Family and Friends

It's been a wonderful week! Early on, I got to meet Farmer J in person! She is just the best, y'all, and so is her sweet family! We were so busy talking and visiting that I nearly forgot to take pictures. Her sweet husband took a couple for me, but I neglected to get photos of him, their cute little doggie, and handsome (very quiet) son. You'll just have to check over at Farmer J's blog and see if she has any posted, OK?

Here is us. She's the tall, cute, willowy twin. I'm the short, dumpy 'looks like Willow' twin. That's OK. I've kinda gotten used to that in life.


After we waved goodbye, I took some quick photos of a few of the presents they brought us. This is not nearly all of it - they blessed us with so many lovely things.

First, a good sized pumpkin and a gigantic Boston marrow squash.


Also, a whole family of butternut squash!


Since a lot of our above ground garden was hailed out this year, these will be a blessing for us and some of our gardening friends and neighbors. Many thanks to the Praire Farmstead!

Still, the best part was just getting to meet, hug, and talk a little while. Farmer J's family was so gracious and nice. We talked about important stuff - soil composition, average rainfall, growing seasons, frost dates - it was awesome. I just wish they could have stayed a little longer...like maybe a weekend! Alas, they had many miles to travel, so we tried not to keep them here too terribly long.

Now, that was enough wonderfulness for a good long time, but we still had Thanksgiving right around the corner. Hubby's cousin Arlene invited us to come for Thanksgiving, and we very happily accepted. It was great to get together with family for an afternoon.

I did take my camera, but I had some sort of camera amnesia until it was nearly time to go. We did get a few family photos, though.


It's a shame I didn't remember the camera earlier, because we met her wonderful friend Teri and had a really nice time visiting. The food was absolutely gorgeous too, and even more delicious. The turkey was perfect, and oh, the sides! There were asparagus spears roasted with garlic and olive oil, a sweet potato-shiitake mushroom-herb combination that were to die for, and then - the dressing - sourdough, mushrooms, celery, onion....I seriously considered just bringing that casserole dish to the table with a fork and calling it my plate!! Everything was delicious and perfect, and when she offered leftovers, we happily brought some home. (I had roasted sweet potatoes and shiitakes for breakfast today!)

Arlene also made an apple crisp with granny smith apples that was sooo yummy. We brought some desserts that turned out well too - there was plenty to eat, time to visit and talk, and yet another adorable dog to pet and love. We had great weather, wonderful people - a truly lovely Thanksgiving day.

How was your week? Did you get to see family or friends, or both? Did you do the 4 am Friday shopping? Are you decorating for Christmas yet? Leave a comment - let us know what you're up to!