Chaos Can Lead To Good Things - Pears, Swimming and Homes

Yesterday's schedule was a bit more tossed than I had thought when I awakened. As it turned out, the YMCA closed the outdoor pool yesterday because smoke from the Canadian wildfires made heavy breathing in our smoke-filled air unwise. So, I made the decision to return home, have a very early breakfast, and head out to the shop. I was at the shop by 6:30 am and had a relaxed couple of hours to read a book and do some general clean-up before starting the day's routine. 

When the outdoor pool is open, it is my preference to 
swim outdoors (unless we're having a thunderstorm, 
in which case we're all inside because of possible 
lightning). Our smoke lessened by last night, so breathing 
is easier today and the outdoor pool will be open 
again today. 

That means, however, that today I'm swimming, so my schedule is a bit more constrained today. But, I'm well in my time parameters, and it's a "day off", so I'm quite pleased. On today's agenda is purchasing lots of veggies and making my next batch of "Ogre Juice" (alkagizers). I did cook on Wednesday, but it was meatloaf followed by baked pears. 

Normally my baked pears look more like this, but I decided 
to shake things up a bit and I cubed the pears before adding 
them to the bowl with all of the toppings fixings. I then 
spread the whole "mizpocha" (I'm not guaranteeing that I 
spelled the Yiddish correctly - LOL) into a deep cookie sheet 
and baked it. It's FABULOUS! I'm definitely doing this again.  

OMG, the baked pears turned out AMAZING. I used the same recipe I had used before, but decided that instead of cutting the pears in half, hollowing out the seeds and then packing them with the "stuffing", I would cut up the pears - cubed somewhat - mix everything together and put them into a baking pan. So good, and with much better portion control. With the 1'/2 pears, I obviously got one half pear in each portion. But with the cubed pears, it actually worked into seven portions equally spread into storage containers. A better sized portion, and so TASTY! When I made desserts like my baked mangos or the pears, I usually bring two portions to the shop and give one to Chickie. She's totally fallen in love with both recipes, so I have a winner, for sure. 

Aearwen is hoping to be able to move into this new/old 
double-wide mobile home. That's the living room 
behind those windows. It would be 1000% easier for 
her to keep clean and maintain, and has two bedrooms for 
her and her son, with 1-3/4 bathrooms, so each of them can 
have their own bathroom as well. Everything revolves 
around getting her current home sold, though, so please 
send lots of positive thoughts her way, so that the current 
potential buyer actually comes through and buys her house. 

And good news for my friend Aearwen. Her offer on the double-wide mobile home was accepted, and even though the first buyer for her century-old home backed out, a second buyer has stepped up and it looks positive. She needs to sell the house in order to purchase the trailer, so lots of positive thoughts from all of you towards California will be appreciated. 

So, I'm off to the pool. It'll be a lovely way to start a busy, but productive, "day off". I hope you have a fabulous day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.