And yes, I plan on taking pictures...but it'll probably be next Friday before I can post them. Just a little tease to make you come back.

Now, my second trip will be in January, to visit my brother's family--well, really to visit my nephews & niece--in NJ. I'm working on Miss Chef to come along with me; she looooves playing with the kids, probably even more than I do! And they live a short drive or train ride from The City, which--believe it or not--Miss Chef has never visited. So I'm thinking between playtime and dinner time, she'll be happy enough to join me.

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Oh my; I almost forgot to share my latest amazing teaching moment! I swear, this quarter I am going to get so spoiled, I'll be ruined for any other class! Wednesday was the first presentation--yes, in the second week of class. But, as I pointed out to my students, this is a conversation class; the goal is to speak French, n'est-ce pas? Besides, it was easy: just say your name, nationality, where you're from and what you're studying. Four sentences, all of them starting with "Je suis..."

I showed up my usual half-hour before class, made my copies, and decided to go check my email in the classroom, rather than logging in twice. But when I went to my room, the door was closed, and there were a bunch of people in it. I recognized one of my students, thought, "Huh, he must have two classes in a row in there," and went back to the faculty room to log in.

It wasn't until I went back to the classroom five minutes before class that I realized what was going on. As I rounded the corner, I saw the room was still full, but now the door was open...and my students were practicing their presentations! And not just two or three of them...more than half the class was there; they all clapped as the student up front finished up.

How cool is that? I can't get over it...not just that there were so many motivated and hardworking students, but that they all were supporting each other, creating an audience and probably helping each other out. You can't teach that; I'm really going to enjoy this group of students!

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Hey, thanks for all the comments on the Womanly post yesterday...I really enjoyed the experience of seeing what others had to say on the same topic. Several bloggers managed to put into words some of what I was just kind of edging up to, so I'm grateful for that. I'm thinking of writing a post about my grandmothers, as a result of thinking and re-reading my list. Hell, I could use that list to blog for the next year!

Well, have a happy weekend, everybody! Thanks for stopping by.