Fall Tracking – Week 5

This is my street this morning. It’s a cold 50 degrees and it’s 10am. It’s pretty early for us to get a cold snap. We typically don’t see temps like this before mid-December. But look at that sky!

Last night, I brought all my succulents in. I wasn’t sure they could handle the 30 degree night. Some are in fixed planters so I covered those. I would hate to lose them to a freeze. I know certain types can take the cold but I have no idea what I have. I just pick plants that speak to me.

This crisp weather has me thinking about the Thanksgiving meal. I have a notebook that I keep JUST for Thanksgiving. Most of the dishes we enjoy are family faves that we always make but I will add one “new to us” dish for us to try. Last year, it was a baked sweet potato dish and it was not good. Kind of liked scalloped potatoes but with sweet potatoes. It was soupy and kind of weird. I’d rather just have a sweet potato with butter and cinnamon.

I always stress about the pies because I need to use a gluten free crust but this year, I am just going to use the Trader Joe’s GF crusts. They are decent. I won’t spend $28 on a GF pie from Whole Foods like I did last year, plus it was just okay.

Have you started to plan for the holidays? I know it will be hard for some, as their loved ones may not be able to visit due to COVID but do try to celebrate a little. This year was rough and we all deserve it.

8 thoughts on “Fall Tracking – Week 5”

  1. We’re getting a little rain and wind from Eta so it’s cooled down here.

    I’ve been trying to figure out what to plant in front of the house. It’s taking longer than I thought it would to decide.

    I’m looking for a new side dish for Thanksgiving but not having much luck.

  2. It’s funny that you mentioned the sky, I noticed in the past couple of days that we have the clear skies of fall/winter where everything seems sharper and clearer. I feel like I can see every crevice in the mountains. As a vegetarian, Thanksgiving isn’t a big deal. My parents are getting a pre-made turkey dinner from their favorite restaurant (its hard to do turnkey for 2) and my daughter and I will make some yummy veggie something.

  3. I haven’t started planning…too many other things on my mind. We’ll see what happens there. Maybe it’s just takeout that day, but I love the squash and mashed potatoes, so I might just cook anyway.

    I’ve had a lot of online meetings this week so I’m beat.

    Next week I’ll be reading poetry online on Nov. 17 and possibly Nov. 14. I’d love to see some friendly faces in the audience. But everyone has to register before hand.

  4. That’s a gorgeous sky!

    We have decided to skip Thanksgiving this year. We aren’t having any visitors, so it would just be my husband and my mother, but my husband is having surgery that Monday and we won’t be home from the hospital (in a neighboring city) until at least Tuesday. Too much going on to worry about one meal. We’ll make Christmas dinner a bit more celebratory.

    1. I hope his surgery goes well. I think it’s wise to skip the big meal that day. So much planning goes into it for just a plate of food. Haha. I have friends who order meals from Whole Foods. It’s delicious of course but I could never do that if I was home to cook it. I love to cook that meal. I love to eat it even more.

      I found out what type of tree that is in my backyard. You should see it now. I will attach a photo. It’s a Chinese Pistache tree.

      [image: tree.png]

      >

  5. It’s a huge bummer that the pandemic is getting worse as the holiday approaches. We haven’t done well at controlling it and now are looking at making it even worse over the holidays. What a disaster! I hope the vaccines will be here soon.

    That picture is gorgeous! We are due for an LA/SFO visit this year but are postponing it for obvious reasons. It’s been years since our last one (same year we met!). Hopefully next year, but we’ll see.

    1. Los Angeles county is going up in numbers but we are still pretty good since we never fully opened up. Everyone complains about our governor but his actions are backed by numbers. People just don’t want to listen. Still complaining about masks. Still bit#hing about their rights. Please.

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