Thanksgiving 2015

It was so nice to be on vacation this week!  No piano lessons, no Awanas, no speech therapy, no co-op, and Phil only had to work on Monday (he did a 10+ hour day and took some flux time).  Grandma Tracy and Grandpa Cliff came for a visit over the weekend so we had a nice relaxing time with card games a plenty!  Phil took the children to the lego store and to his classroom (such a good dad!).  I dived into a persimmon study (more on this soon).  We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's and today we are gearing up to celebrate Sawyer's 11th birthday!

Evi drew this pictured and commented, "The eyes are so realistic, they scare me."

Fixing Glorielle's hair with magnetic rods LOL.  

Crochet time!

Learning to crochet.

On a whim, Phil bought Vienna a doggy sweater when he went to pick up dog food.  Alas, it was too big and she wriggled right out of it.

The killing frost:  we had our first hard frost and the last of the deciduous leaves died back.  

My tropical garden always looks the worst, I think because the leaves are so big - the banana, the canas, the gunnera..all the leaves darkened, browned, and withered or collapsed.

The wind and some heavy rain had already whipped the banana leaves to shreds.

The gunnera leaves bronzed and crisped.

Oddly enough, my purple filbert's leaves turned green.

Lamb's ears.

But wait....little blossoms on my honeysuckle!  This always makes me think that Spring is coming (and I love feeding the overwintering hummingbirds with blooming plants in the winter).

When we drove into my parent's driveway, I saw this maple tree with its seed pods being cast in the shadowy evening sun.  I grabbed my camera, said a quick hello, and ran to take a few pictures before the lighting disappeared.  While winter time is my least favorite season (unless it snows), I am so glad that there are cheerful Christmas lights, and big Holiday feasts, and warm cozy fires, and birthday celebrations packed into this time of year.  

The seasons for me has always been this:  Winter:  November-February (cold weather, frosts, rain, short days, wood stoves, bright lights, browns and pale greens)   Spring:  March - June (wet, mild, bright vibrant colors and greens).  Summer:  July-August (hot, lazy, the colors of Spring have soften and are muted).  October:  September-October (I can feel the change in the air, the lighting is golden, the sun is warm but the air has a cooler feel, the leaves are every shade of brilliance.)  My favorite months are June-October (although August is too hot!) and I love Fall best.

Anyway...my point in all this was that even though Winter is not my favorite and it is the longest season for me, I am finding seed pods to be a marvelous diversion from icky cold weather and short dark days!  The colors are not the most exciting (well sometimes they are) but their form, and shape, and the way they cluster together, and how they stand out in the garden....wonderful!  I am thinking that once I am done with persimmon studies (need to take some pictures and then share about persimmons), I will move onto seed pod studies.




Thanksgiving!!

It was a quiet year this year, being the only guests but I think this may have been the most delicious Thanksgiving meal yet!



Turkey and gravy, of course, but this was turkey comfit - cooked with duck fat...so good!; A big green salad, always:  "Mashed potatoes" of celery root, cauliflower, potatoes with finely chopped brussel sprouts and lots of butter (so much better than regular mashed potatoes);  Caramelized onions and roasted persimmons;  A grattan with leeks, fennel, cream and special cheese from Switzerland, topped with bacon crumbles and crispy sage leaves (may have been the most delicious grattan I have ever eaten); Cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries, oranges, honey, and a persimmon; And pickles and homemade olives (picked and cured from my parent's olive trees).  Dessert was a pumpkin persimmon pie.  Persimmons were a bit of a theme and they were delicious.  We had crispy (kind of like an apple), non-astringent, mild tasting persimmon and now I want a persimmon tree!



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