Photojojo#40 - Still As Fun As Photojojo#1

Today marks Photojojo#40 for Nancy and me. Her photo of the Poplar Beach from the coastal trail makes me miss our morning walks, now that I'm back in "corporate mode." My pine cone snapped of the foliage on my very brief walk to work is still in touch with nature, just that it's too short. Plus nothing really compares with that walk along the headlands. I am so blessed to live near the Pacific Ocean.

Thursday marks four years living in Half Moon Bay, after 40 years in Castro Valley. Thanksgiving eve, 2005 was the first night we spent in the new house even though we didn't officially move until December 9th. We had enough furniture to sleep on and sit on, and it was a weird weekend where it felt like we had a home at the beach, after returning to the Castro Valley suburbs for another two weeks. We didn't cook - instead going out to a local restaurant. The weather this time of year is so spectacular in Half Moon Bay, and tonight, is no exception. It was a beautiful warm and sunny day (as Nancy's photo attests) and tonight I have started the holiday cooking feast with the obligatory pies. The house smells like nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, and the fridge is stocked with the turkey and all the fixin's ready to start some of the cooking tomorrow night (pre-cooking of cran sauce, prepping the mushroom green beans, and readying the onion/celery saute for the stuffing, maybe a cranberry relish jello dish. What would Thanksgiving be without a cranberry jello mold?!).

This year, I plan to go for a walk in the redwoods on Thanksgiving morning with my yoga group. Not to worry though, kids. Because the bird is smaller it will have plenty of time to cook for our 3 pm feast when I return home around 11 am. That's why I get a lot done the day before - so I can cook at my leisure and enjoy the day.

This year, I don't plan on a rerun of the sink getting all stopped up though like last November. A year later, we are composting nearly everything, so the potato peelings will go into the compost bucket rather than the sink. Better for the plumbing, and for the environment. I like the dirty dirt I get from the bottom of the pile for my plants.