OMG! I have a thing for cardamom. Those muffins sound amazing!

We have a pear tree on our cul de sac yet I'm the only person interested in them. 

I will often just bake them standing up  in a cake pan in a mixture of cranberry and orange juice with cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. No sugar needed. There are some local cranberry bogs in my area so I can get either red or golden cranberries and either one works.

I make pear cranberry bread with orange zest. The batter can be made into muffins or used in the waffle iron. It makes a great Christmas breakfast.

I freeze pear chunks. They are great for smoothies and add sweetness and a nice flavour without overpowering the smoothies like banana does.

Pear added to my oats with spices like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg make a very yummy healthy breakfast. I love it. I'm going to try cardamom next time. 

I have a tea/cooker appliance. I put pear chunks in to make black or rooibos tea. Very nice tea, especially on a stormy day. 

My f off is to the mice infesting my workplace. I'm tired of sitting at my desk working away and seeing mice dart in and out of my office. We have live traps that allows for mice to be released somewhere else. Everyday we find the traps disabled. Well, we found the culprit. F off to the self proclaimed advocate for mice. And not only that, but she brings in fresh fruit for them and leaves the fruit all over the building to make sure the mice are being fed. 

OK, for Gabby, here's what you do. You go into her office, plant your feet shoulder-width apart and ask her "OK, what do you want to know?" Make it slightly menacing. I guarantee she will cringe and shrivel. Tell her if she wants to know something that your door is always open and that you don't like people going behind your back. Then leave. Few people can stand up to this.

I'm into autumnal food at the moment. I made a "pot au feu" at lunchtime and there are several litres of beef stock left over that will be part of a noodle soup tonight (served with grated cheese - probably emmenthal - to sprinkle on top and let melt) and a beef and barley soup maybe on Sunday. I haven't decided what to do with the leftover beef yet, maybe a cottage pie ... 

We finally got some rain here, its been very dry.  Temps are fall-like and the leaves are turning.

DH87 saw his oncologist today for his 3-month visit.  It's always nerve-wracking anticipating these visits but his treatment is working and I'm thankful.  He's lost 5 lb since July but the dr isnt worried yet. I'm grocery shopping and cooking like crazy and he eats a lot.  The Dr said, "Just dont skip any meals" and I said, " HE DOESNT!"  The only one gaining weight around here is me.  Lol.

Eff0ff to misunderstandings.  DW and I had a baffling tension yesterday.  We always discuss each other's day when she gets home from work.  She always asks what the most interesting thing I read was.  We went to dinner last night.  At dinner she was sharing her great day. She had her 1:1 with her boss.  My bride is a definate rockstar in her profession.  Lots of good stuff, she is highly regarded at all levels of her firm, and her partner progression was reiterated with additional information of her having support from the top level of firm executive leadership.  Then... we got to me.  I shared that I had seen an article that addressed the primarly source of cheat partners and that they nearly always are sourced via friendships, family, or coworkers.  We had a great dinner.  Nothing super deep. Some additional talk about a telephone interview I had yesterday. Riteration that we definately do not want to go the bicoastal marriage route and that a travel assignment would be the most we would want with our absolute preference being me working locally.  The challenge is that for what I do there is very little market here.  If I go to work here the odds are I will be working for less than half of my usual compensation levels.  I am not ready to doom the end of my career to income levels less than what I was at more than 20yrs ago.  I commented that working here would kill my career and all I would be working for would be next to nothing in comparison to my usual income.  She replied that being the only income is very stressful for her.  So I responded that I would see what might be out there that keeps me in contact with my hostoric industry or I would shift to travel consulting gigs to avoid crashing my career.  It was obvious that she was tense at that point.

We stopped to buy some lightbulbs on the way home. The ones I bought were way too bright.  She commented that 150W replacements were too bright. I thought I had bought 120W replacements.  She got irritated when I made that comment.  A bit leter she commented "You got something on the floor!"  I asked "What is it?"  She angrily informed me that I had questioned her twice and I needed to trust her when she told me what rating was on the lightbulbs and that there was something on the floor. I commented, I did not question if there was somethign on the floor, I asked what is on the floor.  

It was a very long brooding evening from my Bride.

This AM she was still in quiet brooding mode. I asked what was wrong and that she needed to talk to me.  So, she mentioned the cheating conversation at dinner, went on about how she has no time to cheat, that she had brought before that she does not like it when I question her when she tells me something, and I had done it twice last evening.  I recognized that I had thought I had bought 120W replacements.  I then told her I did not question that there was something on the LG rug, that I had asked what it was and did not understand how that was me questioning her telling me there was something there.  So, we talked, it seemed to be okay when she left for work.  While she was getting ready I got a call from a company I have been in discussion with. They want to fly me out next week to Louisana for plant tours and several interviews. This one is interesting as it is in Ops management rather than in equipment engineering, maintenance and reliability.   I normally would not waste their time or mine since it will require relocation and put us in basically a bicoastal marriage situation. But, I am considering going just to get some traction.

F0rn:  My bride is on an eggs kick so I will do something appropriately eggy for dinner tonight.

We always seem to hit a rough patch when we have had a long run of incredibleness in our marriage.  Often because I shove my head up my own butt. I'm not feeling that this time.  This one is different.

So, we will see how the weekend goes.

Eff off (said in the kindest way possible...lol):

A client of mine (an organization) had an executive director who was there for 20+ years and was not performing. It appears she had done a good job for a number of years and then got too comfortable and refused to change with the times, learn new things, use new technology, and so on. I feel like I'm working with a 1990s-era organization.

I am under the impression the ED was pushed out--possibly told that they were giving her the option to resign vs. get fired. So, she quit very angrily and somewhat inappropriately shared her anger, which didn't match the story she told.
 
I can have some compassion for her, but, for God's sake, she's not letting go. She is still in contact with board members "on her side" and others in the organization--not like keeping up to have lunch and a good time, but stirring the angry pot. She has also emailed me a few times, making suggestions re: how some work should be done.  And I'm hearing that she is daily texting and messaging the employees there.

YOU ARE GONE. YOU LEFT. YOU WERE ANGRY WHEN YOU LEFT. GO! SHOO! Just stop it! Enjoy life, angry lady! 

PEARS:  I have to find the recipe but one holiday season, I made pears with melted brie and figs--and I think almonds were involved (the whole shebang went in the oven). I spent some moments in heaven back then! 

Is losing friends and people you care about.  The older you get the more sick people you know.