halloween guilt

with halloween so close i should admit the dilemma i faced last week.  now don't laugh.  i couldn't decide if i should buy candy for trick or treaters or bananas.  i'll admit right now i went with the candy, but then went through some frustrating self defending and questioning before just embracing my decision.  then today i came across this blog post that made me regret my decision.  maybe i'm doing too much analyzing - i'm sure mother would say so (right ma?), but truthfully i really really hate feeling like i'm letting corporations be in so much control of my life.  maybe it's the primal need to be in control, or the primal fear of being a victim, but either way lately i've found myself frustrated with myself.  so for this year, anyway, i'll be handing out candy.  maybe next year i'll have the guts to break out the bananas.  they're on sale for 18 cents right now!  that's only added the guilt of my decision.

october is nearly over!

you know, the good thing about being on holiday is that you have motivation to post on your blog.  now i'm back and life is moving along like normal.  this morning i worked hard to get my chores done before 11, hoping to be called to volunteer at the school.  that didn't happen.  but i did get to go to the airport to pick up a friend and i got called by a woman in my ward to take her to welfare square to pick up some food.  she doesn't attend our ward - something about it meeting at 11 instead of 1, but also because she's super private and doesn't want to go to church with people that live in her building.  she had some pretty extreme views on things and i imagine living her life would be hard.  she's rather fearful and guarded and nervous.  i wish i knew how to help, but i'm afraid she's pretty locked away in there.  i guess i did my part by being a ride for her.

as for the october bit - what i DIDN'T do today was rake and shovel all the leaves that fell last night.  every year the week before halloween i hope for strong winds to knock my leaves down to make the yard look all festive.  it happened again this year, but i'm not throwing a halloween party like i have the last 6 years.  i'm not sure how i feel about that.  i do feel a bit lost - no real costume plans, no decorations (i used being out of town for two weeks as my excuse), and no candy in the house.  i need to get something since i figure trick or treaters might stop by, plus i'm hoping to be a part of the stake's trunk or treat activity.

i'll miss october.  it's one of my favorite months of the year.  i love halloween - just not enough to do much about it this year, apparently.

Fall centerpiece

Getting home this afternoon we were greeted by a jungle of a yard. Not to mention the tomato plants. We did some major pruning and in the process knocked off a lot of greens. I think they make a great centerpiece. Bret laughed at me. What do you think? Don't worry, we also got about 20 reds and there is probably another 20 or 30 on the severely pruned vines.
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We're off

Now the trip is over and we're headed for home. This is Bret "resting" before take off. It was an early morning for us. Word is we have clear skies across the country. Sounds like a great day!
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Apples

While we've been in NH we've been eating a lot of cortland apples. Right before we got here Kirsten had bottled a ton of applesauce and apple butter and still had two large grocery bags full of apples to eat. We made more applesauce to eat as dessert and aplets. I think we may still have about 10 in the fridge. Then yesterday we got the chance to collect free macintosh drops from an orchard in MA. We estimated we brought home over 100 pounds. So today, with all the rain, we're making more applesauce. We have a crisp baking in the oven and are now working on an apple sorbet. Good times.

Earlier this morning I joined M and K to look at apartments. Nothing solid to report. They won't move until Christmas anyway.
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Quechee gorge

Stunning! It was one of yesterday's activities. Today we drove to Boston to attend the temple. It was quite the drive - just as far a drive as it was to Maine. We visited Kirstin's sister afterward and picked apples. Tomorrow is our last day. It's supposed to be cold and rainy. We will probably spend it making applesauce.
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Stone bridge

We visited sharon vt today to see the birthplace of joseph smith. There was a short walk down to a stone bridge which was part of the turnpike leading to boston. Strange to think it was once a major thoroughfare. Can you see the large stones on the bottom right? On the way home we stopped by the holy kfc - a kfc renowned as the spot where the smith farm was when joseph had his leg surgery.

In other news for the day we got a huge scoop of ice cream for a buck 75. So good! The place was called "fore you.". It's closing for the season on oct 25 on which day they will be giving away all their leftovers. I wish we were here for another couple weeks.
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Green tomatoes

For an adventure tonight we went to the garden with head lamps to pick green tomatoes. The plants were done and it threatened to freeze so we went and saved what we could. Here's Bret and Kirsten (sis in law) with our harvest. Earlier tonight we made bbq tofu pizza for dinner and had sweet potato chocolate cake for dessert. We even had a fried from their ward join us. We topped off the evening by reading and discussing eyring's talk from sunday morning general conference. Good night!
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Lunch part 2

Here we are at Maine Diner. Bret took forever to settle on a burger only to discover breakfast is served anytime so now he's back to studying the menu. Poor guy. I'm getting mac 'n cheese with lobster as recommended by the lady at Flo's. This place is crazy busy. We had to wait 20 minutes for a seat.
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The dog

The bun looks like a piece of bread. It has mayo and some onion relish topped with black pepper. Yum!
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Flo's Diner

Here's Bret not fitting in the famous dive (as recommended by the splendid table) known as Flo's. It gets lower further in - here he is at the start of the line. Lady next to us told us about another dive up the road - Maine's Diner. We're getting one dog to tide us over then heading to the diner.
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We're here!

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On the "big green"

Here we are posing in front of the dartmouth library - which is like the centerpiece of campus. In front is a big green lawn. It's the school's nickname apparently.
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Dartmouth library

The sisinlaw is giving us a tour of dartmouth starting with the reserve library which is decorated in scary murals about american civilization. I picked up a brochure to read about them on the flight home. We also visited the tower room which was super cool and beautiful. It reminded me of a library described in "the historian.". I wish I took a photo.
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Not fouling

There's a sign at the manchester airport that says no dog fouling. So instead we're hanging out in a spot of sun waiting for the brother to pick us up. We're on the last half of our trip. We're a bit bummed about that but excited for the adventures ahead!
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Ice cream

We made ice cream tonight as well as bbq tofu pizza. Good delicious ending to our maryland holiday. Trouble is we have to wake up at 4:30 to catch a plane to new hampshire for the last leg of our trip. I am sad to think the trip is half over. Today we visited the national cathedral - I love that place. When we got home bret played at the park with the girls and blew bubbles with them and played princess go fish while risa and I worked on dinner. How in the world do young mothers do it without two extra adults?
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Day 7 - LDS DC temple

We love the gps. Today it took us here - to the temple. It looked smaller than I usually remember it. I think I've just been going to so many different ones I'm starting to see similarities. This one definitely had the flavor of a bygone era to it in terms of inner decor - I LOVED it! We got to be the witness couple which was exciting since this temple has no center aisle and we got to sit next to each other. There was only one other couple in our session as well as a single woman who was apparently a temple worker. If anything I was struck by the sadness that such beauty was going under used. As we left we saw more people, but still, there was the space and chance for so many more to enjoy it. In all our SL valley weekly temple excursions there is always a decent crowd.

In the morning we went to risa's RS activity with her. Bret babysat. We discussed cheap Halloween costumes and then discussed and tried a bit of yoga. I loved it.

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Metro

We're headed into the city. The two things for sure on the agenda are some church presidents attend and the holocaust museum. Collins pointed out obama has only been to church once or twice but golfs every week.
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Big fish

Bret is a big fish who just swallowed jonah. For family home evening with my sister's family we acted out the bible story. I got to be jesus and command jonah to go to ninevah. It was a good time. Tomorrow we head to dc proper. Any suggestions?
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Shark tooth

Our youngest found the biggest shark tooth. She was drawing a line in the sand and there it was.
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Digging for shark teeth

We took a field trip to some famous cliffs (sorry can't remember the name) to look for shark teeth. Bret found quite a few. I found some cheap beads supposedly from an old ship wreck. The cliffs are made of clay. There was a dead rock fish washed up. There were lots of people and we came unprepared, unfortunately, to do any proper digging. I like being on the beach, though.
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Tying knots

We're at some sea oriented museum near solomons island. (Calvert mariene museum). The girls are learning knot tying. We saw sting rays and skates. Then we dug for fossils. So far we've enjoyed our holiday! We had crab cakes and oyster stew for lunch. We also took a 2 hour nap much to the dismay of the girls.
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Nieces

So bret and I finally made it. Now I'm at the park with the nieces. School is cancelled due to all the rain and flash flooding. In fact, driving in the dark in pounding rain last night was pretty stressful. Hooray for gps! Now I'm chillin with the girls at the "park" which is just a basketball court. The puddle in the middle makes it fun for scooters.
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