Take A Taste

The rain came this week and with it went most motivation around the cabin. When you wake up at six in the morning to the creak of the wood stove door opening, the crackle of kindling being split in half, and the thunk of birch wood inside the stove, it’s pretty easy to snuggle a little deeper under the comforter to catch just a couple more minutes of sleep. So much for those fall goals, eh?

Still, we’re slowly hecking towards progress around here, despite an increased inclination to curl up at night with a good book or a bit of knitting and Ken Burns’s National Parks documentary. Last night Andy stayed out until well after dark, shingling the shed. On Wednesday, I went through all my bins of “stuff” stored at my parents, sorting out what I actually want to keep and what’s ready to find a new home. I ended up keeping 5 bins while 5 more bins are ready to go. Hello garage sale . . . . Tuesday was a decent writing day, although the week as a whole could have been much, much better. There’s been no easing into fall 2010, it just came in a rush through the door and I think we’re all still a little flabbergasted that summer is O-V-E-R.

One sure sign of fall here on the Gunflint Trail is the Taste of the Gunflint Trail event. Last year, I spent the days leading up to “Taste” baking a dozen loaves of “bubble” bread for Andy’s work place. Last night I came home and baked two blueberry pies to take to the pie and ice cream social hosted at my work place this year.

Taste of the Gunflint Trail is a cookbook that relates the history of all businesses, both past and present, that have existed along the Trail. Every fall, several businesses along the Trail cook up a recipe or two from the cookbook. Today we had over 200 people in the museum to see the exhibits and get a piece of pie. A success to say the least.

It seems the cooler weather makes us all increasingly domestic. Andy keeps going on about wood stoves, I found my mother in the midst of making applesauce when I stopped by on Wednesday, and I’ve found incredible enjoyment in rolling out pie crusts and updating my Ravelry account. Nothing wrong with any of that, but every once in a while I have to remind myself that homey projects are meant to be an addition to my life, not a distraction from work at hand.