Fall-ing!

Hi, everyone!

Today is the official start of fall, but we’ve had fall-like weather and events for the past week or so.  I’m starting to see colored leaves falling from the maple trees. Last week, the sunset at the bay illuminated smoke from the forest fires on the west coast. Fall is forest fire season there!

Now that James and Thomas are back in school, Grandma and Grandpa and I can’t be with them without increasing our risk of getting the bad virus.  Grandma took me shopping with her, so I could see what changes the grocery store had made so we could be safe while shopping!  Everybody has to wear a face mask and stay away from other shoppers by at least the length of a shopping cart!  There is hand sanitizer at the entrance for people to use, but Grandma said it wouldn’t be a good idea to get it on my paws.  I got to see my Ground Hog Day cookie packing buddy, who works at the store.  He has to wear a mask all day and wash his hands a lot!

The checkout lines have to be spaced out to protect the shoppers and the clerks!  I made sure we waited where the floor tags said we should be.  All our groceries got up to the clerk and were packed before we moved up to pay the bill!  I was glad everybody was following the rules!

Grandma’s laptop computer had been misbehaving.  Sometimes, when she was looking at images, they turned into crazy patterns instead!  Grandpa noticed that the case of her laptop was bulging, so he got her a new computer and transferred all of her files.  That was a big job!  Then he opened up the old computer to see what was making the bulge.  It was the battery!  He took it out and put in a new one.  Now we have a spare laptop, in case somebody in the family needs one!

Grandma and I made another AWACS coffee cheesecake to put in the freezer, in case Uncle Steven’s family needs one in a hurry.  I made a nice swirl pattern with the batters, but nobody will ever see it!  After the cheesecake was cool, Grandma frosted it with chocolate ganache.

Last weekend it got cold enough at night that some parts of our region had a frost warning.  We didn’t get frost at the bay, but there was mist rising from the water into the colder air when the sun first came up!

One of my choir friends broke her arm in a fall!  Grandma and I wanted to do something to help her, so we made some food she particularly likes!  Because she fell in the fall, it was easy to find the ingredients for curried butternut squash and pear soup.  We had such a big squash that some was left over after we cut enough for a double batch of soup!  I helped Grandma sauté the onion and garlic and spices before we put the squash and pears and cider and stock in.  When the soup was ready, Grandma used the immersion blender to make everything smooth.  Then I helped her ladle the soup into quart containers.  We filled seven of them!

While the soup was cooking, I helped Grandma make a flourless chocolate cake, too!  I was happy to hear that “intensive chocolate therapy” was helping my friend after her surgery to fix her arm!

Fall is the time to plant bulbs that bloom in the spring!  Grandma got 50 more daffodil bulbs to extend our planting.  I helped dig the holes and drop the bulbs in!  Then Grandma and I fertilized the entire daffodil bed.  I hope that helps all the daffodils bloom next spring!  While we were doing that, Grandpa was on the roof using the leaf blower to clean the gutters.

This morning, Grandma took me to Powers Farm Market.  We wanted to get some corn on the cob, but mostly I wanted to play in the pumpkin patch!  I made a lot of pumpkin friends of all sizes and varieties!  This year, the market rebuilt their teepee with a taller, stronger frame. It’s not open yet, but then it’s more than a month until Halloween!  The market didn’t have any corn today.  The summer crops are just about over and the fall ones, like apples and pumpkins and squashes, are everywhere!

Love,

Lion-san