Cooking, Mowing, Laundry and Ordering Books!

Hola darlings! It's Sunday night and it's been a busy day. Another record-breaking hot and humid day, too! Got up to 87 today - I don't know what the dew point was; yesterday it was 87 with a dew point of 69 and it felt like I was living in the jungle at the equator! One more day of heat, although tomorrow only a high of 82 with thunderstorms in the afternoon, and then the weather will drop drop drop down to "seasonal" and it will feel like the deep freeze in the low 60's during the day and 40's at night! Soooo, after I relaxed with my Sunday morning routine, feeding the critters, reading the paper on the deck, and having two - yes two! - cups of coffee (I restrict caffeine intake because of high blood pressure and normally only have 1 cup of coffee a day), I spent some hours reading the latest news from Explorator and The New York Times and making some posts here (I hope you enjoy them), I did some laundry, and I cut the front lawn. I swear I lost 5 pounds sweating, it was so steamy outside. I'd put a chuck roast with a pound of carrots into the slow cooker about 8 this morning and when it was ready about 2 p.m. I made a wine-reinforced gravy and had a feast. I stuffed myself - I love the sweetness of slow-cooked carrots covered in bordeaux gravy. The roast melted in my mouth - and I have leftovers for a few days - if I don't raid the refrigerator later on and stuff myself all over again! I love to cook but generally I don't do much serious cooking for myself. When Isis, Michelle and delion were here in July I did some cooking and loved every minute of it. There is something fundamentally satisfying about cooking a meal that everyone says is delicious and watching the food disappear at a rapid pace, just like there is something fundamentally satisfying about sweating and battling man-eating insects to create a beautiful garden. Now the Packers are on - we scored a touchdown VIA THE RUN - THE RUN! - a few minutes ago, against da Bears. Altogether now "da Bears still suck, da Bears still suck..." I just completed an order at Amazon.com - I was a good girl, I only ordered three books: Michael Weinreb's "The Kings of New York," "Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History" and "When the Drummers Were Women: A Spiritual History of Rhythym." There are several other books I would love to order - but I will wait until I get my Christmas bonus from the firm :) This day has been bliss! Speaking of books, David Shenk's "The Immortal Game" has come out in paperback. It is such an excellent read, I highly recommend it. The way in which he weaves the history-making game between Adolph Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky from June 21, 1851 into his narrative is superb. I suppose I shouldn't admit this, but up until I read Shenk's book, I had NEVER sat down and really gone through a game and analysis, move by move. Shenk made that game miraculously accessible to me. I look forward to his next book - he's doing research on it right now.