I loves me some pumpkin

We didn't have a pumpkin for Hallowe'en. I figure next year we will. I guess I was looking for some unbelieveable deal for pumpkin and they all seemed a bit pricey for just carving and then composting. I want to EAT pumpkin! Soooo... last night I roasted 3 pie pumpkins in order that I can have pumpkin for many recipes. I started this morning with pumpkin pancakes. They are the best.

Here is my recipe (all measurements approximate)

1.5 cups ww pastry flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
ginger, cinnamon, allspice
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin (pureed)
1+ cup milk (enough to make it pancake consistency)

hot greased griddle.
makes 24 pancakes- enough for our family of 5 but none for Bodhi!

I plan to make pumpkin scones another morning and perhaps pumpkin pie for tonight. Then I will store the rest of the pumpkin in our massive freezer in the basement.
[The freezer is a story for a post about garage sales in Spokane. Stay tuned!]

pines in the fall

The Pines here in Spokane are really beautiful and when the fall comes they make their presence known in a totally profound way. The dropping of the needles. I have never experienced this before. Massive amounts of needles everywhere. Manito Park has lots of pines and this is what it looked like in one of their parking lots after they had cleared the roads and paths. Amazing.
I wonder what you could do with all that fiber...?

winter?

Today
Timo got a new tooth (#7).
I picked a large number of apples from a neighbor who had a sign out saying neighbors welcome to pick.
I realize the need to reduce the amount of exasperation I seem to have these days. Mostly because I am tired of hearing that tone of voice back from my daughter.
I made Lasagna in the morning. (unheard of early dinner preparation)
We went to the Roosevelt Roundup at the kids' school and it was a super fun carnaval!
Ami won a pie in the cake walk.
I taught an ABM floor lesson class.
And yes. It snowed.

Twinsins in October

Because of my travels to Vancouver we had the opportunity to have another Twinsins reunion. Almost a year since they were born we got together for a meal at C's house. It was so fun to see them together- each with their own way of being in the world. So fun!

ABM in October

October was an incredible month for me and my ABM practice. I took the plunge and booked folks in to do intensive ABM work in Vancouver mid October. An intensive is just as intense for the practitioner as it is for the students! I saw students 5-8 times in 3-5 days. Timo came to Vancouver with me and we both stayed with the E's. H and F looked after Timo while I was BUSY with students. I had the very good fortune of renting space from the generous folks at Jericho Physio who allowed me to work out of their office which is only 4 blocks from the E's home. That made all the difference for my crazy busy days. If I had had to brave Vancouver traffic as well as conduct ABM intensives for folks I would have never survived!
The week after I got back from Vancouver I drove up to Grand Forks BC to do a 3 day intensive with kids and adults there. The work is so powerful the adults really could NOT believe what their new realities were. It was very satisfying and a great working arrangement- working out of my host's aunt's house, mere blocks away. I am planning on going back for another intensive in GF next week. Timo is glad that our GF intensives are only 3 days. I would have to agree with him :)

Fall Fruits

The kids are really getting into the rhythm of their new school routine. It takes less than 10 minutes to walk to school. However we are increasingly getting a bit lazy about leaving enough time to get there. Now that the time has changed I see no reason not to get there ON TIME!!

Yellow plums, pears and a few apples from the urban forest.

can't you just taste these?!

I have had a wonderful time this fall searching out urban fruits for picking and preserving. I found pears (and made awesome dried pears with them) and yellow, little reddish and Italian plums (in the freezer waiting for cobblers) and a few concord grapes. Most recently I have acquired a whole wallop of beautiful Macintosh Apples. We have daily been passing (4 times a day for me!) a yard with 3 little apples trees on our way to school.  One tree had yellow delicious which didn't look too healthy. One tree looked barren and the other was the prize MacIntosh tree. I was watching the apples drop to the grass with no signs of them being used or appreciated in any way. Last week after I picked up the kids I got up the nerve to knock on the door to ask about the apples. The old man who answered said that they weren't going to use them and that we could have as many as we wanted. He said they hadn't sprayed them so they were probably full of bugs. I thought "HUZZAH- no spray"!!! They were gorgeous, hardly any worm evidence, no huge bruises (they were landing on mossy grass) and only a few holes where some buggy friends had taken their fare share. I took as many as I could in the bottom of the stroller. When I got home I determined to go back the next day to gather the rest of the good ones. That I did!!!
I filled a 20 lbs tomato box with my apples. I am very pleased.

Fall in Spokane

It's time to get writing on here!!! You can attribute this inspiration to my sister.
Life is very full and there has been much to blog about but I have been out of the habit. I have used the excuse that my computer not been willing to participate in my blogging habit but I can no longer use that one. I have a shiny new computer to use and it is beautiful! It supports me in all my endeavors.
So here goes...
Since I moved here at the beginning of December last year, Fall in Spokane is something I am appreciating for the first time. I know I have said before that I am enjoying living where there are real SEASONS and I can still say that is true. The amazing trees that I watched change from their wintery sticks into beautiful yellow green buds to glorious green canopies are now dazzling fall colours. We have a stunning maple tree right outside the livingroom window that is shockingly yellow.

We are understanding the work associated with having these gorgeous trees when we have to rake our back yard but it is much better than going to the gym to work out! The kids are troupers and have helped me a great deal.

My favourite tree on the way to school in the morning

I'm playing with my camera to take arty shots!

A Horse Chestnut in Manito Park