Thanksgiving weekend

Fall leaves

Every year for almost forever, we have had Thanksgiving dinner with dear friends at Charleston Lake. This year Thanksgiving dinner was on Sunday. It was wonderful as usual. Everyone sat around a huge harvest table in the sun room, surrounded on three sides by trees wearing their most colourful foliage. On Monday I cooked my own Thanksgiving dinner for just the three of us. I like to cook a turkey for my son and my husband, and we all like to enjoy the leftovers of said meal for a day or two  afterwards. Yesterday a couple of us friends went on a  road trip to see the leaves. The weather was perfect (sunny and warm), so we packed a picnic lunch and headed east of Kingston. We took our time and stopped at various points of interest along the way, eventually having our picnic between Morrisburg and Cornwall. It was a great time. The scenery was breath-taking. 

     Today I decided that I needed to make a list of goals for the week. I seem to get more things done when I have a list that I can cross items off. I hung  2 big loads of laundry  on the line Sunday morning, and took them off when I got back from Charleston Lake. Today I finally got those clothes folded and put away. I brought in all the peppers from my garden last week when it looked like we were going to get a frost. I left them on the counter to turn red. Today I seeded and cleaned the membranes from about a dozen peppers (some from the garden and some from recent grocery sales) and sliced them into a big freezer bag for stir fries and casseroles in the coming weeks. I took all the meat left from the turkey and froze most of it. I put half of the carcass into the crockpot  to make turkey stock, and I made all the drippings from the roasting pan, minus the fat, into a big container of gravy. The gravy is in the freezer with the leftover turkey meat, and the other half of the carcass, for meals later on this month. The family is going to take a small break from turkey, as I am making an oven pasta for dinner tonight. I will skim the fat from the broth in the crockpot to make turkey soup tomorrow. I finished ten Halloween cards and envelopes, have them addressed and stamped, and have mailed out the ones headed for BC. The rest will go out before this week is done. 

     I want to clean off the dining room table again to start my Christmas crafts. I need to finish buying some items for the grandkids' Advent calendars and start wrapping those gifts. I need to get more gas for the lawnmower so I can cut the grass again. I would like to put the veggie garden to bed (except for the carrots). I have some mending that needs doing. If I can get those things done by the end of the weekend, I'll be in good shape. Talk later.