The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window

I do turn in a bit earlier on November nights, especially after days like Saturday when I work my tail end off.

November 22, 2010

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. I enjoy evenings in November more than most, I think. I watch those amazing sunsets when I can, and get a feeling of pure contentment as the dark and cold settle in around the lit warmth of my kitchen. I do turn in a bit earlier on November nights, especially after days like Saturday when I work my tail end off. I won't give you a detailed list, but there was a stretch there when I thought I might lose it, when I was out hanging lights up in the red maple.

There I was, straddling the top of Mr. Sundberg's fancy ladder stretched as high up as it would go and anchored as well as I could manage in the snow. There were 200 lights, white ones, and I was straining to distribute them evenly. It's not a large tree. I would call it a young red maple. A baby, even. But there were a lot of lights, and for every few feet of lights I draped, I had to climb down the ladder, move it, and climb up again. It took nearly an hour, and when I finished, I grabbed the new green extension cord I bought and was about to plug the lights into it when I saw I had the wrong end of the lights, the right end being you-know-where.

I don't swear much, but there are occasions which, in my mind, call for a good strong word and it just feels good to let 'er rip, so I did it. Several times. And then proceeded to unravel the @$#! lights and re-string every blessed one of them. Imagine I climbed that ladder nearly 100 times on Saturday. And later that day, as I listened to the show from a tub full of hot, steaming water, I felt it in my feet. I could have said to heck with it all, I suppose, and given up. But why not finish something you set out to do, even if you muck it up along the way? Then you can say you did it, and you did, and you get a tree full of white light on Thanksgiving Day in return. Now that's something, isn't it? And so is long underwear, and a good book, and the smell of pumpkin pie.

Here's a simple recipe for the holiday, something that goes with just about everything. Try it on pancakes.

Pumpkin Butter

1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin puree
1 cup applesauce
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 T fresh lemon juice
Directions

Put pumpkin puree, applesauce, sugar, cinnamon and ginger in a small heavy saucepan; stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered--stirring often to prevent scorching and taking care to get into corners of pan--45 minutes or until mixture is quite thick. Add lemon juice. When cool, spoon into a container, cover and refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!

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