Hi, everyone!
Right after I wrote last time, on the Monday holiday, Grandma decided to make curried squash and pear soup! Uncle Steven had given her a great big butternut squash from his farm-share.
Aunt Kara and Grandpa said it was about the size of a newborn baby! So before we started making soup, we gave it a baby face and cuddled it in my blanket! It took a lot of peeling and cutting and slicing to get all the ingredients ready to cook!
I helped stir the soup! When the squash and pears were soft, we used the immersion blender to make it smooth. We made seven quarts of soup! We gave some away to church friends and put most of the rest in the freezer. I’m looking forward to serving it at our stollen party in December!
That Tuesday, Grandma and I used the apples we picked at Burnaps to make two apple pies! Grandma did all the peeling, but I helped slice them in the food processor. We rolled out the bottom crust first, so we could put the apple filling in as soon as it was mixed. Then we rolled out the top crust, folded it, and opened it up again on top of the pie. The pies went into the freezer, too!
Two days later, I had a big adventure! Grandma and Grandpa took me to Corning New York to the Corning Glass Museum! I got my very own admission paw band! There was a Dale Chihuly scupture hanging in the lobby. The first gallery we visited was Contemporary Glass Art. The very first piece I saw was inspired by a meteor that struck Mexico a very long time ago! The middle of it had lots of details from Aztec culture.
There were lots of other pieces I liked in the Contemporary Glass Art gallery! I think glass artists must have a good sense of humor!
We visited the galleries of historical glass next. There was so much glass it was hard to pay attention to it all! Lots of it were plates and vases, but there was a shrine that looked like a doll house. Grandma recognized a big window as a Louis Tiffany creation from across the room.
We had to walk through the gift shop to get to the cafeteria for lunch. This time of year, there are glass pumpkins everywhere!
After lunch, we went to two demonstrations. A glass blower and his assistant made a pretty pitcher with a handle. Then a glass worker heated up the ends of glass rods to make a rabbit. All glass has to cool down slowly, or it will break! So at the end of the demonstration, the pitcher and the rabbit went into special ovens overnight.
After the demonstrations, we visited the glass science exhibits. Grandma remembered the big glass telescope mirror blank from years ago, when she visited the Corning Museum in its old building. The new building was built around it! The exhibit that explained how glass is modified to withstand extreme heat had a bit chunk of Pyrex glass — just like Grandma’s pie plates!
We were looking around the lobby when another glassblowing demonstration was announced. This glassblower was making pumpkins! It was interesting to see how he made the colors on his pumpkin.
The leaves were showing their fall colors in Corning and on our trip back. That’s also true out at the bay! Grandma and Grandpa took me out there for the day last Wednesday so we could start to clean up falling leaves. Once that was done, Grandma and Grandpa mowed the lawn. Long grass makes it harder to rake leaves! I did make some mushroom friends, but I don’t know what kind they are!
We went back to the bay on Friday to finish winterizing the powerboat. Guess what? There are MORE leaves down! Grandma reminded me that we’ll be raking up leaves until all the trees are bare. There are lots more to come! We’ve started having cold nights — near freezing — so there was mist on the bay this morning.
Meanwhile, the leaves are falling in Fairport, too! When we came back from the bay today, Grandma made me my first leaf pile of the season! There will be more!
Love,
Lion-san