Thanksgiving Preparations

 

Well Mommy's famous (and quite fabulous!) turkey head is waiting for a pineapple. In the meantime, the handbag that Bob fashioned for me from a log will do nicely! I think my sister Cathy said she's providing the pineapple... (*1)

So here are a couple of helpful suggestions to make your holiday entertaining that much easier. First off, don't clean the house too early. Like I'm talking wait until the last minute if possible.

Case in point: this floor was clean... maybe yesterday? But we're heavy traffic: bringing in autumn leaves and general dirt on our boots type people so I learned the hard way to clean at the last minute or have to do it all over. Hell! I've got more important things to do with my time! (Like play outside and track in more dirt!) (*2)

And here's another tip: no matter what they tell you on the packaging or the Internet, your frozen turkey will still be frozen after many days of refrigerator thawing!

Here's Bob attempting to wrestle guts from our 13 pound friend. What do you do when you get one of those 20 pound behemoths?!?! Anyway, I'm certain that tragedy will be averted, the bird will thaw and a lovely golden brown turkey will grace the table tomorrow.  But now I have to go clean!!

(*1) I sorta forgot to buy one, along with dish soap. Yes, several trips to various stores and I forgot. I guess we'll have to dine on dirty platters and grubby, reused stemware! The horrors!

(*2) Similar to the time I bought and wrapped a birthday present for a friend. Several months passed before seeing this friend, in which time the wrapping paper was a crumpled, dirty mess and I had to re-wrap it. 

Leaves and Other Things That Fall From the Sky

Yup. That's a whole lotta leaves! And they're not in the woods; they're in the horse field so they need removal as they simply pile up and kill whatever grass is underneath. Additionally, they're really slippery if I chose to ride my intrepid steed in the lower field. Here is Neko- my leaf colored horse:

Neko isn't concerned with much of anything besides eating, but she can't eat oak leaves, so rake them I will! I make numerous piles like this:

Put them on a tarp and then haul 'em away to the woods. I cannot even count how many piles I've hauled away so far but I figure if I drag four or five piles a day, I should be done by next year. Endless!!

Robin supervises. She thinks autumn leaves are awesome and enjoys chasing the leaves as they blow around the yard. (She also enjoys chasing shadows of birds which is pretty funny because she's running around, nose to ground, as the birds fly overhead.) 

The other thing that falls from the sky is meteorites! Last week Thursday, there was apaprenly a meteorite that traversed southern New England, passed over Long Island and landed in the Atlantic. Sorry to have missed that! 

(That is an actual photo that someone took.) We were coming back, oblivious on the train from New York, tired from our lovely trip to Tribeca and overloading on art viewing. We saw all kinds of wonderful, thought-provoking thing but nt that danged meteorite. Maybe next time!

 

Waiting for That First Frost!

 Uh... we're still awaiting that first frost. Which means we're still waiting to celebrate our non-anniversary! The colors have finally started turning but we're as confused as the plant kingdom that there has been no frost and it's November 1st! The basil plants have long since sputtered out- as have many of the tender annuals, but it's not due to freezing temperatures. They're all just giving up the ghost from such a protracted growing season...

This is the latest our non-anniversary has ever been. And we're anticipating celebrating as it's a big one: 35 years of uninterupted fun and foolishness. We're venturing into NYC tomorrow to see art and sorta-celebrate as it is promising to be cold enough to frost over night.

Great color, right? The blue grey of the spruce "Blue Star" is a spectacular back drop for the splendid crimson of (yes) poison ivy leaves. We are so fortunate to have poison ivy featured throughout our Blue Garden! Somehow, I avoided getting a poison ivy rash this year, and it wasn't for lack of trying! I've become crazy enough that I sometimes just grab it bare-handed and tear it out. I have always maintained the element of surprise prevents infection. (Delusional much?)

And here's a whopper! This blob-like mushroom decided to begin growing right through a section of fence. I'm glad I caught it in the act as with many fungi, it melted away soon after. A wet fall presents it's own fascinating life forms. We're sure to experience at least a few "fascinating life forms" tomorrow as New York never disappoints!