In October, with help from Ciana, we transitioned our garden from Spring/Summer to Autumn/Winter: pulling out the tomatoes, chard, beans and herbs and planting beets, peas, carrots, tatsoi, spinach, and Brussels sprouts.
On Hallow's Eve eve, we dined at the Tenz's, newly arrived from Germany. We had a lovely dinner cooked by Courtney & Melissa and carved pumpkins, Pearl's first ever jack-o-lantern!
The following night, we stayed home to greet the Trick-or-Treaters. As we've never had a single Trick-or-Treater knock on our door before (in SF, NY, PA or anywhere else we've lived together), we were excited to watch the bowl of chocolates disappear as the night progressed. Our favorite was a 3-year-old girl dressed in a Mickey Mouse outfit (a rare classic costume among all the new superheroes and unknown cartoon characters).
Two weeks later, we traveled to Mass. to visit the Bauers. It was great to see the family, and Pearl even got to test the new body scan at the airport.
In late November, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner (vegan style). It was a plentiful meal consisting of the usual holiday suspects minus the turkey. Kristin even treated us to a trio of pies: vegan apple, vegan pumpkin and vegan chocolate pecan. Delicious.
Pearl's mom came to visit and we threw her an Asian-themed potluck party (sushi by Sascha, eggrolls, miso soup, and more), which we capped off with a round of Celebrity. Everyone who came to the party had to write up a "Ten activities for 2011" list, goals they wish to accomplish in the coming year. Here are our lists ~ if you wish to join us for any of the activities on our lists, let us know!
PEARL'S LIST:
1. Go sky diving in Monterey
2. Go lawn-bowling in Berkeley
3. Go camping in Stewart Mineral Springs Retreat, Mount Shasta
4. Go to mud-baths in Calistoga
5. Go to Octoberfest in Marin
6. Attempt a blue ribbon win at the June CA State Fair
7. Pass my Qualifying Exams
8. Run Bay-to-Breakers
9. Attend Fire Arts Festival in Oakland
10. See Elvis Costello in concert
CHRISTOPHER'S LIST:
1. Continue to practice guitar
2. Finish draft of my screenplay
3. Get a tattoo
4. Get my motorcycle license
5. Go fire walking [Fire]
6. Go surfing [Water]
7. Ride in a Hot air balloon [Air]
8. Take a mudbath, preferably in a natural spring [Earth]
9. Run Bay-to-Breakers or a 5K Fun Run
10. Begin studying French
11. Read 3 new books from the Modern Library Top 100
(Thanks to Tony for taking photos of the food)
Thanksgiving weekend ended with a trip to Salt Point in Jenner where we went mushroom hunting. We didn't find many mushrooms worth eating, though we learned a lot about mushroom picking and identification.
That just about brings us up to the present. Stay tuned for further adventures involving gingerbread houses, ugly Christmas jumpers, family reunions and more.
Happy Holidays!
