Good Monday Morning!  Three more days until Turkey Day!  I love Thanksgiving.  I get to cook and spend time with my family.  This weekend, I made Cranberry Fruit Relish.   Years ago (more than 30!), I found this recipe and tried it.  It has become one of those, "it will ruin Thanksgiving if we don't have it" things. 

Usually, I put it in a container and put it in the fridge but this year, I remembered I had a few pint jars left over and I put it in them.  Much easier to store. Isn't it pretty?   And so easy.  Here's the recipe

Cranberry Fruit Relish

I bag fresh cranberries

Orange juice

Sugar

1 can peaches

1 can pineapple chunks

Approx 1 cup chopped walnuts

1 can mandarin oranges

1- Put cranberries in sauce pan (pick out the ugly ones)

2- Add enough oj to cover them (this is a judgement call since they float and are hard to cover)

3- Simmer until the cranberries pop (they actually make a popping sound. It's very cool.)

4- Taste and add sugar to taste.  Turn off heat

5- Add remaining fruit and nuts and stir together.

You can use what ever fruits you like.   I imagine fresh fruit would work as well but since it's Fall around here, canned is easier to obtain.  As it cools and you stir it, the relish will take on the ruby color.  It is delicious with poultry or pork.

I will un-pin this when I get home today but here it is.  One crocheted receiving/stroller blanket for Em's friend Amy and her husband Mike.  I am rather proud of it.  It came out better than I expected.  Now I can get back to knitting my socks to trade for hand forged dpns.  

But, it's Monday morning and I have to get to work.  Today is our Thanksgiving Luncheon here at the center.  We serve over 250 folks a full on Thanksgiving meal.  It's one of my favorite things we do.  I have a clinic full of people so today promises to be busy.

And today's quote seems vry appropro. "There is only one happiness in this life.  To love and be loved" -George Sand

I've been trying to write this for a week but this software is old and my newer ipad doesn't play well with it.  I'm experimenting with doing the writing on my desktop and then adding photos on my ipad.  We'll see.

I don't have much to day about last week's election result.  Except maybe for one thing.  It's been our way in this country to accept the outcome of an election whether your candidate won or not.  We all work together to pull our country forward.

Some years are harder than others......

In some more pleasant news, last weekend as I was getting dressed, Pk called up from downstairs and said, "Quick, look out back".  I did and I saw 3 young deer wandering in our yard.  We've lived here for over 30 years and never once have I seen a deer in our yard.  We were enchanted.

This might have been a different story if there was still a garden for them to attack but since the garden is done for now, they were welcome guests.

I only got one photo of the neighbor's gorgeous trees this year.  Shortly after I took this, the weather got windy and now most of the trees are naked.

Emily has a long time friend who is having a baby in January.  I pulled out a crochet hook and my rusty crochet skills and am working on a lacy receiving blanket.  It's really pretty with a nice, soft halo.  It's an acrylic blend but part of that blend is mohair.  Now, I like mohair as much as the next person but it is a PITA to crochet.  Especially when your basic skills are not as sharp as you might like them to be!  I have started over a few (ok, 10) times and have cut off large swaths of the fabric because I didn't like the way it looked.  I have until Dec 3 so I have to stop dithering and finish it. 

Thanksgiving is coming up next week here in my part of the world.  It's one of my favorite holidays.  Family, good food and togetherness.  I am cooking this year and Emily and Jim are coming for dinner.  We will make our traditional menu (there will be a mutiny if I change a thing) and watch the parade and maybe a game or two. 

Friday, we took off and will make Fruit cakes and perhaps on Sunday we will make a trip to the Columbus Flea market.  It's absolutely huge and a ton of fun to walk around.

So, how are you doing in the wake of this tumultuous election season?  Are you settled back down?    I think the next 4 years will be anything but smooth.....

I was trying to figure out what to say about today.  Election Day.  It's been a long slog of a campaign and I am so glad it's finally here (although it feels like it's been an eternity, it also feels like BOOM! It's suddenly here!).  And Randall Monroe said it perfectly (he writes the online comic XKCD). 

In the Grand Scheme of Things, one election cycle is not All Important and sometimes it can feel like it doesn't matter for whom you vote.  Just getting out there and casting your ballot makes your small voice become part of a larger one. 

This is my 20th Presidential Election.  I've voted for men who've lost and some who have gone on to win.  What I've never been able to do before was vote for a woman.  It feels like we're taking a giant leap forward to catch up with the rest of the world.


Is the woman candidate better just because she is a woman?  Of course not but she brings such a wealth of experience to the table and a different perspective.  I really like her "stronger together" ideas.  It takes all of us in our wondrous diversity to make a country that has an "open mind and a good heart".  When has a candidate EVER spoken of our country having a good heart?  Never in my experience.

This newly 59 year old woman can't wait to see how she'll work out. (yes, I am an optimist.  Why do you ask?)

Today is Hallowe'en, one of my favorite holidays.  And not just because of the chocolate....

I always loved indulging my girls in whatever they wanted to be for Hallowe'en.  When I was a kid, my mother wouldn't let us be princesses.  "Hallowe'en is not for princesses.  Be a witch".  I always wanted to be a princess (I think it was the dress)

So I let the girls choose whatever they wanted, as long as we could make it.  Elanor was a shark one year but we couldn't convince Emily to be a bloody water skier.  She was a princess and won a prize in a contest.  Kate was a Dark Angel, a Pink Power Ranger and everyone was a butterfly at one point.

There was one year when El wanted to be an Indian Princess so we made the costume.  She was beautiful but she would not be allowed to wear that in school if she were young this year.  Cultural Appropriation.  I understand it academically but I don't understand it emotionally.

 
 
For instance, we were walking at the farmer's market on Saturday and there was a shop selling moccasins.  I've always wanted a pair because they look so comfortable.  But there was this niggling feeling in my head telling me it wasn't right.  And I felt sad.  I wouldn't be wearing the shoes to appropriate the culture of someone else, just to be comfortable.  But I left them there.  I couldn't bring myself to buy something that might offend someone else, however unintentionally. 

We are staying home this year for the first time in a long time.  I am looking forward to giving out candy and seeing the kids.  We've been at my aunt's house or my brother's house for years so we've bought candy and didn't give it away (not so good for the waistline)

I'm leaving work early and going to the fabric store to find some Mead Felt (a fabric store owner told me that's what felt that is made with a good percentage of real wool is called).  I want to make ipad cases for Pk and I.  We got new ipad pros and I want something to protect it.  (for the record, the thing is huge and I am still getting used to it but overall, I love it).  I don't want craft felt which will be too thin and is not often washable.  I could order it online but some things I like to touch with my hands first. 

However you celebrate, have a Happy Hallowe'en.  And if you observe it, Joyous Samhain. 

I can tell Hallowe'en is coming.  There are skeletons on our front door (these are George and Charlie), 

And there are more hearty meals for dinner, such as stew baked in a yorkshire pudding.

This is one of Peter Kevin's favorite ways to eat stew but it's not for the warm weather.  It is delicious.  But this week it's too warm.  When I left work today it was nearly 86 degrees.  In October.  I've already put away the summer clothes.  We always leave out short sleeved shirts because it often turns around and gets warm after it's been downright chilly for a few weeks.  I love a bit of surprise warmth but it's been a bit uncomfortable when my body has decided that IT should be the warmest thing in the room.  Gotta love the menopause.......

I have taught myself a new skill using youtube (what did we do before youtube?  Oh right, we talked to each other).  I have learned to knit a pair of socks on two circular needles.  I have a friend who wants to learn to knit socks but can't use the dpns.  I found some short circs and some bright stripey yarn (so she won''t get bored and throw it across the room) and started the sock.  It's surprisingly easy but still a little fiddly.  She can't figure out what to do so I'll show her tomorrow.  

We had our health fair last week and a lot of people asked if we were going to have the knitting group again.  I've gotten permission from my supervisor to take the time and I'm going to try for the third time.  I hope that if I set it up for a 2 hour time frame that more people will want to come.  I think that they were reluctant to travel for an hour.  I am hoping that there will be a mix of people who know what they're doing and people who don't.  I'd like to be able to sometimes just sit and knit and talk.  I've had  clients tell me how helpful they've found crocheting or knitting can be when they are feeling anxious.  It can be calming and centering.  Well, it can if you're not knitting double sided lace with complicated charts....

My favorite part of the autumn weather is being able to bake bread again.  I made this herbed loaf to accompany some escarole soup last weekend.  Before it was summer redux.  

We had a discussion in our poetry group about the difference between sports and games.  We couldn't come up with a satisfying definition between the difference.  We decided to ask people around us what they thought and come back together and talk about it.  Any thoughts?

I hadn't intended for it to be a month between posts but you know how it is, "the best laid plans".  There have been some good things, like that beautiful rose.   It's called an Evelyn rose.  We planted the bush in July and were prepared not to see any blooms till next year (you're supposed to cut off the buds on the first year to encourage root growth.

One morning, Pk was out back communing with the wildlife (talking to the birds and threatening the squirrels) and he came in to show me a photo of a rosebud.  We were so pleased.   We decided to allow it to grow since it's the end of the growing season.  It blossomed into this palm sized, delicate pink (with a pale yellow center) flower with a gorgeous scent.  It felt like Evelyn was speaking to us.  We bought a bush for Kate and Patrick and theirs got 3 blooms.  Our bloom is hanging upside down to dry so we can keep it.

Two weekw ago, we went to Allaire State Park for their flea market.  It's usually a good one and this year was not different.  I got the best deal!  

8 place settings (7pcs each) and all the serving pieces of Noritake china.  This is Geneva.  I paid 40 dollars for the entire set.

It looks like it was made for our china closet.  I have china.  I have 4 place settings of a beautiful pattern that we got for a wedding gift plus a set that was my grandmother's and of course, the holiday china my family gave me a few years ago.  So we didn't "need" china.  But this spoke to me and Pk actually sad he liked it, too.  I am looking forward to using it over the holidays.  

We went to the Garden State Sheep Breeders show in September.  It was a glorious day.  Sunshine and sheep and knitters and spinners and 4H kids showing off their animals.  

We had a geat day.  Pk fantasized about buying goats (but then his brother the farmer, introduced him to the cold hard reality of goats and he decided to pass).  I bought one skein of yarn and a pattern for a shawl, a bag I couldn't resist and some roving. 

One of my (younger) cousins died in September.  I'm still not sure of the cause of death but it shook me up.  We were not close but I felt the loss.  It reminded me once again that none of us know how much time we will have.  Live accordingly.....

We finally made it to the park for dinner.  We sat there (surrounded by people of all ages looking for Pokemon-it's evidently a hot spot) until the sun went down over the Delaware River and the ranger told us it was time to leave.  It was just too hot most of this summer to enjoy picnics out doors.  I missed that.  

Next week, Pk and I will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary.  We are going out to dinner on Sunday (our day is Monday) and will probably go to work as usual on Monday.  It's hard to believe it's been that long.  Somedays it feels like we've been married forever and others, well, it feels like it was yesterday.  The love of my life and my best friend.  35 years ago, we joined hands and boldly marched toward the future.  And here we are, all those years later, still holding hands and holding each other.  There's no one I'd rather have by my side.  "For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part".  We took those words to heart years ago and we live them today.  And I am not unaware of how lucky we are.

           Good morning.  I'd like you to meet the newest member of our "family".  Peter Kevin calls him Cornelius but I think that is much too civilized a name for this fierce creature.

  As you can see, he is BIG (over 8 feet tall).  His wings move back and forth as if he is fanning flames or getting ready to fly.  His eyes glow laser red and his belly is full of purple fire at night.  He is so cool.  It's hard to wait for Hallowe'en to allow him to be blown up and outside.

Labor Day has come and gone already and even if the calendar says it's summer for another 2 weeks, the feeling around here is that the "lazy, hazy, crazy" days of summer are gone and the more industrious days of Fall are fast upon us.  It was cool enough over the weekend to pick up some roving and spin for a while.  I pulled out the Starry Night roving I got in Maryland and made one skein of n-plyed yarn and have 4 bobbins of singles waiting to be plyed.

It has mohair in it so it has a bit of a halo which I like.  It's been just lovely to spin.  I hve nice even singles and my plying is getting more even. 

The weather was cool enough for some baking so I made a family favorite, Whoopie Pies.  

I don't know why they're called Whoopie Pies but they are so good.  Elanor and Pk helped in the making of the cookies and the putting them together and of course, the Quality Assurance part.  We packed them in pairs and put them into small brown sandwich bags for a picnic at Valley Forge with Em and Jim.  We were in our usual spot but were beset upon by bees and had to pack up a bit earlier than we might have.  Em and I are both allergic to bee stings and while we carry EpiPens, we'd prefer not to have to use them (they'd be very expensive to replace!)

Elanor turns 33 this month.  We got her a hummingbird feeder.  She and Pk have had such a good time all summer watching the birds come to the feeders in the yard and she mentioned that she'd seen a hummingbird.  It was a bit early but they migrate soon and if we waited till her actual birthday, she'd miss them altogether.

An email from Pk's brother last night informed us they are planning to come east for a visit in a few weeks.  It's a perfect time of year, before the holidays take over.  I know he's looking forward to it.

This coming weekend is the Garden State Sheep Breeders' Show.  I really like this one.  It's small and never that crowded so you can spend time talking to vendors and actually ask questions about their products.  I also enjoy watching the 4-H kids showing off their animals.  It's endearing to see a kid with an animal who is as big as or in some cases, bigger than they are showing sheeps and goats in the ring.  There are sheep dog demonstrations (those Border Collies are a wonder)

And I almost forgot.  They always have Kettle Korn.....

                                                           

Other than that, it's quiet around here.  We are setting up to get some house chores done after the heat breaks and before the cold sets in.  In October Pk and I will celebrate our 35 wedding anniversary and in November I will be 59 (and I don't know how that happened).  Time flies not only when you're having fun but when you're not paying attention!

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