Common Sense Cranberry

There are certain things that are essential for a proper Thanksgiving.

Turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy are the obvious items. The other essentials I prefer are candied yams, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. 

What often gets overlooked is the style of cranberries that are served. For most of my life, I was not a cranberry fan. But my tastes have developed and matured over the years and I am now a cranberry aficionado.

But not that jelled crap that comes out of a can. For roughly the same price and a bit more work, you can serve a fresh, authentic cranberry sauce that is far superior to that can of jello.

All you need is one 12 ounce bag of cranberries, a cup of sugar and a cup of water. Bring the sugar and water to a boil and add the cranberries. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Cover and let cool to room temperature and then put them in the fridge ahead of your meal. This recipe is available on any bag of cranberries.

I usually do this on Wednesday. It’s a fun, easy and relaxing project that eats up maybe 30 minutes of your day but adds a subtle garnish to your festive table that says, “I care!”

The Great Pumpkin Toss

We had to wait until Sunday for the Great Annual Pumpkin Toss. I had a little mishap while bringing the pumpkins up to the balcony. I set it on the railing, bumped it and it rolled off. Fortunately, there was enough of it to rescue and toss again.

Here are the pictures of Susan, Mark and myself tossing pumpkins.

Great fun was had by all and it makes me wish we had more pumpkins. I'll have to remember that for next year.

Halloween Hangover 2023

 It’s the morning after and we have a shit load of work to do.

We’ve removed all the stuff from the front yard mostly and it’s not even noon. But we have all this crap in the Living Room that has to go back up into the Carriage House.

We are taking one of several breaks we’ll be taking and then we shall return to tackle the mess.

1:25PM: We are making progress. The front yard is clean. All the hanging ghouls are stowed in the Carriage House. We are taking a break before we load up the tombstones.

4:45PM: It is finished. Well, mostly. There are a few little items here and there to be cleaned up. Mostly little table displays like the haunted house serving as a center piece on the kitchen table. The same goes for the stuff on the Dining Room table.

However, Halloween is put away for another year. I’m glad it’s behind us. I think we have to start having the discussion about how much is too much.