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.