Thanksgiving

 Last weekend we drove to Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia to celebrate Thanksgiving with Jeff’s siblings and their families. It is a beautiful place, nestled in the foothills of two mountain ranges, with terrain that is similar to but also very unlike areas of the Pacific Northwest. The hills are much steeper, and the mountains much taller. The town is on the edge of a lake and snow-capped mountains are just beyond, visible over the lake. 

Unfortunately it rained much of the time that we were there, and much of the scenery wasn’t really visible until hours before we left. But the main point was to spend time together, and that we did. Many games were played, the kids spent time together, the adults talked to one another, we cooked, ate, and enjoyed our brief visit. 

And don’t forget baseball! Jeff’s brother and his sister’s partner are big Blue Jays fans. They/we watched the first game together, and now it is turning out to be an exciting series. I am not a baseball fan and have no particular allegiance, but with the Mariners being the closest team to us and the only northwest team, and the Blue Jays being the only Canadian team, I will be happy with either of them winning tomorrow!

Perfect 10

 Maren turned 10 last week! She had multiple parties, first just immediate family on her real birthday, then a sleepover with friends, and finally a party with extended family. That meant cake on three different days 🧁🍰🎂 

Her most exciting present from us was a watch that can call and text!

Camp

 This weekend I went to Camp Cleawox. There is a long-standing “hooky weekend“ for Girl Scout leaders and adult volunteers to have a weekend to experience camp as a camper. I learned over the weekend that this has been happening since the early 1980s.

In the 1990s I was a camper at Camp Cleawox, and it was a crazy trip to experience it again, though a bit updated/different compared to what it was back then, as an adult. I did many of the things I had done as a child – canoeing, crafts, campfire, songs, meals in the lodge, sleeping in rustic bunks, and making new camp friends. I am so glad I went!

Eating a rainbow

 The garden keeps producing and I keep getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. Lately we are getting eggplants, yellow zucchinis, okra, peppers, and lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, and purple green beans. It makes it pretty easy to eat a rainbow 🌈 

It is that interstitial time between summer and fall, where there are a warm days and cool nights, the last of the summer vegetables but the pumpkins and squash not yet ripe, kids in school and soccer but the term not yet started at the university. For a lot of people spring is the season of new beginnings, but for me it is fall. After a busy but restful summer, we have a crop of new students, new classes, and things in general feel new and full of possibilities. I like this time 🌻

Back to school pumpkin pie

 On Wednesday the kids went back to school, Maren starting fourth grade and Linden starting first grade. 

On Saturday, they also have their first soccer games of the season.

And it’s a long story how this came to be, but for about a month Linden has been asking me to make a back to school pumpkin pie. So today I did, and it was delicious.

One week down, the rest of the year to go 😊