It’s been a busy week, but we’ve made time for some fun as well.
Over the weekend I decided to do some baking to test out the new oven. Verdict: terrific!
I made pumpkin cranberry bread: I made it vegan to share, and at first I was doubtful, but by the second day it was fantastic. (It turned out my first bite may have been tainted by some expired crisco I’d used to grease the pan. The loaf we are giving away doesn’t have that issue.)
Then I made fruitcake to age for Christmas. I don’t know how it turned out, exactly, but I think it’ll be really good. You may say, fruitcake, that’s gross?! but you would be wrong. Some fruitcake may be gross, but some fruitcake is fantastic, as long as you like dried fruit, nuts, and really moist (yes, moist) cake.
We’ve been managing to get some weekday hikes in, and this past Tuesday was no exception. Louie and I went to Lone Elk Park to hike the White Bison Trail, advertised to be 3.2 miles. We’ve hiked it several times before, but never during this time of the year, which we highly recommend.
We saw several groups of elk along the way (give them space, they ARE wild animals–one group was fairly near the trail–10 to 30 yards away–and the male was standing in front defensively watching us hike by!) and then after our hike we went driving around. We saw another group of elk right near the roadway (in fact, we may have missed a “one way” sign and gone the wrong way down a road due to our excitement over the elk) and then we headed for the bison area.
Bison, yes. If you aren’t aware, there is a bison herd at Lone Elk Park here in the St Louis area. They are in a fenced (electric) area and can’t get out, but they have room to wander.
We thought it was a bust at first, as we didn’t see any bison where we have in the past, and were able to leave disappointed, when lo and behold, we came up on a line of stopped cars, and there we were, in a good old-fashioned bison jam!
We watched the bison from the car, taking pictures, admiring their strange large heads, slowing driving forward when possible.
We were probably “stuck” in the jam for about 15 minutes and it was glorious. If you haven’t been out to Lone Elk Park, I highly recommend it.
Anyway, other than that, teaching, etc, I’ve read a few books recently. I particularly enjoyed Emily Henry’s Beach Read, Tia Williams’ Seven Days in June, and Marie Benedict’s The Personal Librarian. Before that (not sure if I already recommended these books): Katherine Henry’s Early Morning Riser, and the Royal We series by Heather Cocks, Kristin Harmel’s The Forest of Vanishing Stars, V.E. Rue’s The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue, Kristin Hannah’s Magic Hour, Jennifer Weiner’s Mrs. Everything, and Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age. TV wise, I just finished watching “Only Murders in the Building” on Hulu and found it quite entertaining.
How is your fall going? Have you decorated for Halloween?