Full

The bird, smoked and delicious

By the end of the day I had feasted on many dishes, some cooked here and some brought by friends: turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, stuffed acorn squash, scalloped sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn humitas, cranberry sauce, tres leches, and homemade pumpkin pie ice cream.

action shot: carving!

action shot: eating!

I am full. Time for bed.

Gobble

early

6am: Time to start the charcoal. Fashionably dressed in pajama pants, clogs, a t shirt, sweatshirt, and stocking cap I putter around the back porch and get the charcoal loaded into the chimney. Thankfully I remembered to start the pecan wood smoking last night. Damn, it is cold. But by 7am the turkey is tucked into a pan and squeezed onto the grill. I think we've hit the size limit with a 26 pound turkey. Now I just have to keep an eye on the heat (around 275) and wait.


8am: cup of tea. Bliss. Charlie is already starting the stuffing. I made cornbread and turkey stock for it last night, along with my tasty cranberry sauce. Our friends always enjoy the "Charlie's canned vs. Sarah's fresh" contest. I usually win, but Charlie never gives up. He loves the canned jelly stuff.

Only an hour to go until I can watch the Macy's parade. Having to get through all of the crappy pop singers and flashy floats and banal commentary is worth it for The Marching Bands. Oh, sweet nellie do I love me some marching bands.

new

I have two new things:

A new motto

From what I can tell, it's history is began in 1939 when the British government commissioned a set of three posters that were to be "a message from the King to his people, to assure them that all necessary measures to defend the nation were being taken, and to stress an attitude of mind rather than a specific aim." The first poster said "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will Bring Us Victory." The Second stated "Freedom is in Peril." My poster was the third, and it didn't get very much usage since it was reserved for display only when things really got dire.


I love the graphic simplicity of the print. But most of all the words resonate with me. Freedom's not exactly in peril in my world right now, but life is not honey and roses either. I apply this motto to my shopping, when instead of hoarding my pennies I buy a drink from the locally owned coffee stand in my neighborhood to help keep her in business. I apply it to my gardening, when sometimes the size of our land overwhelms me and I don't know what to do next (prune the apple trees? mulch leaves? label the dying hostas so I can tell where they will come up next spring and don't dig them up? analyze drainage on the hill to keep it from sliding? winterize the lawn mower?). I apply it to Charlie's 401K plan, by opening the envelopes and calmly filing them rather than freaking out. I apply it to my heart, on the days when keeping myself together feels impossible.

I must give credit to the artisan that made the print. Speaking of keeping calm and the economy, have you bought Christmas presents yet? If you haven't, consider Etsy. It has grown to an enormous community of really talented artists who sell things ranging from posters to hand felted gnomes to handbags to maple syrup to original paintings to pottery to, well, vomit rags. You can search by keywords (what is a good gift for a three year old?), topic (handbags, ornaments, soft toys) or even color. Every time I order something, it always comes packed as thoughtfully as it was created. And best of all, your money goes directly to the artist. If you have never bought something directly from it's creator, you are in for a treat. Suddenly you know where those earrings came from. When people compliment you on them your sense of pride is magnified because there's a connection. I love telling people about my personal jeweler. The things I buy aren't expensive, but I feel like they are made just for me (and often they are, since she takes special orders).

So, give your loved ones a gift with a past! That's my "buy handmade" message for the season.

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A new pair of shoes

My other new thing is a frisky pair of shoes. Four of us walked down a Seattle street yesterday afternoon, three wanted to go into a shoe store. Yet somehow the one that didn't especially care if she went in it or not was the one that ended up with a pair of shoes.

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Eggs laid in the coop Sunday: 2
Eggs laid in the coop Saturday: 3
Eggs laid in the coop Friday: 2
Eggs laid in the coop Thursday: 3
Eggs laid in the coop Wednesday: 3
Eggs laid in the coop Tuesday: 2
Eggs laid in the coop Monday: 3
Eggs laid this year: 322

Leaf Round Up

One of my outside gnomes contemplates the sun-breaks

I took advantage of a non-rainy day to do a leaf gathering mission in the yard. After many hours I can see the plants again and the driveway isn't filled with leaf mush. Once the leaves get crushed then they are really hard to get rid of, and I am happy to have them gone. I even ventured up on the ladder and tried to get most of the leaves off the parts of the roof I could reach.

Leaves, I win yet again.

The chickens came out to help me. They took turns jumping to reach the last of the blueberries left on the big bush.


Then I went downstairs and embarked upon a new sewing project that was a special request from Calliope: a vest with many pockets. I don't know how I managed to dork it up so thoroughly, but I started working off a jacket pattern that was ridiculously impractical to convert to a vest, and got pretty far into the construction before I gave up. Must go to the fabric store so that I can start anew.

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Eggs laid in the coop Sunday: 2
Eggs laid in the coop Saturday: 2
Eggs laid in the coop Friday: 2

Eggs laid in the coop Thursday: 2

Eggs laid in the coop Wednesday: 2
Eggs laid this year: 304

Cheers

Bottoms up, America. Here's to the next four years.


These tears in my eyes, they're because the drink is Very Strong. Really.

Lally Campaign Promise

Harry is patiently waiting. He is the only one.

It was my sister Gabriel that came up with the idea. She'd drink her very first Long Island Iced tea if Obama won the election. If McCain won, she'd drink two. One to celebrate and two to drown the sorrows.

On the east coast, my parents are ready.

contents of my "campaign promise" care package

I'm ready too.

whoever invented this beverage was just trying to get in someone's pants

I think I'll wait a little longer to mix my drink, but here's looking to only having to drink one!

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Eggs laid in the coop today: 2
Eggs laid this year: 294

Leaves: The Agony and the Ecstasy

The agony:
For the entire month of November, whenever it is not raining (or only raining a little) I will be outside raking leaves. The broadleaf maples that surround our house are leafy canopies of shade in the summer but when thousands of leaves, each spanning at least a foot, fall even a trickle can build up quickly. Then there are the cottonwoods, the rhododendrons, the lacy japanese maples that line the driveway, even the blueberry bushes add their gifts to the pile.

clear, for now

The ever-falling rain makes the leaves heavy. I can use a leaf blower to clean up bits left behind, but the majority of the work is me raking piles, pushing the piles onto a tarp, and dragging the tarp over to a hill on one side of the house and heaving them. Today's day of raking netted me a four foot deep pile of leaves as long as a school bus that still need to be pushed the rest of the way over the hill. I just didn't have it in me.

the deep pile that needs to go over the lip of the hill

The exercise is good though!

The ecstasy:
An hour into raking I am beginning to labor. I've still got some sort of creeping crud and it's making me cough and wheeze. Even taking my time it's still tiring. Then, gloriously, my rake scrapes away leaves to reveal a concealed rosemary bush. The world is suddenly perfumed and the smell of it follows me around for a good long time.

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Eggs laid in the coop today: 3
Eggs laid in the coop Sunday: 3
Eggs laid in the coop Saturday: 2
Eggs laid in the coop this year: 293