Squash

It is cloudy and cool today, but not cold.

Terra and Lares and the Grandbabies Sunny and Sky dropped by for a little visit on Hallowe’en night. They parked at our house and walked over to the upscale neighbourhood nearby to Trick Or Treat with the other families in their social circle. The night was cold, so they were not gone very long. When they arrived back the babies played while we chatted. Sunny and Sky are walking now, and are just the sweetest little people. I could not get a good picture of them, they move too fast for the camera now.

Yesterday, early in the morning, I carved our Hallowe’en pumpkin, the Jack O Lantern, into pieces small enough to fit into a large roasting pan. After the pumpkin was cooked and cooled, the flesh was scooped into the food processor where it was pureed, then into freezer bags for this winter’s Pumpkin Muffins. The pumpkin yielded enough puree to make nine batches of muffins. It cost $3. The pie pumpkins at the grocery store were more than twice the price. I might purchase a pie pumpkin next year, to see if we find any difference in the puree, probably not. Our neighbours use this food only as a disposable decoration, which I find sad.

Most of our squash is now harvested, although I can still see three Hubbard Squash, and one Butternut Squash, still in the garden, surrounds by frost killed vines and leaves. Processing pumpkin and squash is labour intensive, but the results are worth the effort.

One of the smaller Hubbard Squash we grew in our garden this year. I baked it skin side up in the oven for about an hour, pureed flesh, then placed enough for a single Pumpkin Muffin recipe in freezer bags. There are three more larger Hubbard Squash to be processed, and two Butternut Squash as well. This project will take about a week to complete.

My day is flowing quietly along. The crochet project, the blanket/afghan, continues to get longer each day. It is lengthening just in time to keep my legs warm as I work, on these increasingly chilly days of autumn.

I work on my genealogy book from time to time, but truly have flagging interest in working on it in a sustained way. A few people are interested in it, waiting for its completion, but most people who would find it interesting are unwilling to pay enough to cover the costs of publication. I continue bit-by-bit, nevertheless.

As I type I watch the flies, dozens and dozens of them, crawling on the living room window panes, inside the storm windows. They are very dirty insects, their leavings on the glass are quite ugly. It is still warm enough that these flies are active. A few of them make their way into the house, where I diligently hunt them down and kill them. It seems to me that I will very much enjoy new windows in the living!

Worldly Distractions

Weather

13°C
Date: 11:05 AM EDT Thursday 2 November 2017
Condition: Light Rain
Pressure: 101.7 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 12.9°C
Dew point: 11.3°C
Humidity: 90%
Wind: S 35 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.”
Henry Kissinger
1923 –