Gratitude and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but I have pictures…

We had a Thanksgiving visitor, albeit a four-legged one. Her name is Chloe. She was with us for a few days.

Here are the pies – an apple and a pumpkin.

The pumpkin, of course, was from the pumpkin on the left,

that became pureéd,

that turned into this yummy pie.

A few days after Thanksgiving, the turkey carcass became turkey broth. It simmered all day on the stove and made a wonderful soup.

And we had blooming amaryllis for Thanksgiving too.

For all that and more, we are most grateful.

Return of the Opossum

Last night the opossum came back! And I was able to get some much better pictures of it.

We kept the dogs in another room so they wouldn’t bark at it. I opened the door ever-so-quietly and started clicking away with my camera. I even talked to it. I continued to talk to it, and well, I guess it had enough of that because it decided to leave.

My thoughts are that it is a teenage opossum.

Anyway, I’ll keep this short and sweet since I need to get back to work on my current calligraphy piece. I have a lot to do yet.

And with that, one final picture…

… bye, bye.

A Repurposed Pumpkin, an Opossum, and a Birthday

See these three pumpkins? They have been part of our fall décor outside.

Now there are only two. The pumpkin on the left, the tilted one, got cooked. Literally. It became this…

… pumpkin purée, and this…

roasted, salted pumpkin seeds.

We now have enough purée to make five pumpkin pies. Just starting to get ready for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast. J

Last night I saw my first ever opossum! I spotted it approaching our bird feeders, ran to grab my camera, and tried (foolishly) taking a picture through the sliding glass door. Well, that doesn’t work as any smart person knows. So I cracked open the door to get a real picture of it, but of course, it started running off. (Our two dogs barking at it didn’t help either.)

Here’s my best picture of this cute little American marsupial. It was scooting down the railing – had an adorable whitish face, and a rat-like tail. My apologies for the blurry picture, but I wanted to prove that I actually did see one! Also, there were other eyewitnesses.

On another note, there was a birthday here recently – mine. Here I am with my younger two sons, Ethan and Justen. Isn’t it amazing how much older they look? 

The Perfect Fall Day

The first day of November turned out to be a perfect fall day. Outside there was frost on the ground and the water in the birdbaths had frozen, while inside was cozy and warm.

Mid-morning a buck appeared in our backyard. He has the most beautiful markings on his face.

I went out back to fill the birdfeeder and he and this doe did not run off. So I left some sunflower seed on the ground for them, which they promptly ate. Then they were gracious enough to allow me to take their picture.

Because it was quite cold outside, I made up our first fire of the season. The house soon became toasty.

I baked bread…

to go along with a pot of bean soup.

The sun was shining all afternoon. It was a wonderful way to begin November. 

The Colors of Fall

Sunrise each morning is, of course, later as we progress through autumn. That is until we change our clocks again… I try to watch for the sunrise every morning so that I might catch a spectacular sight, like this morning’s.

This sunrise lasted just a brief moment, but I got a picture.

We are benefiting from another splash of color in our backyard – this gorgeous maple tree. As the weather gets chillier each day, this tree’s colors become more vibrant. It even casts a glow into our home when the sun shines on it.

And then there are the traditional fall pumpkins lending their pudgy orange selves to our front deck décor.

Happy Autumn!

What's Going On This Fall

I’ve had a break from the world of blogging, but there’s so much going on this fall that I need to write again.

I missed out on the mums, but found these beautiful pots of grasses and foliage to adorn our window box for the fall.

 Inside there is fall color too. I cheat using silk flowers, but they do last a loooong time. Love the colors.

After picking as many apples as possible that could be reached with a ladder, I decided to make an apple pie. Having already made several apple desserts, it was time to roll out the dough…

cut, peel, and core apples (again)…

and enjoy this rare treat. It was delicious!

My current work-in-progress is this moose. Right now it’s an appliqué, but this will be a quilt. Not a full-size quilt, just a wall hanging.

I’ve been working on calligraphy…

and am taking a Spanish class.

Lots more going on, but I can only fit in so much in one blog post.

Harvesting and Cooking

I’ve been cooking the last two days. These are the tomatoes I gathered during the past week.

I peeled and chopped them, and added them to some sautéed onion and garlic in a large pot. A bit of seasoning and some tomato paste to thicken, and voila!

Seven quarts of marinara sauce.

And on Sunday, four pounds of blackberries turned into this…

to make several containers of blackberry jam for the freezer. We are eating some of these goodies now too.

With our family of five, this little bit that I preserve doesn’t hold us all year, but it is nice to make use of what we’ve grown and what nature provides. 

The Hazards of Blackberry Picking

Today our weather has cooled and there was drizzle this morning. That got me to thinking that I had better check on the blackberries.

Like everything else this summer, the blackberries are later in ripening. We have not picked many yet. So I grabbed a container and headed for our very large blackberry bush.

It has been a few years since I did any of the blackberry picking. I expected the scratches from the thorns, and the stained fingers. No big deal.

What was a surprise to me was this threatening-looking spider. Now that made me look extra-carefully at where my hand was heading. (I steered clear of that area.)

There were lots of berries out of my reach, I’m sorry to say. Besides, when you lean in to reach, your clothing gets snagged and it can be hard to back away.

Another surprise was realizing I need to watch where I step. You know I love the deer, but with deer comes deer poop.

Because it was a cool day, I didn’t have to contend with the yellow jackets. Otherwise, I never would have picked blackberries in mid-afternoon.

And it was all worth it. Here are just some of the beautiful berries we’ll be enjoying. Can’t wait to make blackberry jam.