Well, kids. It is definitely Fall around here. So, when in Rome...I did a bunch of seasonal shit last weekend. It's not that I don't like Fall, it's always more that I dread cold and the fact that "Winter is coming..." It's just a big wall I worry about getting slammed into every year.
But I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow. In that frame of mind, I descended on last weekend with fun plans.
It was unseasonably warm, which helped with that whole not thinking about Winter right now thing, and gave us fun options.
On Saturday morning, I played in the garden and made up flower bouquets to set out for my neighbors to pick up. It was National Mental Health Day, so it seemed like perfect timing. Then John and I rode our bikes for 25 miles and went home to get ready to ride our bikes some more.
A friend of ours had organized a progressive food ride, where you get a group of friends together (socially distanced, of course) and you ride to a friend's house and they have food and drink set up for you. Then you all get on your bikes and go to the next friend's house and they have different food and drink set out for you. So, basically you eat tons of food all day, but you kid yourself that it's okay because you are riding your bike a block or two in between eats. Man, do I love self-delusion.
The first house served lunch at 1 o'clock. They had sandwich fixin's and potato soup. It was lovely.
The second house was a snack house. They had cut up veggies in cups, with spinach dip and hummus. They also had that super cute seasonal mix of cheese popcorn, caramel corn, peanuts and candy corn in a serving size cup. Well, it was all cute except for candy corn, which I can't stand. So, I had to be very clever in hiding my cup under other things in the garbage, so no one could see how wasteful I was by tossing that vile food item. Yes, I am that asshole. Why do you ask?
We rode our bikes to my friend G.'s house who also served snacks. She had two baskets. One with variety pack bags of chips, and one with assorted Little Debbie snack cakes. You might think that people were upset at the lack of culinary delicacies, but you would be very, very, wrong. Seriously, when was the last time you had a Little Debbie snack cake? It's been forever for me. I wasn't the biggest fan of the Star Crunches, but you can bet your ass, I grabbed an Oatmeal Creme pie. It's just lucky for everyone there that they didn't serve any Nutty Bars, because I would have stuffed all of my jersey pockets with them without an ounce of shame.
Our last stop was our friends, Doug and Lisa. They served dinner there and had an awesome taco bar set up with grilled shrimp and chicken in some kind of delicious sauce. They also had hot queso sauce, guacamole, cream cheese frosted banana cake, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Did I ever tell you how much I loved food?
Another great thing about this progressive food ride was getting to hang out with people's pets. There were adorable animals at every single house we stopped at.
The one bad thing, were the gnats. There has apparently been some weird Pirate Gnat infestation in Iowa this Fall. Yeah, I had never heard of them either. They were out in full force last weekend. In a sign of the times, one of my friends even used her broken mask to try to keep the gnats out of her drink. They were making it look like people shook all kind of pepper into their Mojitos.
Some of our friends got smart and ate in the screened-in-porch. If we didn't have to social distance, I would have been all over that.
As it was starting to get dark, the puppy got tired and that's when we knew we had to ride off into the sunset and go home. It really was a beautiful and fun day.
Later that evening, Coadster called me and asked me if I wanted to go to a pumpkin painting event with her the next morning. Before I could feel too special, she told me that two of her friends had backed out first. Whatever. I'll take it.
The event was held by a friend of hers that she met in junior high, but who now owns an adorable little shop in the town where Herbert Hoover was born.
It was all set up nicely and safely with tables spread out outside and almost everyone wearing masks. I painted a pumpkin with ghosts and one that was supposed to look like Nemo. Coadster did a white pumpkin with the "Scream" face on it. It was very appropriate for 2020. She also painted one blue with moons and stars and clouds on it. I think they all came out very well.
I spent most of the rest of the day taking care of chores that I should have been doing the last couple of days, and then John and I walked to Shakespeare's for dinner and a beer out on their patio. It all feels so urgent now, that we know these could be the very last warm days.
I know there are good things about Winter too, but right now...Right now, I prefer to crunch leaves and paint pumpkins and appreciate this season.
As always, don't forget to vote!
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