Most Tuesdays I volunteer for a hot lunch program. We serve meals to anyone who cares to stop in, and this year business has been booming. The shelves are also bare at many food pantries, as the economy takes its toll on more and more folks. Every day I try and remember just how blessed I am. On Tuesdays that is easy to do.
Today our kitchen supervisor had us laughing with a story about her kids. When they pester her by repeatedly asking “what’s for dinner?” she tells them “monkey brains”! So today, we served monkey brains for lunch. I had visions of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In reality it was chicken nuggets baked in bbq sauce, but it was monkey brains to us kitchen volunteers. We don’t promise to serve fancy food, but it’s lovingly prepared and hopefully it fills the stomachs of all who eat it. With macaroni & cheese and a lettuce salad on the side, today’s offering was well received.
Then I came home to my wife baking Pumpkin Pie Brioche. She’s part of a group that’s baking their way through the new cookbook Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The brioche smells yummy, and tastes even yummier. I am blessed, indeed!
It’s so pretty outside today that I had to go out and do a little work, spreading some mulch between the strawberry beds. I also snapped a few pix around the place.

Maple Tree has lost most of it’s leaves

Strawberry beds need more mulch between them

Pine straw protecting the blueberry bushes

Birds are feasting on the ornamental pears

Half-eaten pear
Dave, I love your blog, and I love that you are posting photographs as well. The pictures of the birds was just so lovely. Your articles remind me of the magazine Outdoor Indiana that I used to read when I was a kid. I couldn’t wait for it to come, so I could just soak it all in. Thanks for doing this blog.
Amy, that is a very nice compliment coming from someone as talented as you are with words and a camera. I was mildly fearful taking the bird photos since I was standing under a tree full of them at the time, and not wearing my hat!