Well today we are getting let out of work early and then the long weekend begins! We make such a big deal out of Canadian Thanksgiving in our house that we are a little burnt out on the giant dinner thing by the time the American holiday rolls around. So we enjoy a quiet dinner for two on a smaller scale at home. I’m not making anything earth shattering for dinner (and since Mike doesn’t eat turkey we will be having roast chicken), but I am planning on making pumpkin spice donuts. I found the recipe on RoostBlog. I’ll be modifying the recipe slightly to make them dairy-free. I’ve made another type of donut from one of RoostBlog’s recipes before and they are a house favorite so I have high hopes for these. We do have a local friend coming over this weekend and doing the sleepover thing too (mostly so we can drink adult beverages to our hearts’ content). Mike is a bit of a bah-humbug when it comes to Christmas. So my friend K. is coming over to help me put up the Christmas tree, decorate, eat, drink, be merry, and generally get our Christmas on. Mike’s job is to fix the cocktails; a job he is thrilled with. I might also make a wreath for my front door. Mike collected a bunch of pine cones from our front yard (the Doug Fir dropped a ton this year) and a recent storm blew some fir branches down which would be perfect for a homemade wreath. If I do, and it turns out well, I’ll share. Nothing rings in the holiday season like breaking out the hot glue gun!

 
I’ve been thinking about how to share pictures from our trip to Europe. I should probably post them to someplace like Flickr and then link from here. I’ve been dragging my feet though because I am maintaining so many things right now – as are so many people. Part of my plan this weekend is to get the bazillion photos off my phone and onto a hard drive at home, and responsibly backed-up as well (we have a mac-mini with extra memory, which is attached to the TV, which is also attached to four external hard drives, and networked to my old G4 MacBook…it’s kind of insane and you can tell Mike is a tech-geek). Once that happens it will be easier to get them over to Flickr (if I go that way) and then share them. I really miss being in Europe. It was spectacular. The pace of life is different and some of the small towns and communities we spent time in in Ireland and Italy were really wonderful. I hope one day I get to go back.

For now enjoy a few random pics I feel like sharing (the one above is the view from our room in Amsterdam).

Two of my favorite people on the planet – my dear friend Matteo and Mike. And let us not overlook all of the Italian cheeses that I overdosed on! This is in Matteo’s kitchen in Italy. I miss him.

Did I mention our backyard meditation labyrinth is pretty much done? It is and it is spectacular.

Emmie with her summer garland of flowers. Such an intense cattle dog gaze.

And our goofy Serena. Nothing intense here just pure silliness and joy. She was born to wear that flower garland.

My sister’s pup Abbey who fell asleep with one of her birthday toys. She just turned one. So adorable.

And my new Chuck’s which I haven’t taken off since I purchased them. I bought them in a little store in Hood River. And look at that sun shining down on them! Every glimpse of sun in Portland right now is precious.