Autumn Me This!
Well folks, the killing frost that ends the growing season in the Green Bay area will come this night- near dawn (November 9th); last year, it was October 27th/28th- 12 days later this year… My hibiscus, lime sapling and bay laurel have been brought indoors and placed in a sunny window; they seem happy: red blossoms are appearing on the hibiscus now, and, two days later, falling. Last week the corms of my little taro family were gently pulled from the cooling soil and placed in the basement to hibernate. There is a chance of snow tonight, but such early snowfalls tend not to linger on the ground long, and the last trees to show their colours- like these maples lining the street- are in their transient glory…
Such is autumn! Isn’t the mould of oak-leaves at the top pretty?! Though some become sad to see the greens of summer fade, I am, in fact, quite content. In a grand effort this past season, I attempted to “eat local” as much as possible, which meant that much of the summer’s bounty fetched from the farmers’ markets- or the few things that I’d grown myself- was in need of preserving for the coming winter and spring. And I totally avoided using the freezer! Instead, I turned to home-canning for some things (tomatoes and a few “immersed” pickles; I detest canned vegetables for those interested), drying, and spent the remainder of my efforts on what some may call “ambient” preserves: those that will keep at room temperature without a vacuum seal. Which translates into my tapping into the very knowledgeable database of Indian pickling. If I was astounded a year ago at the variety, I am now nothing short of flabbergasted- and that might be a gross understatement.
And I’m very very tired.
But I’m not done yet: I cannot count how many limes I’ve squeezed- and thus had many, many peels that I couldn’t bear to toss away (good antioxidants you know!)- and so… I froze them until the bags became a nuisance and made large batches of yet more pickles by combining the lime peels with a juicier citrus- like oranges. And one last slew of them remains to be dealt with! Plus a bag of frozen amla… but they can both wait until I catch up on a few more things. (Chana ka achaar? Leave me be- maybe later)
One of those things is a chain of riddling that our sweet friend Manisha started. I was lucky enough to guess the correct answer of her name-the-subject-of-this-photo riddle, and the prize is that I now pass another riddle to all of you! Aren’t you lucky?! 😀
Anita was lucky too! Aren’t we a brilliant bunch… 😉
The rules of supplying the correct answer to Riddle Me This (ie: winning) are simple and few: [coughs]
- find something stranger than strange and,
- post it on your blog within the next two weeks (or so…).
- The quiz should remain open for at least 1 day and at the most 2 days.
- The person who guesses it correctly gets the torch and is the next host for Riddle Me This.
- If the person who guesses correctly is the previous host of the present host, then that person will get to pick someone to pass the buck to from all those who made a guess.
- And so on.
- Please use this fabulous logo, designed by you-know-who:
- and link back to the host who passed the baton on to you (that’d be me!).
- Please do your best to keep this alive. Just think of how much fun it will be! (It’s possible.) 🙂
Can any of you correctly identify these?
This episode of Riddle Me This (RMT) has now concluded; Anita of A Mad Tea Party has taken the trophy home once again by correctly identifying these as hickory nuts. Hopefully someday Manisha herself will be able to conquer the monster she herself has created. Good luck! Peace and Happiness to all, and to all a good night.
Elaichi et Cetera... 
