Turkey Time Is Coming

A good gray misty morning to you.  See, even we Northeasterners can try to be cheerful about the weather.  I noticed yesterday that the brook which drains our currently spectral bog is once again running happily over its stony bed.  We haven't really seen anything there but damp spots since May.  In fact, we have lately had so much rain that the front yard is beginning to flood. 

Thanksgiving is coming.  I was thinking about our times together when the boys were young.  We had adopted them when they were 8 and 10, so we did not have shared holiday memories.  In fact, as you might imagine, holidays could be difficult, fraught with more baggage than happiness.  One of the things we did to ease things was to incorporate things they did remember happily.  The other, which eased the confrontation of unfamiliar foods, was to make 2 rules:  You didn't have to eat anything you didn't want to, but you had to eat some of the main meal in order to have dessert.  After discussion this was instituted with many friends and family and made for many happier meals, as their children appreciated this luxury as well.

I suppose we need to think about what teas to have that day.  I know I am going with some sort of tea-based punch for appetizers.  I have been thinking about a mix of Red Zinger and Harney's Cranberry Tea.  I don't have the recipe down yet, I have to try it out on a small scale, first.  If I have bleu cheese as part of the appetizer, I may go with hot Lapsang Souchong, as the two go together very nicely.  We all drink wine and water with  the meal, so then it is only dessert to think about.  I will probably have a Yunnan or Keemun as they are sturdy and can go with whatever pies I decide to make.  However, if it is a coconut cream, I may have to think some more about it.  Any suggestions?  I don't want to do a coconut flavored tea, as my pie recipe is pretty intense in that department.  Perhaps one of the fruity or flowery Oolongs.

The pitch pines are looking very raggedy.  They have dropped most of their needles, making the ground a spectacular gold in the sun, but they have enough left that they look like they can't decide whether to go green or blond.  Such a fashion dilemma.

I have gotten the garden about 1/2 ready for winter.  It looks pretty ugly as most plants are still young, so there's not a great deal of structure there.  It's just brown and raggedy.  I hope we get snow soon.  It is so much harder to put a garden to bed than to help it wake up in the spring, when there is so much to look forward to and we cheer each new sprout, entranced by yet another miracle of life.  Guess I'll just be happy with the deer forming new attachments and getting antlers.

One of the things I envied in Germany and elswhere was courtyards, with a house or a group of houses built around them.  From a small child, I always loved secret spaces, where I could play out my fantasies or just feel snug.  I would like a garden like that.