Thanks-giving

First, a proud and hearty Congratulations to my little sister, Kathy, who completed the Royal Victoria Marathon yesterday in 4:22.39! Little sis’ has four kids, has fulltime paid work, does a crazy amount of volunteer hockey-mom work, so I can’t begin to imagine how she found all those training hours. Well, I do know that she did much of her running between 5 and 8 in the morning. She changed several dress sizes through the process, gained even more energy, and impressed all of us on the sidelines.

I did a much more modest run myself, about 15 kilometres, from our place down to the Stanley Park Seawall, ’round the park, and then back. It was the perfect activity for a spectacular fall day — blue skies, fabulous views of mountains and sea, freighters, sailboats, runners, dog-walkers, even a few swimmers, brave souls — and a great way to prepare for the big Thanksgiving meal we enjoyed later. There were eleven of us in our little apartment, and we had to borrow cutlery and improvise a bit with plates. Paul cooked the meal in our too-small oven, managing to turn out a gorgeous stuffing, a beautifully moist, crispy-brown-skinned turkey, roast squash, cauliflower and cheese sauce, brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, and a classic family salad. My daughter’s friend brought along a wonderful pumpkin cheesecake AND a plate of homemade marshmallows. We finished many bottles of wine, compared new haircuts, talked about new jobs, petted and fussed over the new puppy, admired a growing tummy and speculated on baby’s gender and arrival time, and made plans for getting together in the next few weeks. In short, we enjoyed and were very grateful for family.

Back home, I’m getting ready for a short but busy work week which begins with a bang tomorrow: I’m fitting in a dentist appointment first thing tomorrow morning, then I have Pilates after my work day, and have to remember to vote before the polls close when I get home tomorrow night. Meanwhile, I’m taking time to appreciate my fall garden, represented here by some photos of berries: cotoneaster up top; callicarpa (beauty berry) in the middle; and just below, arbutus uneda “strawberries” not yet turning red — I’ve been waiting for this arbutus uneda to fruit up for several years now, so I was really happy to see these berries forming — right now, the tree is covered with a mix of the small white flowers and these soon-to-be-red fruit.