thanksgiving

The pumpkin cookies I wrote about a few days ago turned out very well. Rather than using canned pumpkin, I made them with a roasted local pumpkin from the farmer's market. The colour is a bit lighter than when made with canned pumpkin, but they taste pretty much the same. I simply roasted the pumpkin whole (with seeds removed), scraped out the flesh, and used my handy-dandy stick blender to make it smooth. You can find the recipe here.

I have one of those friends who has the ability to think up fabulous ideas. The latest one which I participated in was a brunch & swap this morning, as a sort of Thanksgiving celebration. Everyone took stuff with them which they no longer used, needed, or wanted around the house. We ate fabulous food (thanks, host!), had a good visit, and then swapped stuff. We drew cards and chose what we wanted, highest card first, one item per round. I spent the week cleaning out the house, trying to get rid of all of that extra stuff which isn't needed or used, and had pretty much a carload by the time it was all packed up. It felt so good to get rid of it, and a lot of things were useful to other people. I came home with a few things I really wanted or needed, like this food dehydrator, which I'm very excited about. I also got a literature holder for the toilet similar to this one, an ObusForme back support similar to this one for use while driving when I go back to work (phooey!) and a shoe rack, which we needed for the porch.

This afternoon we took the wee one for a walk on some of the lovely new trail that has been made from former train tracks around Yarmouth. We also made a quick stop at a beach for a breath of fresh air on a very summery October day. All things considered, today gets an A+.