Twas another cold one here again this morning. Thank goodness it was relatively calm out, or that 16 degrees would’ve felt much colder with an accompanying wind chill.
Just out of curiosity, this morning I counted the number of days that have passed since the Winter solstice, and then started counting back the equal number of days behind the solstice. Not surprising, I found this crazy cold and snowy weather would be just as if we were having similar days on the 8th of September. After seeing that, it’s no wonder the climatologists are saying our temps are 20 – 30 degrees below normal for this time of year. If we do get another dumping of snow on Sunday, it’ll take all the longer for our soil to warm up because of our sun’s warming rays being reflected off that shiny white snow.
It appears there’s a renewed interest in Prairie Place on 1st condos with there now being three different showings scheduled within four days. It’s not surprising when knowing how brutal this past winter has been for our elderly. Every time I’m over at those units, I find them toasty warm and all the more inviting. Since I’m a sun worshiper, I’d much rather have one of the units facing south instead of north, but as we all know, everyone has their own preferences.
The bulk of the phone calls today have been from people living out of State looking for rental properties here in our City. I’ll not surprise me if those numbers increase since our housing market is getting all the more tight with available homes for sale. After inspecting a home belonging to one of my clients which I just posted for rent today, I couldn’t help but say, “Have you ever thought of selling it instead of renting?” Knowing how few homes are available in that particular price range, it wouldn’t surprise me if it sold quickly, and for a good price.
One of the little errands I had to run today took me out to a dear old client’s home to drop off some information on the Prairie Place condos which she wanted to pass on to a relative who’s been thinking about moving back to the area. I always enjoy seeing her because of her old ways of cooking along with how she maintains her home.
To my surprise, while walking thru her front door I immediately noticed the smell of baked bread. I jokingly asked, “Now what culinary delight are you baking today?” She dismissed it as nothing more than a simple loaf of German rye bread from a recipe out of her grandmother’s collection. From some of her past stories, I’m sure her Germanic ancestors were the most hard-core you’d ever find.
After giving her the information she wanted along with a short visit, I was compelled to ask about seeing her newly baked loaf of bread. She got up and motioned me to follow along to her kitchen. When I saw that wonderfully smelling and beautifully crafted loaf, all I could say was, “My gosh! It looks like something you’d see in a boutique bakery in a big city’s ethnic neighborhood market.” It was about 8″ across and about 5″ tall, and oh did it smell ever-so-good. She insisted I wait for her to cut an end slice, so there I waited while my mouth continued to water. Before she started cutting I asked, “Since my camera’s in my car, do you mind if I run out and get it and take a photo?” She shook her and said, “It’s only a loaf of bread, but if you insist, go ahead.”
After many thanks, off I drove with my big slice of German rye bread containing caraway seed, a couple cold slices of butter, which were all snugly wrapped in wax paper and slid into a small paper sack.
When I got back to the office, of course the first thing I had to do was have myself a delicious treat of boutique bakery rye bread that was created by yet another one of those hidden gems of people living right here in River City. It even tasted even better than it looked. I’ll have to lift her all the higher by sending a thank you card. Doesn’t the above photo I took of it make your mouth want to start watering?
