Autumn Acts

I seem to be doing the same thing I was doing the last time I was here. I'm cleaning up after having guests for the Thanksgiving long weekend. Last week was from a different family celebration.

This weekend I was responsible for the food but received quality help from my daughter and her boyfriend. My daughter wanted to learn to make pumpkin pie from scratch. We did that and also made two kinds of pumpkin soup, both of which were delicious. She likes cooking and is ready to learn more complicated methods and recipes. She uses recipes and I rarely do so it's a learning experience for both of us. I also encouraged her to be cre8ive by having her make a blueberry crunch cake substituting blueberries for apples. It turned out so good that she won't be intimidated at making a change like that again.

We had eight for a traditional turkey dinner with stuffing, many, many vegetables dishes and condiments, all home made, some even from my garden. I met two very nice young people, my daughter's boyfriend's sister and his best friend, who were both alone for the holiday. I think it was my favorite weekend in a long time.

I have been taking a weekly painting class and after the class today managed to get in a much needed walk. My walking partner and I have different schedules and then there's the weather factor. We hadn't walked since last Tuesday! We both enjoy it immensely and it's hard when we can't get out. I just finished my homework for the painting class so after tomorrow's rain and no one expected for the weekend, it should be clear sailing. It's so beautiful out there these days.

'Tis Autumn by Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass seems like a good choice for today because there's no getting past it. It is definitely upon us. I always hope summer will last forever but of course, it never does. Autumn Leaves is my other song choice for today. I love this Stephane Grappelli version and hope you do to. I hope you can get for a walk wherever you are and enjoy the autumn because A Change Is Gonna Come.

The Week's End

I've got a beer and a kitty in front of me. The kitty makes it rather hard to type I can tell you. Supper is in the oven, music is blasting, Bruce Cockburn and Ani DeFranco at the moment, I had a productive day in the jewelry department and all is well with my world. It's Friday, one of my favorite days of the week.

For many years I had a Friday Happy Hour where friends came by, and it was always a great time. FHH has pretty well gone by the wayside but I still love Fridays. It's a good day to go out or to be with friends. It's a hard day to get people in offices on the phone though. I needed to confirm a couple of things with a few people and all I got was voice mail today.

Musical selections for today: Something seasonal as we are forecasted to have a very rainy and very windy weekend so the landscape will change dramatically and there will be few leaves left on the trees after this. So Autumn Leaves by Stephane Grapelli and Fields of Gold by Sting should be appropriate for the last days of our beautiful autumn landscape. We have hiking plans for tomorrow if the rain holds off. I am going by myself if S. backs out. I need it after last weekend's hike being cancelled. Oxygen and the smell of the forest in autumn are like a balm.

Link: One of the blogs I read daily asked the question, "What website do you go to most often other than your own?" Mine would be Visitor's Comments for a place in Mexico that I go to when I can. I check this Puerto Escondido page usually twice a day, whereas everyone on my blogroll gets one hit a day. The whole site, The Pacific Coast of Mexico is a pretty good source of information for first time visitors or those wanting to get a feeling for the area. I've been going to Puerto for twenty-five years and the site over ten years and the site's a labour of love of one man, Tom Pennick. I hope to get to Puerto this winter sometime.