Happy November

Halloween is over and All Saints Day too (Nov. 1 is a big Catholic Day). It is just the beginning of the holiday season. We have turkey and and sugar cookies ahead! It is always a big surprise when the holiday season arrives with speed that mystifies. I always imagine there will be loads of time between summer and New Years- but where does it all go?

Still, here we are in November and I can not complain. Along with some days of fall storms and pelting rain, we have enjoyed days of crisp sunshine, sometimes with as much warmth as July. The animals are all fitted out for the coming winter days. The chickens have a light in the hen house, the rabbits are closed in from the rain and, for the moment, the goats seem healthy after a bought of illness the last couple of weeks.

This week I ran into Home Depot to get a couple of bags of top soil for my new garden in the front lawn (it is now planted with garlic which I hope will repel the deer- mine are probably Italian deer!) While in the Home Depot I spotted a GE Profile 909 electric range, recently advertised at $1100. It is black and stainless steel with a glass top, 5 burners with a fast-boil element, a convection  oven with a special "meat probe" for roasting and "most important" was only $399. It is now in my kitchen and it works! I made coffee this morning and dinner this evening so the experiment begins. Now I can cook the holidays in with ease.

Aside from the big purchase, not much news in Kingston. The elections are over but the media seems to have realized it is really cheap to fill their minutes with "pundits" who are on staff and can bombard us with their opinions. As a result I am still listening to books on tape while I spin. The most recent is a book by Jean Kwok- Girl in Translation: a story of immigration from Hong Kong to New York and the New York garment district. It is an excellent reality check. What is defined as survival and hard work is relative to personal experience and can certainly not be transferred from generation to generation because all of the elements change. Lesson learned-we are very fortunate and should be on the look out for those who might not be. Maybe we can help?

Now that day-light savings time is upon us, I look forward to early evenings reading with a cup of tea. That is at least until wreaths want to be made and holiday decorations demand attention. The renters moved out this weekend and will be cleaned out soon but I am putting the A-frame rental project on hold until after Christmas.Who knows, I may win the lottery by then and decide to change it into a weaving studio. Not much else to say for now. I hope you are all well and enjoying the fall. Good luck with work, with school, with projects all and have a great November!

Love,
Mama Llama