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Happiness is the Fire Department

So for reasons I will not go into, I am currently living in an apartment in a building connected to a care facility. Not because I need care, I can walk again, so no worries. I just moved in today and, thrilled with having an oven in the apartment, I decided to make mustard chicken and baked potatoes. You probably haven’t noticed this, but I am very food oriented, and I haven’t been able to cook for a month. So I preheated the oven, and when it hit 400, I threw in my potato. And the fire alarm went off and many people in wheel chairs came out into the halls. Because whoever had had the apartment before me had spilled something on the floor of the oven and the smoke went everywhere. I apologized to everybody, and now there are a lot of people who know me as the woman on the third floor who didn’t put her baked potato in the microwave like a normal person (they’re better in the oven). Except for the people in the care facility, which is where I moved from TODAY; they just said, “Jenny was baking a potato and set off the fire alarm.” Those people know me.

The fire department was very efficient. I forgive them for laughing about the potato.

What made you happy this week?

87 Responses

  1. Jenny, You are living in a Jenny Crusie novel! When do you hit the turning point and move to the new, better normal?

    That aside, I’m glad you’re safe. Take care.

  2. I’m glad you are managing to laugh (and cook) even under trying circumstances, Jenny. I am happy today because it’s Canadian Thanksgiving, and I have been cooking and blasting music and dancing around the kitchen. (Being in England, my Canadian Thanksgiving starts early.) Also, Kate Davies released her new knitting club today; happy happy! And I finished yet another knitting project and will cast on something new. New project here: https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2025/10/12/pink-is-the-new-brown/.

    2. I always say I don’t like pink, because I associate it with pastels, but I love hot pink! Really great color, both in general and on you!

    3. Hi from Canada too! I have been invited to a friend’s for Thanksgiving dinner tonight but I will contribute a potato dish – pommes boulangère – and I will be making it in my brand new oven that is chock full of gadgets and tech. Fingers crossed nothing will go wrong.

      Jenny, hope that you managed to get a lovely baked potato at the end!

    5. Happy Thanksgiving to you and to the Canadians who are in Canada.
      That is a glorious color.

  3. OMG — I do that kind of thing in my own kitchen, because I can’t be arsed to clean up after myself. Chuck something into the oven; next thing, the flat is filled with smoke because there was cake dough/leftover casserole at the bottom. Ah, well. Life is too short to be a proper hausfrau.
    I found old episodes of What’s My Line on Youtube and have been bingeing them. That made me happy, even though sometimes I have to skip forward when things get too 1950s/early 1960s. Myrna Loy was one of the celebrity guests, and I remembered that Gabe MacKenna says that Nell looks like Myrna Loy. I didn’t know what Myrna looked like, before. So that was nice.

  4. Potatoes are much better in the oven, so you’re not wrong. The person who didn’t have the apartment properly cleaned before someone new moved in is clearly to blame.

    Also, you’ve been living in a care facility for a month? I’m guessing that’s because of the broken pelvis. Were you in rehab? (Not the kind for drugs or drinking, although your life would definitely be driving me to drink at this point.)

    I hope some of the firemen were cute. Cute firemen make me happy. Just sayin’.

    I’m happy because my trip to visit family somehow ended up being drama-free, which is nothing short of miraculous. I mean, I got food poisoning from something I ate at the Denver airport, which made the second leg of the flight home somewhat fraught, but really, that’s nothing comparatively speaking. I’ll take mild food poisoning over family drama any day.

    I am bittersweet happy/sad because we had our first major frost and the garden is done for the year. I’m always torn between being sad about not being able to walk out there and pick dinner, and relieved that I don’t have to tend it anymore. Mind you, I still have to tear it apart for winter… But my counter is covered with tomatoes in various stages of ripeness, plus there are two baskets of green ones sitting in the mudroom that I need to deal with. I made applesauce from my golden delicious apples, and am currently eating the last of the eggplant.

    My real happy, though, is that after chasing him around all summer (not literally, I’m too tired and I have a bad knee), the workman who was coming to replace my crumbling chimney before winter finally showed up. The chimney itself is nearly done after three days, and he’s also going to deal with some problematic gutters and an overgrown apple tree before he disappears for his next job. It’s not optimal to have someone here working every day right after so much peopling, when I really needed downtime before an author friend visits next week, but I have tons to do anyway, and at least the job is FINALLY getting done. Huzzah.

    1. Congratulations on getting your house in order, Deborah! I can home rom Rehab to a new all on my Sunroom, and it was a great relief.

      1. Jan I know you are having a frustrating recovery but may I saw as an internet friend how lovely it is to hear that people are taking such good care of you?

        1. Thanks, Debbie. The credit actually goes to my son, who put in all the stuff in the shower. I’m very lucky to have two handy sons. The new wall was a big investment, and paid to a different handyman.

    2. I feel the same way about the garden. We’ve had nights where frost was possible. On the first night we rushed out to pick as much as we could. I always hate clearing out the gardens because the plants are still healthy and trying to survive. It’s easier when it’s like a squash fine that has already died off.

  5. Wow… I’ve been away–life just gets in the way somehow…and this is news. Life sure can throw is some curveballs, can’t it? I’m hoping all is well for you, Jenny, and that you get back to your regular life soon. And btw, baked potatoes are always better in the oven. I’ll stand by that forever. Whoever first put a poor innocent potato in the microwave and declared it good was… well, wrong. Holding you light, always.

  6. Lots of love to you Jenny hope you are happily and healthily back home soon. Painted my house white with turquoise trim this week. Very happy with it, keep going out to admire it!

  7. I’ve got a heat detector rather than a smoke alarm in my kitchen, to try to avoid false alarms like that. Still, the firemen sound good. And baked potatoes definitely need a proper oven.

    FaceTimed my friend’s daughter, and discovered she hasn’t given up on The Artist’s Way, so looks like we’re doing it. It was good to connect, especially to see her face as we talked. Technology’s clever. I’m focusing on the most playful bits this time round.

    Zoomed with my two best friends from university to organize our 50th anniversary reunion in a week’s time, and realized we’d accidentally done it on the Thursday of 0th Week (Oxford terms jargon), which is the day we actually met, which pleased me.

  8. Snap my Dad’s breakfast set off the smoke alarm this morning, when his saucepan burned dry…His breakfast sandwich was fine of course

    1. One of many reasons I love my induction cooktop is that I never boil pots dry any more. I set a timer, and the cooktop turns off automatically.

      1. Ooh good to know. At some point we will replace our gas stovetop and that’s a feature to look for.

        1. It really is handy (and standard, I believe). I know you’re supposed to “stand by your pan” (never leave the stove unmonitored), but I had a habit of setting the burner on low to cook rice for twenty minutes (or longer for brown rice), and leaving “for just a minute,” only to come back an hour later to a burnt pan. Even if I set an alarm on my phone, it’d go off, and I’d be in the middle of something, and tell myself another minute won’t matter, and, yeah, an hour later …. Much better if the unit just shuts itself off. With practice, I learned exactly how long various things, like my breakfast oatmeal, take to cook, so I can just set the timer and go wash dishes or whatever, instead of standing there staring at the pan. Love it!

  9. Baked potatoes are definitely better actually baked! Although since I have a bad habit of starting dinner too late, I do often give them 5 minutes in the microwave before they go in the oven.
    My brother came over from San Francisco to visit for a little over a week. He’s a nurse, so it was great to have him up to date on our parents’ health, and he’s also a cook, so it was really nice to have him take on some cooking. He and I have the same energy level, so we have some pleasant parallel play, i.e., reading in the same room, and sending each other memes.
    Trying hard to take care of myself along with the parents. I am trying super simple motions in the morning to get my pulse up, and remembered to use one of the face masks in the packet which I folded laundry. I glowed for the rest of the day.
    I organized a little cocktail party for my dad’s 95th, just a few couples that included his guy friends. At 95, most of your contemporary friends are dead, or too frail to travel, so these were relative youngsters in their 70s. I dressed my mom up a bit and added some earrings, and a good time was had by all.
    It’s the weekend for monarchs here, and we may have a week of rain, which would be fabulous!

    1. Can we assume that your potatoes only receive heat of friction or whatever the compressed air imparts as you shoot them at real food?

      There are stories about potatoes being introduced in Europe, and being regarded as only fit for livestock, or elsewhere regarded as aphrodisiacs. One way they were made popular was a king placing guards on his potato gardens to keep the peasants from stealing his gourmet spuds (but ordering the guards not to be vigilant.)

      1. The New World gifted many things to the Continent, among them potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins and squash, cacao beans, corn, vanilla, and peanuts. In exchange, we got grapes, cattle, onions, olives, peaches, pears and citrus, and coffee, as well as honeybees. I love baked potatoes, and have to approve of Jenny’s way, even though the microwave is faster.

      2. I have to admit that our family has shot potatoes out of spud guns. They go a couple hundred feet, are powered by ignited hairspray, and can safely be caught by small children with baseball mits. I have never tried cooking them afterwards; they should definitely not be heated up before use.
        On one memorable occasion one was used to shoot a model rocket out of a tree. Anti-aircraft artillery so to speak .

        1. And the flames from the spud gun look very exciting on video although not visible to the naked eye.

      3. Haha! Love this info. I can just imagine all those ppl eating tons of potatoes, thinking they are aphrodisiacs, and then falling asleep. Ha!

        1. The aphrodisiac stuff I learned from the story “When the Chips Are Down” by Jonathan Cresswell and Scott Washburn in the first RING OF FIRE anthology.

          Now there was an idea. Gramma might be a terror with a broom, but she ought to know whether there were any potatoes being grown in the region. She lived in the third trailer, so Larry would have to duck out into the early evening chill and that seemed like an even better idea just at the moment. He folded the book shut on his finger and slipped outside, scurried to the last trailer in the row, and knocked at its door.

          Gramma peered around the panel. “Was?”

          “Guten abend,” ventured Larry. “Ah . . . Do you know about any potatoes near here? Farms? Gardens?”

          “Was?” repeated Gramma blankly. She didn’t invite him to step inside.

          “Do. You. Know . . .” Larry said carefully. “About. Potatoes.” He opened the textbook, and pointed to the picture of a potato.

          Gramma’s eyes widened in recognition. Hey, we’re getting somewhere! She slammed the door; he waited, shivering, for a few seconds. Then she opened it again much wider in order to swing the broom fully through the doorway.

          “Hey!” yelled Larry. He dropped the book to cover his head from the blows. “What—”

          “Swine! Pig! Ist skandal!” She added a string of German syllables. “Raus! Scram!”

          Larry then has a conversation (in need of translation) with Melissa Mailey and Rebecca Abrabanel.

          Melissa turned and waved vigorously. “Becky! Hey! I need some translating.”

          Larry bowed instinctively as Rebecca Abrabanel joined them. She just did that to him somehow. “Larry here’s running into some language problems,” Melissa added. “Larry, you know Rebecca, right? Everybody does.”

          “Hi,” he managed. I just wanted to ask about potatoes . . .

          “You have been fighting, I see. What is the language?” The National Security Advisor had donned a woolen shawl; now she slipped it free again with a graceful tilt of her neck.

          “German, what else? Teufel . . . something. Larry?”

          “Uh . . . Teufels-wurzel, I think.”

          “Devil’s root,” said Rebecca. She glanced to Willie Ray, then back to Larry. “You are discussing agriculture? Devil’s Root is a common term for what you’d call potato. It is used by apothecaries, and even eaten in England and Holland, but I do not recall that it grows here.”

          “C’mon, Larry,” urged Melissa. “Think. What else did she say?”

          “Ah . . . Verke . . . her, ter . . . then Knave or something like that.”

          Rebecca lifted an eyebrow. “Verkehrter knabe would be ‘perverted boy.’ Just what sort of conversation were you having, Larry?”

          Larry knew the school floor couldn’t open beneath him and swallow him; he just wished that it could. “I asked Gretchen’s grandmother about potatoes. That’s all! And she went Jeet Kune Do on me!”

          “Went . . . ?”

          “Hit me with her broom. A lot.”

          “Ah.” Rebecca nodded. “You are . . . off the hook, as Michael says. Potatoes are very exotic here. They are believed to be Aphrodisiakum—an aphrodisiac, a sexual stimulant, like rhinoceros horn—but that is superstition. My father says that rhinoceros horn is much more effective.”

          Spoiler: They made potato chips to get the 1632 German farmers to grow potatoes. (It worked!)

          2. I remembered the potato chips in the 1632 universe but I’d forgotten the aphrodisiac part. I did recently learn that the story that they were invented in Saratoga Springs is false. Recipes appeared in cookbooks earlier.

    2. Bob Mayer… that is such a veteran thing to say. My veteran friends often simply open can of something and eat straight from the can… whether beef stew or ravioli. MREs galore!

  11. I made grilled cheese for the whole family and did it under the broiler. Except it was too close to the element and they literally caught fire. No smoke alarm because I got them out and the fan on fast enough. Hmmm crunchy bread.

    Yesterday, I went to the Manteca CA Book Fest with 5 of my writer friends. There were some hiccups, like the two 10×10 easy-ups were two 4×6 easy-ups, which isn’t sufficient for 3 tables. They found another one and in spite of an awkward spot off the main walkway, I think we all did pretty well. I about broke even, which considering all the books I bought for it, was good. Nothing but profit left on the ones I still have, I guess. I didn’t get a chance to walk around, though.

    And my older son is quitting one of his part time jobs to pick up more hours at his other one. Will he get full time benefits? Fingers crossed. He’s almost 26, which in US capitalism means he’s about to be kicked off our health insurance. So he really needs those benefits.

  12. Thankful you are walking again and the apartment is the next step in rehab before you go home. Baked potatoes in the oven is the best potato.

    Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians. The resort had roasted turkey on the menu with rich brown gravy and real cranberry sauce. Every imaginable potato was also on the menu. Roasted potatoes for me.

    Thankful for this quick, on the spur of the moment holiday in the Baja with my lovely, lively extended family. This trip includes cousin’s daughter in law and son. Love this boy, (11). He is terrific. She is an amazing mama.

    I got too cocky and didn’t slather enough sunscreen on my right collarbone. Never been to the Baja in Mexico. Practising speaking Spanish again. Amazing i can be understood.

    Happy happiness Sunday.

  13. You are going back to your home? I am assuming.

    Anyway happy you are walking. Walking is good.

  14. Potatoes in the oven are far better than the microwave. Glad you’re okay Jenny and hope you’re home soon.

  15. First, I nodded like a bobblehead when I read, “…the woman on the third floor who didn’t put her baked potato in the microwave like a normal person (they’re better in the oven). They’re even better buried under the campfire (wrapped in foil) but I have no campfires handy.

    Second, you reminded me to check the battery in my smoke alarm, which in my case meant, “put the battery back in the smoke alarm.” Yes, someone in the Owner’s Suite has forgotten to clean the toaster oven bottom tray. Often. Very often. Very, very often. {sigh}

    Last, or at least third, I would like to be all about the food. To be honest, I could exist on Healthy Choice frozen dinners. Before that, I had tried existing on Atkins frozen dinners, but the stores stopped carrying the variety they had early on – or Atkins stopped making the variety. Either way, frozen dinners are loaded with salt and salt is on my restricted list. So today will be stuffed pork chops (or maybe stuffed chicken breasts) with whatever comes from aiming for twice-baked potatoes.

  16. I hope you are able to go home soon and that things start looking up.

    My doctor gave me a new painkiller for my hip and I can sleep better. This is the kind of thing that makes me look forward to likely surgery but it is a real happy.

    Also I went to the biannual quilt show held by this group and there were some amazing quilts there including some that were hand sewn and hand quilted. Almost inspiring enough to make me learn to quilt. Folks might enjoy the gallery on the website.
    https://www.needlechasers.org/

    DDs book is being translated into Turkish as well as Korean but so far, not Spanish. Go figure.

    Watching the playoffs has also been fun. Two of the final games went into 12 and 15 innings respectively and were amazing to watch but kept me up late. I was grateful that last night ended in 9.

  17. Happy thanksgiving to all the Canadians!
    Oh wow Jenny. You should use this in one of your novels someday. Some firemen can spice up a story quite nicely. I’m happy you didn’t burn down the building, and I hope you got a potato out of it, eventually. Sending strength and hugs to support through the rest of recovery! With some luck, you’ll be home with the doggy soon.
    Some less happy things happened, so I’m trying to find a way to handle those. In all this, I’m so happy for friends that can take my long messages of panic in caps, even if all they can do is listen. I’m happy they haven’t deserted me, despite this (out of my control) situation not really changing to the better. Sometimes I wish I could snap my finger and magically solve everything that’s… difficult.
    I’m turbo-happy and excited for a new yarn that was released this week at one of the shops where I buy knitting-supplies. It’s called Steviedoodle and is based on labradoodle/poodle-coats, and since I have been searching for a good poodle-like yarn for a while to knit a soft poodle for someone to hug, this is absolutely PERFECT. I have ordered a bunch, I really hope it’ll be what I’ve been looking for!
    I’m happy I managed to be there for the someone who’ll eventually hopefully get the poodle at exactly the right moment twice this week (she told me both times). I’m happy when/that I can make a difference for people feeling alone, overwhelmed, scared, anxious or sad.
    I’m happy I have the best MIL.
    I’m happy for the tri-coloured demon that has wrapped herself around my arm now, squashed her face up against it and is breathing little puffs of warm air against my skin. Also happy for the black and white fartball playing in the yard.

    1. Shass, Demons and Fartballs are good! I think of you often the midst of my eye problems and admire your courage and fortitude. I love the idea of “doodle” yarn! I wonder if it will be hard to work with?

      1. Thank you, Jan! I am in awe of your fotitude as well – despite everything working against you, you are not giving up. You’re still in it and kicking and I’m so happy to see that and so proud of you! I hope you are, too. Sending so many pocket-hugs! I hope you can feel them in your pockets now.

        On the yarn: I have no idea what to expect, but it says this on the American version of the site: “Steviedoodle gives you the labradoodle look, yarn joy, and a ton of personality! As the name suggests, this yarn is a loving blend of the curly trademark of the labradoodle breed and our coworker’s dog, Stevie.
        Steviedoodle is a 100% polyester yarn. It has the signature bouclé look, but without the classic loops, since the fibers are cut during production. This gives the yarn a full, fluffy surface with lots of character. The yarn is light and has a soft texture, making it irresistible to work with.”
        I would post the link, but WordPress throws me into moderation everytime I do… so if you want to look at it, go to Hobbii.com and search for Steviedoodle.

      1. Thank you, Debbie, Pocket-hugs received! What with what you have told us over the years, I think you might understand the screampanic and incredible stress related to dealing with manipulative people close to a close relation, or rather; dealing with the close relation being in contact/hanging out with a manipulative person and not seeing it. It’s torture, even if you don’t deal with the manipulative person yourself. 🙁

        1. Absolutely. It used to keep me up for hours in tbe middle of the night. I am so sorry you are dealing with it.

  18. Jeepers, we had our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and I hadn’t even thought of trying to burn potatoes as a way to get a visit from the local fire department who have been here before and who are uniformly strapping, and good looking as they should be. I’ll keep this in mind next time.

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone; I am thankful for all of you.

  19. Now I need to go to the grocery store for potatoes. Except I prefer them sliced and roasted. Which I suppose would still produce smoke if the oven had drippings inside it. At least my neighbors are far enough away not to notice when I set off the smoke detectors.

    Meanwhile, I’m really, REALLY happy that despite the temperature going below freezing for at least six hours on Thursday night, somehow my tomato plants survived! The outermost six inches or so were frizzled, but the rest is fine. I think it’s because I never got around to staking/caging them, so they’re all sprawled on the ground, which is warmer than higher up. And they’re planted way too close, so they’re tightly woven together.

    On Thurs., I had harvested as much as I could, but didn’t have time/energy to actually pull up the plants, especially while I was heartbroken at all the green tomatoes (cherry size, and I have more than enough larger ones to do all the green-tomato things with, so no point in harvesting them green) that would never ripen, and some more-ripe fruits that I just couldn’t reach (because of the sprawling on the ground thing). But then I went out after the freeze and was shocked to see that I had more to harvest, all of it perfectly fine! https://www.instagram.com/p/DPr0Wndkm-1/

    Fingers crossed that we’ll have fresh tomatoes into November! Caprese salad for Thanksgiving!

  20. Happy to be home safe and sound after a mostly fabulous 16 day trip. Iceland was extraordinarily beautiful, and we got to do some fun stuff in France as well as spend quality time with J’s family. I managed to get a UTI about five days before we left and just struggled through, thinking it was a flare up of another issue. Very happy to have followed my instincts and gone straight to urgent care from the airport yesterday. Yay for antibiotics! Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, although it was very nice to be distracted from the state of the world while traveling … Also, yesterday was my birthday, but I think I get to celebrate it a bit more now that we’re home, since I was on a plane all day yesterday.

    1. Belated happy birthday! Iceland is one of the places I would like to go someday. I bet it was fabulous!

      1. I join Shass in wishing you a belated birthday!

        Glad the UTI is being treated!

        Would love to go to Iceland!

        I really, really love France!

        1. Thank you! We had such a nice trip. Can highly recommend Iceland, and of course we love France. My husband’s family is in Nantes and it’s a really great city, if you haven’t been. Tons of public/street art, lovely to walk around the downtown area.

      2. It was truly spectacular! I was a bit put off by how many tourists there were at all the main attractions, but nothing could make the sights less gorgeous. I hope we’ll go back and get to see some of the less popular stuff one day. Reykjavik was a really nice city, and we found everyone we interacted with quite nice.

    2. People are absolutely entitled to celebrate their birthdays a few days before or after if it’s more convenient

  21. DH and I drove sto vet al hours to attend my great aunt’s memorial service. We stayed in a lovely little beach town on Lake Erie. We’re never visited this part of the province before and it was lovely. We had a great walk to 2 beaches and watched the sunset over the lake, enjoyed craft beers at a local brewery and had a wonderful meal on a patio. My aunt’s memorial was lovely and one of her son’s and her daughter, both professional musicians, played at the reception. They played Amazing Grace which my cousin, the flautist, also played at my mother’s memorial. My aunt and my mom were best friends. There were tears.

    After the reception, we drove to my SIL’s for Thanksgiving dinner with DH’s family. I had ordered a cake for the 3 Oct BD people and it was a nice end to lovely meal.

    My nephew’s GF got into the lottery for FIFA 2026 tickets. She kindly bought tickets for us and we’re going to Boston in June to see a game. Boston has always been on my bucket list, so I’m looking forward to this family trip.

  22. I am happy to hear all of you sounding lively despite any challenges you may be experiencing.

    I am happy I went on vacation and happy to be home to my cats, bed, and water pressure. Hopefully I will also be happy to pick up my life responsibilities on Monday when I once more admit they exist. In the meantime, indulged in a vanilla latte and going back to my book.

    1. Don’t forget that taking a break from things is good, too. I stuffed some pocket-hugs into your pockets for when you need them!

  23. I have lots of new things to explore, not due to retail therapy (I wish), but due to PT and OT therapy. I took a shower with the help of my new hose, shower chair, and grab bars, yesterday. I wore my new alarm pendant. Then, because my toenails were getting really, really long, I decided to trim them. I accidentally nicked the tip of a toe, and because I am on blood thinners for the stents, I nearly bled out. Not really, but there was a lot of blood. it finally stopped. Here’s a tip: Do not trim your nails when you cannot see what you are doing, and you are on blood thinners.

    Jenny, your story reminded me of the many times my mother managed to fall when her hubby was out of town. the Firefighters in their town were very hunky, and she was lonely. She loved going to the hospital, too: “They are so nice, there.” I dreaded those trips to the ER, because she was also on blood thinners, and usually looked like she had been in a knife fight. I’m glad you are OK.

    1. Ouch! Bravely done trying to trim your nails, but ouch all the same. Happy to hear you managed to stop the bleeding. Although, maybe you could’ve got some firefighters out of it, or hunky paramedics. Missed opportunity! 😉
      I put some pocket-hugs in your pockets again. Figured you could use some extras. Demon says hi.

  24. Jenny, You always find a way to make lemonade or lemon pie or something else wonderfully lemon out of lemons. I hope you have your books in your new apartment and I know you have your computer or laptop. And I’m glad somebody’s nearby and that you are completely independent in that apartment. Now that the smokes cleared enjoy many baked potatoes.
    My sister and I are doing a Thelma and Louise journey. We met in Chicago at the airport she coming from Port Angeles, Washington and me from Los Angeles and got on a plane to Burlington Vermont. From there, we gotta rent a car and drove to the Adirondacks to Wilmington joined in our Aunt Phyl’s 94th birthday celebration. After three wonderful days with cousins we hadn’t seen in years. Kelly drove us to Buffalo where we areseeing more cousins. We’re having a delightful time. I have not been home to Buffalo in many years and one of the highlights was I went to my old home and the adorable couple who live there now welcome Justin and let me look around. I have memories dating back to two and I lived in that house for my first 10 years.
    Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends. We went to Canada yesterday for the day my cousins have places up in Lorraine. I love visiting Canada and the autumn colors are spectacular.

    1. I realized I have two other happies. One is alibris.com because I ordered two books that are long out of print and not in my local library.
      The other is litigators who are fighting often successfully for our democracy. I know it’s not a fully successful approach but it’s working more than many people realize. In particular this week a judge is protecting Kilmer Abrego Garcia from being deported to countries he doesn’t want to go to and it looks like litigation has significantly slowed down efforts to hand over Medicaid and IRS records to Homeland Security.

  25. Honestly I’m happy that I’ve had all this time off—not happy about the reason of course, but the time itself has been welcome. I’m getting to sleep on my body’s schedule, I have time to go for walks, and the condo is getting a slow but thorough cleaning.

    I will be very good at retirement.

    I’m also slowly but surely filling up next year. The luxury of planning without having to think about work deadlines is delicious.

  26. This morning I made a potato frittata for breakfast with leftover potatoes and bacon. When I went to make the potatoes smaller in the pan with the hamburger smasher it turned ugly. That’s the way I roll when I try to make it better. Quick thinking I took out some soft tortilla shells and warmed them up on the glass top stove and filled each one with the egg mixture and rolled them into enchiladas. Problem solved.

    When I was old enough to help in the kitchen my job was to peel potatoes. Hated it then, hate it now. Imagine my surprise to discover that now the stores are selling already mashed potatoes in microwavable containers. We don’t have them that often but the simple fact that they are available is such a joy. Want mashed potatoes for dinner, got em. It’s funny that I don’t mind scrubbing a baking potato, maybe because of the fillings that can be added.

    All the times the EMTs came to my house when my husband was sick, they were focused, focused, focused. Couldn’t have asked for better professionals.

    1. I hate peeling potatoes, too. I scrub them and cut them up and make mashed potatoes with the skins on. Easier life, more fiber. Win/win

      1. I still peel them for pot roast. I tried leaving the peels on just once and they didn’t soak up the flavor, even though they were cut into pieces.

    3. When cooking for our extended family (about 40 people), my sister-in-law used to run a load of potatoes through the dishwasher.

  27. Happy Thanksgiving! Both wings of my family (US & Cdn) will be attending and I’m making the stuffing for 44 using sour dough. I hope it tastes as delicious as it smells. Best time of the year, the colours being so gorgeous. Like you, Deborah, I’m pulling my garden out with help from my son’s father. I don’t know how you grow eggplant in upper NY state. Here in Quebec, they’re frozen before they ripen.
    A quick note of thanks to whoever recommended the Anne Tyler Two (three?) Junes book on Thursday. Lovely.
    I wish you well, Jenny.

  28. Jenny,

    I completely agree with you about the superiority of oven baked potatoes over microwaved ones. Even in summer I will also use the oven briefly to warm up leftover pizza for the same reason.

    The fire alarm must have been on a hair trigger to be set off by smoke from an oven spill but that may have been deliberate in a care facility.

    I remember that 50-plus years ago I set off the alarm in my grad school dorm room just with a toaster. Theoretically, it turned out, we were not supposed to use even that. I learned that the conventional workaround was to fit a styrofoam cup over the sensor. (I did always remember to take it off after the toast was done.)

    1. The official person who came to check on my toaster alarm just shrugged it off and checked a box on a form. No repercussions eventuated and I was allowed to keep the toaster. Evidently it happened all the time.

  30. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Bill to ban cat declawing in California this week!!! And University of California at Davis veterinary school will no longer teach cat declawing!!! I’m so proud of California!!!

  31. Car-related happies:

    My car has been starting, so evidently the new battery solved the problem (knock wood). The next, and not really unexpected issue, was that with the cooler weather, the tire pressure sensor warning came on in my car. My last experience with the ageing air pump at the nearest gas station did not encourage a return there so I dithered about driving to another, untried gas station or instead trying the portable air compressor that I had recently bought. I had worried that with the latter I might do something wrong and end up releasing what air remained in the tire and immobilizing the car. But I decided that was unlikely and I bravely tried it. It worked fine and I got all my tires back up to rated pressure fairly quickly. The only hitch was that the first tire that I tried did not want to go up beyond a certain point. I finally concluded that this somehow had to do with the way the compressor was sitting on the ground and I instead held it in my hand and the tire inflated the rest of the way. (It grew hot at one end but was cool on the sides.) The compressor’s battery charge worked for all four tires but with not a lot to spare. (It also can run off the car battery but I didn’t try that.) Now that I have an easier way to add air than with a gas station pump, I may be more conscientious about checking the pressure periodically.

  32. I saw two friends star and we went out to a place we’ve never been to explore. That was fun.

  33. We replaced the smoke alarm nearest our kitchen with a heat alarm after a frozen pizza in a perfectly clean oven set the f**king smoke alarm off. My tinnitus dates to that event.

    During my 6-mo stretch of joblessness in 2019, I discovered that the local firefighters did their grocery run around 3:00 on weekdays. Not long after that, I started going to the grocery store around 3:00.

    Happy yesterday was a trip with DH to Michael’s to get prefab frames for 9 things and order custom framing for 2 other things, then late lunch at an Italian restaurant.

    Happy today was painting the wall that frames my closet, changing out the drapes in the room across the hall, hanging a picture, going to Lowe’s for a short list of DIY supplies, and catching up with my sibling & her wife. DH is downstairs doing something with sushi rice and fish. Dinner imminent. 🙂

  34. Hope things continue to get better (and less smokier), Jenny.

    I remain fascinated with the salmon running through the Milwaukee River–can’t believe I’ve lived here for years and never checked it out. On Friday DH and I went to a park with a dam where you can see the fish trying to leap up and over the waterfall (although there is a passage around just for them). Today we watched an angler land a salmon, then chatted with him. Turns out he and a friend come here from Minnesota every year just for the run.

    Now I’m thinking maybe I need to visit my niece in Alaska…

  35. Getting all my weird October things (doctor appointments, vet, groomer…) done so I can concentrate on jury duty and the election in November. I have some cleanup and leve raking to do in the yard but that won’t take ling.

    I’m really looking forward to No Kings demonstrations. I was worried that there would be an incident that would give Trump (Miller, Vought?) an excuse to attack the demonstrations but I think the court has minimized that risk.

  37. The New York Times has a “recipe” for a microwave baked potato that is the best one I’ve tried. Pierce a “medium” potato in a few places, microwave at 50% for 6 minutes, turn it over, microwave for 5 minutes. I stop there but the recipe says if you want the interior to be fluffier, microwave at 50% for another minute or two.

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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