Surprise Soup

Our across-the-street neighbor ML walked over here with some of her homemade Baked Potato Soup just before dinner-time tonight. She tried a new recipe, and made as much as the recipe called for, which gave her a "truck-load of soup," as she called it. So out she came, into the frigid cold, across the street with a large Tupperware bowl of hot soup for us. Enough for two meals, except it was so good that we both had two servings and finished it.

We called ML to thank her and my husband told her that if she didn't give me the recipe for the soup, then he'd just have to marry her. ML's answer was "Been there, done that.... I'll give you the recipe."

It is still absolutely freezing outside, and the news reports tell us that the temperature will continue to drop throughout the night. Oh goodie. They also say that half a million residents in Oklahoma don't have electricity because the ice storms there sent tree branches crashing down into power lines. Oh goodie.... the same thing could happen here. Which makes me think of the lake house.... all those trees on our property.... and all that frozen turkey in the freezer up there. Oh well.... whatever happens will happen, whether we're there or not. If the turkey spoils, we can always just cook it up and use it for fish bait, which is what my husband has been doing with the leftovers anyway-- and catching big fish with it. Go figure.

I've been reading and reading.... now I'm on an Edith Wharton book. A novella, actually-- "The Old Maid: The 'Fifties." I had bought this little book in Maine during our trip there last summer... we had stopped in a small library in an out-of-the-way village and of course I had to look through their Books for Sale shelf. This Edith Wharton book was the only one that I found... I love all of her books and didn't remember reading this one before.

As I started reading it this afternoon, it seemed familiar. I checked my own shelves and sure enough... I already have this story-- in one volume containing four of her more well-known novellas. But it's a wonderful book, and so beautifully written... I'm reading the story again, not from my own volume, but from the single book from Maine... then I will put it on my give-away pile by the front door, so someone else can enjoy it. Honestly, Edith Wharton's command of the English language is exemplary. And take command she does.... she can take the most simple of phrases and embellish it until it becomes poetry. Amazing.... I just love her books.

I also love the warm weather and wish it would return. To quote our friend BC, who moved to Dallas not too long ago... "If I wanted this kind of weather, I would have moved to North Dakota." (Or, in my case... I would have stayed in New York.)