Christmas Came......

...But Halloween comes first, so without further ado: the Jack o' Lanterns! Thanks to Abigail for providing excellent pumpkins and suitable (albeit-bendy) pumpkin carving tools! I only mention that because apparently you can buy pumpkin carving kits at Williams-Sonoma, which I am sure are around $100 so better be purdy sturdy!

Old Dogs are the Sweetest

Jack Skellington and Bats-fer-Eyes!

Cocoa Dolce chocolate is so good, it kills me. See? Literally!

And now for Christmas! You may have noticed, but Daniel bought me a new camera! After receiving said camera, I spent about 10 minutes taking pictures of random objects and oohing and aahing over what a fantastic photographer I have become! (Not really.) Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

May I just point out that this same wonderful man is the same man who can tell you how to properly apply dark purple lipstick (more on that in a following post), who knows the secret to the perfect grilled cheese (the trick: toast BOTH sides of the bread!!),  and who roasts a freakin' AMAZING batch of coffee! Whoo!

Two more things, for those in the Wichita area:

1) Fidelity Bank is great, to the point of letting their customers vote for their favorite employee-decorated pumpkin! Makes for a fun banking experience!

2) I have tentatively started a Wichita-themed blog, whywichita.wordpress.com. The goal is to create a place where people can go for ideas about what to do in our city, to become familiar with local entrepreneurs, musicians, etc,  to learn about cool local businesses...mainly, to build some excitement about why Wichita is a good place to live.

And finally, I'm not sure this has been an issue lately, but you never know...so here is a good poetic reminder Not to Gossip:

Whispers, whirling rumor-dust
The hush-hush undertow
Of smothered glances, faces flushed,
That all-but-one man show.

The terror's in unknown offense,
Of being next in line.
So gossip while you're still on top:
It's just a tick of time.

"B...Or Not...A B?"

 Daniel found this lovely video recently. Patrick Stewart as [a loose version of] Hamlet on Sesame Street. I've mainly just seen him as Professor X in X-men, but this gave me a whole new appreciation of his "acting chops"(?), and tons of enjoyment as well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA7lv1SDzno

Till Them Cows Come Home

Poor li'l...somethin'-er-other

How rude! Never take a picture of someone coming out of an outhouse! (Don't worry, it was inoperable and I didn't use it!)

An example of "Granny Medicine" from the old days

Daniel the Un-Dead

Daniel the very-much-alive and having way too much fun swinging :)

Come visit Wichita and we'll take you to the Old Cowtown Museum! As you can see, it is highly interactive and as such, one of the  most fun museums I've ever been to. :) I would be happy to play "frontier" with anyone of you faithful readers. For those of you not from these here parts, Cowtown is a recreated frontier village complete with old houses that have been relocated and renovated, a one-room school house, a church, a saloon, general stores, a dentist's office etc etc...pretty much anything you could want from an old western town!

Interestingly, after going to Cowtown (which is right in our back yard practically!), we walked around the neighborhood and found a garage sale whose garage was JAM-PACKED with old timey artifacts, many like we had just seen at the museum! Several hand-turned coffee grinders, an antique sewing machine, shelves and shelves of musty-in-a-good-way books, you name it! Old shaving kits...Unfortunately we got there as they were closing, so didn't have nearly enough time to look around, but it was surely one of the most interesting garage sales I've ever seen!

Also yesterday, our neighbor invited us over for the best cappuccino I've had in a while, made with PT's coffee (from Topeka, KS). Such a good memory... :)

All-in-all, a perfect Sunday!

Little things may hold you back--
A misplaced strand of hair, a stain,
A glove-gone-missing (older days),
A doubt, a half-felt pain.
But larger than the passing, petty,
Pardon-me-but-no's,
Is overarching wonderful,
The possible, the Go!

Selling Coffee Fun Times!

Finger Zombie Loves Brain-Noodles!! NOMNOM

This is our "booth" space at the Food for Thought's Fall Fling Market! We got to stare at yummy-looking Gluten-Free cookies and a variety of teas all day :)

Coffee roaster-and-blender Daniel Rittler, sippin' a tiny cup o' joe.

Awesomely creepy Halloween headband I bought for my Mrs. Lovett Costume!!

Here is a better picture. One of the vendors we met last time made this--I don't know if they have an Etsy site, or a business name, or I would post it here!! Because you would love looking at all their fun creations, from these headbands, to...

...sweet little feltie creatures like this baby Weenie dog! They also have some larger knit animals, like a Fox in a scarf and a goat with a green goatee, both of which it nearly killed me to say goodbye to at the end of the day (melodrama...but seriously they were cute!) 

Anyway, we had a great day talking to people about coffee, even if doing so for five hours is exhausting and we both needed a good long nap later. :) Got to build up some market stamina!  Very grateful to Food for Thought for helping out local craftsmen/women and hosting such a fun event!

Yay coffee!

The Europe In My Backyard

The Beautiful Castle Inn on Riverside...Roof

It's coat and hat season!

Daniel on his way down from the tallest tower...

Mischievously brewing beer!! (This was the fast/easy part. Some of the parts were long and dull)

Shake it shake it shake it!

Yes, we had our do-over at the Castle Saturday night! It was so much fun--not just because there was yummy food this time, but we got to meet/chat with some of the other guests, most of whom were there celebrating anniversaries or even their wedding night! The first couple we met ended up telling us crazy stories about their kids growing up for about an hour over dessert and coffee. The next morning, I put my foot in my mouth after breakfast by talking in a phony English accent in front of *gasp* Actual English People! Then we climbed to the top of the turret and I felt better.

On Sunday, we brewed a Summer Wheat beer! Oh my goodness, I had no idea there was such tedium involved in beer-brewing! Which means I made good progress on my current reading material and got a wee bit snippy at poor Daniel.

Speaking of Daniel, when I got home this evening, he greeted me with homemade mango lassis! They were delicious! Here is his "recipe" which does not, of course, include proportions:
1 Mango
Honey-flavored Greek Yogurt
Vanilla Ice Cream
Cinnamon
Tumeric
Whipped Cream (for garnish, with more cinnamon on top)

Just go for it. I'm sure it will be a delightful beverage even if you use a different ingredients ratio.

Also, here is the recipe I used for homemade apple cider!
http://chaosinthekitchen.com/2008/10/homemade-apple-cider-because-you-can/
It does take about 3 hours to make this from scratch, but that mainly involves letting it do its thing on the stove while you read a book...

..a book like Dracula! It's Halloween Season!! Read it!

Not to include too much random info, but this is what Daniel discovered while looking up costume ideas for Sweeney Todd:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_%28fashion%29
If you've ever wondered over the "and he called it macaroni" line from Yankee Doodle, this will make you feel better.

A poem about how you can't escape yourself. And sometimes selfishness makes things that should be incredible less incredible. With an ending on a positive note:

Foreign ports, apart from hanging spice,
Sharp ginger fog in bright-cloud gold-spun air,
Heat haze that makes the harbor's dancing wave,
Be lost, be found, are just another fare.
So find yourself--a sea, ashore, appalled
At all the Failures following your flight
The cruel, new-found friend already lost
To tennis players, babbling and bright;
The envy haunting wit and wisdom both;
The fear that fakes a headache for the night;
The self-absorption preying on today
That kills Adventure bite-by-bitter-bite. 
Still, don't despair:  You will be everywhere,
But truth, and Love, and grace are also there.

I Love My Birthday!

My sister crocheted this sweet baby kitty! It comes with a "certifiCat of adoption"--I still need to think of a great name!

He likes to sleep on bookshelves, absorbing wisdom. He also doubles as a Siren, silently luring other cats into the comfort of our home, with the help of the heater...

Birthday surprises! After getting back late last night, the cat in my lap was practically waiting on our porch and ran inside as soon as we opened the door. That little bugger to the left and his sister were wrestling in our front yard, and eventually he ran inside, too!

I love being befriended by random cats! But got too attached too quickly and was sad when I had to carry her outside again :(

Party Table! Highlights: Dirt'n'Bug cups (Nifty Nut House in Wichita offers more than just gummi worms--here you see gummi centipedes, slugs, and Halloween-colored worms!), and White Chocolate candy corn m&ms.

In addition to new feline friends and dessert, my birthday rocked because of these things:

1) Daniel's Butternut Squash Soup
2) Homemade apple cider (I'm talking starting-from-apples here!)
3) Seeing friends and family!!!
4) Corn Maze at Cox Farm If you live in Wichita, you should go!! Especially in the dark. It was pretty quiet there on a Friday night, so they forgot to give us a map which probably made it even better! The corn is thick and way taller than your head, so you get good 'n' lost with no trouble at all! It is family owned/operated, and everyone is very friendly! They also have a pumpkin patch, live music on weekends, concessions, etc.
5) Unexpected hay ride! We managed to find our way out of the corn maze at about 8:40, and as we were walking to our car, the lady at the ticket counter yelled, "You should stick around for the 9 o'clock hay ride!" Sounded fun, and, as it turns out, it was free! So of course we did--which meant we got to see all the pumpkins growing on the vines, the beautiful stars, silly scarecrows and 1 very grumpy llama who didn't appreciate being woken up by a bright light shining in its face...
6) Daniel getting our chiminea ready for the party, and really our entire home--he's been cleaning all week, roasting coffee, making soup, taking the cake :) Yay Daniel!

And the fun is not over yet! Tonight we are having our 'make-up' night at the Castle Inn, where there will definitely be food this time! And tomorrow, heading to Mums and Jim's for experimental beer-brewing! Meanwhile, I'm doing about a million loads of laundry and having a nice, quiet, relaxing morning. Perfect!