Left-overs

 JP is back to work today, so the girls and I have done a "Hunger Games" movie marathon.  We had left-over Thanksgiving dinner this evening.  It was nice to not have to do anything today, since I ended up working in the kitchen from 9 AM until 5-ish, with small breaks for breakfast and dinner.

It is hard to scale down a feast for four people, and even harder to scale down a turkey when there are only 2 meat eaters in our house.  Hence, we have plenty of left-overs to enjoy in the next couple of days.  We had 2 kinds of pie, because I wanted to try a recipe for Cranberry Custard Tart.

It was beautiful...

and delicious, but I will never make it again - way too complicated!

We had pumpkin pie too, of course.

We all worked hard last weekend.  We moved and stacked wood to the lean-to by the barn to use for heating our home this winter.

Last weekend was also my Grandma's 105th birthday.  We were hoping to make a quick trip to OH to sing and hold this sign up outside of her nursing home room window, since it is closed to visitors, however, our states have closed their borders and are requiring quarantining for those who travel - something I am unable to do because of work.  Instead, we mailed her the sign.  I hope she got it, because we just learned that she has contracted COVID.

It's absolutely crazy how fast the COVID case count is growing in our county.  I had a ZOOM call with my friends on Wednesday, which was absolutely lovely.  I wish things were different, but here we are - hunkered down and trying to stay safe.

I saw this rainbow on my drive to work on Wednesday - I think it is a symbol that this too shall pass.

Here We Go Again...

Well, I was hoping that last Friday the 13th would "reset" this whole pandemic craziness.  Friday, March 13th, was when they closed the schools initially.  Instead of a re-do last week, the schools closed again.  We are again doing "virtual school" 100% of the time until December at least.

Sigh.

In the meantime, we have stayed busy around here.

I baked some pies.

Apple - I had to try out my friend's pie filling

Shoo-fly pie - a Mennonite staple

The last pumpkin from the garden was cut up, cooked, pureed and frozen for later, with the exception of some used for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and some for pumpkin coffee cake.

Interestingly, when I cut open this pumpkin, some of the seeds had already sprouted.

I planted a few, and now I have some baby pumpkin plants growing on my windowsill!

JP had his first cataract surgery done and it made a huge difference in his vision.  He was supposed to have the second one done this coming Thursday, but it was postponed as the surgeon was exposed to COVID and is quarantining.

J won Senior Student of the month for November.  We are quite proud of her!

J and I did a road trip to visit colleges Thursday and Friday.  It was a lot of driving and fairly exhausting, but good.  I am favoring Youngstown State at this point!

My quilting is on hold for the time being as the instructor has COVID.

I cut down the dead plants in my big flower garden and weeded.  I also weeded about half of the blueberries and mulched with leaves.

Back to work tomorrow.  Sheesh.

All Fall

 I have been trying to write for a couple of days, but keep getting distracted by masks that need sewing or Algebra 2 questions, or everyone's unnatural need to eat 3 meals a day.  Today, I am distracted by election results. 

Except for anxiety regarding this election, it has been a really lovely fall.  I have been puzzling about why I was enjoying it so much, and finally realized it boiled down to this:  no soccer craziness and no theater rehearsal craziness.  I miss those things, but I don't...it's complicated. 

We had time to carve our pumpkins early in the month.  Well, J and I had time.  L scooped the goop out of her pumpkin and let it sit on the counter for two weeks where it turned slimy and grew mold.  We had a jack-o-lantern funeral procession to the compost the week before Halloween.

J carved a porg, mine was a wolf howling at
the moon (long story)

L had to wear a mask near her pumpkin since
it smelled pretty bad!  Notice the fungus (arrows)

I took time to make lots of roasted pumpkin seeds - a savory variety (R)  and a sweet & spicy one (L.)

It has given me time to take quilting lessons - I finally started the quilting last week:

JP, who has been putting in lots of hours at work, finally has a large part of the month off.  He is continually worried about not having enough PPE at work, and brings home his masks.  I put a bunch of them in a lingerie bag, ran them through the washer and hung them to dry.  Overall, I think it was successful, although the wire to fit over the nose broke on a couple of them.

A multitude of masks

JP is also FINALLY having time to get his cataract surgery done - first eye this week!

So, it seems that Fall is nearly over.  Most of the trees are bare.  The mornings are frosty and we have been building fires in the woodstove.  Winter is on its way - long, dark winter.  Sigh.

Have you been enjoying fall this year?