Thanksgiving

I got the biggest surprise yesterday at the grocery store when I realized the turkeys weren't on sale and I had to pay full price.  I've gotten so used to them being really cheap with a good sized grocery order that I didn't even look for a sign.  Shoulda got the hen.  Anyway, it's thawing in the fridge along with millions of other turkeys.  I'm so thankful that we enjoy a food abundance in this country.  For the most part, we can walk into any grocery and get anything we want, in season or out.  So much so that I can assume it will be inexpensive.

Every year, I have Thanksgiving on a page.  I plan out the menu and figure out the groceries.  Later, I'll schedule when each item starts and goes in the oven.  And, on Wednesday, I'll start to cook. 

Yesterday, I made a mandarn orange cake.  The things I bake rarely come out looking so much like the picture in the magazine.  The recipe is here.  https://www.hy-vee.com/recipes-ideas/recipes/mandarin-holiday-cake.  I saw the picture and read the description and thought 'I want to make that cake'.  And, then I kept coming back to it until  committed to bake that cake.  And, it is as good as it looks.  Not too sweet and very moist.  I love to bake, especially when I get to try new things, like candying the very thin orange slices.  

This large perennial is almond verbena.  This year, it's at least 15' tall and 6' in diameter.  Every year, it dies to the ground in a hard freeze and starts over the next spring.  It has a sweet almond smell and draws the bees and hummingbirds for most of the summer.  The rain last week has it in full bloom.  It takes a lot of garden space, but it's been so worth it.  

On the theme of something in bloom 11 months of the year, the Gerber daisies are sending up a few flowers.  

After all the rain of last weekend, I went out to check the tomatoes and I found a few little ones.  We'll see if this works out.  I've struggled with tomatoes a long time and fall tomatoes are especially difficult, but we'll see how it goes.  I also have onions and cabbages.  I've never grown either of those, so we'll see how all this works.  

Quick pic of the greenhouse.  I'd been out there for hours, cleaning and moving plants around.  Some of the plants I was nursing were ready for more light and I needed to start making space in prep for the first freeze.    

I was devastated when I saw the news of Rosalynn Carter's passing.  She and President Carter have been part of "the best of us" for most of my life, setting an example of how to live with kindness and the peace that comes from true faith, and living that faith every day.  I respect those that practice what they preach.  May she rest in peace.  

Everybody have a great week!  Find something to feel thankful for and surround yourself with loved ones.  It's really all we can do.  The world is getting so ugly, so those of us that are not insane need to give ourselves space to rest in, and things to look forward to as we continue to fight the good fight.  

Lane