Friday again?
1) We canned six pints of the Daughter's special caramelized leek dal yesterday to see how it would take to canning. One jar did not seal, so we tried it. Delicious, with a texture very much like Tex-Mex refried beans. It will serve that purpose, I think, in a lot of our cooking in the future, although it's nice just on its own. So nice to have my canner here - we can take advantage of sales on chicken (which I did earlier in the week - replenished the stock of plain chicken that we use to make a quick curry - and other items). Also nice when we are really too tired to go to a lot of trouble to make something complicated, like the dal. Can now just open a jar and heat it up.
2) Starting a new walking group today. We'll see how that goes. I was having to come home and immediately take a nap after doing the walks with the last one, so I've opted for the "less strenuous" group that goes today. (I hadn't realized we were doing five miles.)
3) Still waiting to hear from the Uni on the Daughter's petition to determine residency for next year. She has found a funded program to apply for that would start this year, so she's applying for it. The stipend would pay the international fees, so it's doable. The competition will be fierce, so there's no sense that she'll actually get it, but at least she's eligible to apply for it. She is due to attend a conference next month that has several senior people who work in allied fields attending and should have the chance to socialize a bit. She will be letting it known she's looking for a place to study and one of her supervisors from the Uni here will be introducing her around.
4) The Daughter seems to be feeling better. She is sending off her driving license paperwork to get her provisional license, and since I paid for the online training for a year she can start the theory and hazard training now. So she's doing "stuff" again instead of moping. Can't say as I blame her for feeling down - she was trapped. Says she is very much looking forward to when she can quit her job. (She really hates it.) I've told her she can quit at any time, she doesn't need to be working for the money, but she needs that degree of independence and says nobody else will hire her. Once Brexit goes through (assuming it does) we're under UK rules and not EU rules anymore. EU rules say she can work just the same as a local. Brexit rules would force her out of the country if she does. So... still waiting to hear, as is everyone, what's happening with Brexit. We are assuming it will be a "hard" one, it's just a matter of when.
5) Was looking at houses in New England. It is always a shock when I realize we could afford to live there. It was so horrifically expensive to live in SoCal that even with the $500 a month property taxes in NE, we could still have a nice little house in the country with a yard for a garden, etc. Unfortunately, medical care (or the lack/expense of) and the current political climate in the USA mean it really would be a last resort, to move back there. We're starting French classes next month. If for no other reason than we'd like to be able to visit and not have to be quite as much the unintelligible tourists are we are now. And it's on the list of places we'd go if we have to leave here. Have the urge to travel. Wanted to go to Amsterdam, but see in the news that they don't really want more tourists as they have too many. Maybe Bruges at Christmas, instead. Anyway, I've got the wanderlust bad now that the weather is nicer.
Maybe I'll go exploring, on the Megabus.
