This month we harvest sweet potatoes, visit with a long-time friend, fly to Montreal for an audit, and welcome a new grandchild.
MONSTER SWEETS
They appear like body parts, blushing bruised beneath the dead vines, stubbornly clinging to the thick red clay below our garden loam.
After some wrestling, we get them in the house and cleaned up where they delight us with their firm, purple flesh. From the photo on the right you can see from the lighter color that the potato on the top was buried three inches in red clay. All told, we brought in 41 pounds of potatoes, some of which we will save to plant next year.
JUDY!
Judy and Camille once shared a house and garden in the Denver area and it has been 32 years since they last saw each other.
A WOODSY WALK
While Judy was here, she and Camille got out and walked every day and the weather graciously complied. Judy lives in Anchorage, so small weather bar to jump there.
BACK IN THE DAY
Camille met Judy in the kitchen of a Greek restaurant named Ikaros where they waited tables in the ’70’s.
Land of the sun, the mile high city and environs boasts 300 sunny days a year, and these two friends took full advantage.
ART IS WHERE YOU FIND IT
Unsurprisingly, Judy was captivated by the fanciful art on Tami and Lyle’s property. Thank you, dear neighbors, for allowing us free roaming rights.
TREE ART
Camille may have been snapping this photo of Carl at the same time Bob was taking a picture of a photo on the wall of his hotel in Montreal.
CANADIAN CUISINE
Beet burger and poutine, both non-negotiable. This was Bob’s first experience with both and neither disappointed. Poutine is French fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds. What’s not to like?
PLANT-BASED POWER FOODS
Bob got his beet burger at Copper Branch, a plant-based chain with an invigorating mission: “To Empower, Energize and make people feel their Best. Serving our community whole foods, plant-based, good for you and our planet.”
For the record, a newly-published United Nation report is raising the stakes in our fight to reverse climate disruption, so please consider morphing towards a plant-based diet.
See CNN article: Countries are not doing enough to keep Earth’s temperature from rising to near-catastrophic levels, a UN report says
BIG APPLE FROM THE AIR
On the way home, Bob flew over Manhattan and Sandy Hook.
GET READY
Like many Americans, we pulled together a blend of traditional and non-traditional recipes for a Thanksgiving meal. This is the vegan version of Camille’s Nana’s Chestnut Sausage Dressing in the pot before baking. We are grateful to Lyle and Tami for sharing their chestnuts.
GRATITUDE ON A PLATE
It is way easier to count your blessings with a full stomach. This Thanksgiving, it was just we two, so we left out the pie and some of the sides, opting for the basic Quorn Meatless Roast, Nana’s dressing, roasted russets and purple sweets, gravy and jellied cranberry sauce, which we prefer over the homemade orange and whole-berry version. We reveal this odd personality quirk at the risk of losing the respect of our peers. Which kind of cranberry sauce do you prefer? We promise not to judge.
‘TIS THE SEASON
Judy and Camille assembled a gingerbread house, and Judy made it pretty while Camille baked cookies.
NOLAN AND HIS LITTLE SISTER, EVIE
This month, Nolan turned four, and Evelyn reached one month of age. We head to Colorado to see them up close and personal next month. Camille writes about how she imagines this visit will be in Channeling Grandma.
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THIS MONTH’S QUOTES:
“Today, we’re front-stage in so many ways and across so many platforms that it’s utterly exhausting. We perform the just-right kind of politics. (See my latest tweet about the latest outrage!) We perform our perfect vacations and Tuesday night cocktails. (Look at my Instagram, and note that you, dear follower, were not invited to those cocktails!) We perform our brilliant professional identities, networking and hustling during hours once devoted to relaxation.” – Jennifer Senior, Comedian Hospitalized for Depression. Hilarity Ensues, Nov 14, 2019
“Social media has flooded our consciousness with caricatures of each other.” — Tara Westover, author of the best-selling memoir Educated
“I am most alarmed by such distraction and inattention when I see young parents staring at their cell phones and ignoring their own babies as they walk or wheel them along. Such children, unable to attract their parents’ attention, must feel neglected, and they will surely show the effects of this in the years to come.” – Oliver Sacks
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