While the weather was pretty cool, since it wasn't raining, I suggested cooking on the grill and eating outside on the terrace. With so few opportunities left before it is too cold, I am trying to take every chance we have to be outside and enjoy the garden. And since I cut and edged the grass a couple hours earlier, the garden was also looking pretty good from the patio with gin and cranberry in my hand.
I am trying to be more "normal" of late, just hanging about doing the things that need to be done around the house, without putting too much pressure on getting them done. It seems to be working, because I tend to get more done than I was getting done earlier. A quote from the F1 Movie.
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
I later found out it comes from the Navy Seals.
I don't think it applies to grilling onions.
But I love grilled onions on burgers. And I have to say, I grilled up some decent burgers, even though they were super simple. One day, I will have the money to experiment more with different kinds of meats on the grill, without having to fear wasting them. But, even if that never happens, a decent grilled burger is good enough for me.
And some toasted marshmallows.
One of the things we have wanted to get in the garden for a few years is a fire pit of some kind and I found one on sale a few weeks ago that I had already been looking at. It wasn't expensive, but getting an additional 40% off makes it better, considering that we will only get to use it occasionally probably. It was taking weeks to arrive with no word, so I emailed them and apparently there was a warehouse system error and it never got sent. Two days later (Friday) it was delivered to the local post office and we got to test it for the first time.
It is nice sitting around an open fire.
We have an open fireplace inside that we use in the winter a fair bit, but being outside around a campfire has a different feel to it again. Sure, we all ended up smelling pretty smoky, but I think it talks to something primal that has evolved in us since we lived in caves. I have heard that people with sleeping problems can change their patterns by heading out into the bush under the stars, and only have natural light for a week, and it resets the circadian rhythm.
Anyone tried?
The only "mistake" I made with the fire pit was I threw a normal sized piece of wood on it at some point, and it struggled in the cool air to burn all the way down easily. If it was in the fireplace, there is far more heat retained and the wood burns easily. Not a big issue, but next time I will split the birch with a hatchet a little more, but not quite to kindling. We have a lot of firewood from the birch we cut down in the yard and split last year, and it will be dry enough to use this winter. We don't use that much wood though, since we heat using an air-water exchange system that leverages the old pipes and batteries from the oil furnace we replaced five years ago.
As said, I am working through what is apparently an endless list of things that need to get done, with the next coming up being installing some kind of fence around parts of the yard to contain a potential ferocious beast. We have found out that we might be getting our dachshund puppy (if there is a boy puppy) toward the end of the year, and I assume it is going to test the boundaries like the velociraptors from Jurassic Park.
I suspect the fence doesn't have to be very high.
How was your weekend experience?
Taraz
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