Since today’s a government holiday, I can’t go to the library, and neither the package I’m anxiously awaiting nor any Netflix discs will be arriving today, so I guess I might as well work and blog.  Life is rough.

St. Rose is having a soup and sandwich lunch this coming Sunday, the 25th, from 11:00-4:00.  It’s on the St. Rose web site, but I still get St. Rose searchers here because of my articles about it, so I thought I’d announce it too.  The meal is $6/person or $25/family, and includes chicken noodle soup, ham and bean soup, cream turkey sandwiches (whatever that is), and coffee and ice tea.  There will also be two raffles: a 50-50; and one for an overnight stay at Stoney Creek Inn plus a gift basket.  Tell all your friends!

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Lesson 3 of my Learn Latin series is posted, introducing the verb sum (I am) and one use of the ablative case.  Enjoy, and as always, feel free to discuss or ask questions here.

In other news:

My wife Angel just started a blog of her own.  I don’t know what all she’ll be writing about, but she’s a good writer, so go check it out.  Her article on driving through the Alps in her tiny blue car (which you might have seen around Quincy) is both funny and interesting.

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I love the nuts in the shell that the stores start putting out this time of year. Some places have them year round now, but I like to save them for winter like we did when I was a kid. Since they’re still in the shell, they’re about as fresh as can be, and not roasted in nasty hydrogenated oil or coated with sugar or any of that nonsense. The pecans at County Market are even fairly local, coming from somewhere in Missouri. Cracking them open slows me down, so I can’t gorge myself on them until I’m sick like I can with canned nuts.

The only downside is the nutshells. It’s impossible to crack these things without pieces of shell occasionally flying away. It’s just a given that we’re going to sweep some up this time of year, and eating them in bed is a very bad idea. They’re worth putting up with the shells, though. I like them all, even the Brazil nuts, which can be a bear to crack open. Sort of takes me back to those childhood Christmas mornings when we woke up to find presents under the tree—and nuts, malted milk balls, hard candy, and my mom’s peanut brittle in bowls on the table. I can’t really eat the other stuff now, but I can still have the nuts. They were always my favorite anyway.

To me, the best tasting ones are black walnuts, which we harvest at least every other year, but for those you need more than a standard one-handed nutcracker. For those, you need a hammer, a brick, or an industrial-sized cracker. Then the pieces of shell are really flying. They sure taste great, though, and they’re full of nutrition. I need to try to work some into a low-carb cheesecake somehow; that’s sounding very good right now.