I have been writing an article of this type for over 10 years and my plan from Day 1 was “do not cover politics or religion”. We are gifted with freedom of expression in our country. We are surrounded with events and information on current events on a daily basis through many medias. My self-rule will be broken here as I ask and hope that anyone wishing death or other negative things to the current President of the United States and his wife due to having Covid 19, re-think that action. It is so hard for me to hear fellow Americans issue statements with those extreme messages. Yes, this has been a year of so many things to challenge us, let us not fall into a deep pit of hate to take things even further into despair. Thank you for listening, I will move on.

All of us should have been happy with weather we have been experiencing the last week or so. That means some of us have been happy with the chill at the same time others are packing on all the clothes they can for those 30 somethings mornings. Something for everyone for sure in this beautiful tree color changing month of October. The “perfect lawn” people have been on high alert to snap up every leaf being tossed around with the wind. The lawn “is beautiful with all those leaves” people are sitting back on their lawn chairs and taking in the covered lawn display and maybe having a hot beverage.

Mama Bear me has been enjoying some of those “not too hot, not to cold” days. Husband Larry is more in the “not too cold” zone so I have been telling him to get out his long sleeve shirts while I dash around in summer clothes with no shoes. I have to hunt down a pair of shoes when I go into civilization but that is often not too hard as I have pairs of shoes all over the place. I do start off wearing them but I have this strong feeling to kick them off once I reach my destination. If I have been to your place and you see some extra sizes 9’s hanging out, that means I forgot to put them on when I left.

Some of the cold or cooler weather hormones are kicking in as I have been having some strong wishes for SOUP. I have retrieved all the frozen soup out of the freezer and used up all the canned soups I had in the cupboards. I did some emergency grocery store shopping for soup but I find that I have gotten picky about what I like. Note that canned store soups usually are very high in sodium. I stocked up with things to make soup at home and make the house smell good and restock the freezer.

Anyone can make soup – for real – with just a few tips to get you going. The easiest way is to buy a dry mix with easy instructions which usually is “add water”. I found that the small mixes for side dishes that cook up to make a pasta or rice meal can become an easy soup by adding twice as much water. To go beyond that “add water” stage, stock up on canned broth and/or flavorings. That will get you a good start to add a protein and veggies and adjust the seasonings to your taste. Moving forward you can make your own stock and raid your refrigerator and cupboards and come up with just about any kind of soup possible. As much as I love turkey, the leftover parts of the turkey and the bones are what I really like to work with for soup. Ham bones are a prize. Freeze leftover veggie pieces to collect and buildup for soup additives. That bit of celery, slices of carrots and other veggie odds and ends with be a plus come soup time.

Don’t forget our 2 huge friends that we have today. The Instant Pot and Google. Between those two you can do just about anything. Open up your own soup kitchen for yourself and your family and it makes a great sharing item for friends. Soups On!