American Apple Pie
One of several bags of apples from local Gordon's Orchard
I was so filled with joy on that Saturday following the election when the results were officially called that I started baking and singing "Oh, Happy Day." What better pie to bake than a good old American Apple Pie? I sure had plenty of apples on hand as I stop at the local orchard on my way home from bicycling the Katy Trail every week while fresh apples were in season and fresh peaches since mid-summer. I made several pies and many containers of applesauce for the freezer. Fresh apples, apple cider, or peaches were always on hand.
The American Dream that the majority of United States voters deserved was again in reach as the nightmare of the current administration began to disintegrate soon after the national election took place on Tuesday November 3, 2020. The Losers have their sour grapes while the rest of us moved on to the much sweeter reality. There is much hard work to do in the New Year! It has already started with repairing as much damage as possible that was done in the past four years affecting so many areas in our country and worldwide from bad administrative policies and bad character image projected by the president. The poor leadership and conflicting pandemic information from our president may have caused needless deaths. To date the world has had lost 1.79 million souls to the coronavirus. The United States has had more than its share with about 400,000 lives lost. Missouri is at 5,766 deaths. Historians are already documenting many mistakes made and poor decisions by the president that will all be part of his legacy.
I have no doubt that the details of criminal acts and repercussions will become legally known and prosecuted that are directly associated with the 2016-2020 administration. The hammer will start coming down as soon as he is out of the White House and without power. Several states have already begun gathering and documenting data for court. It will all be part of the president's legacy which will no doubt have much more negative than positive entries. My strong feelings come from my own personal research and observations which I can also attribute to my real sense of intuition which I have talked about consistently throughout this blog in all posts. I am a fact-checker and made my living doing so for 30 years in real estate and always accountable for my decisions. I know how to apply unbiased opinions and facts to what I know in my heart so it is mine to own and express in my words. I also know I have the God-given gift of discernment which has grown stronger every year along with my intuition! Just wait and see as I'm moving forward with confidence, hope, and faith in the new administration!
Thankfully, nine months into this COVID-19 pandemic, my household and my daughter's nearby have not caught the virus. I am also thankful that my immediate family members in other states have not caught the virus. I pray everyday for God's blessing for good health for myself, family, and friends. Sincere prayers also go out to all people adversely affected both physically and economically by this worldwide pandemic. I am very sad for all those that have died. I will continue to follow the science and keep masked-up, socially distant, and washing/disinfecting hands as often as possible. I am looking forward to taking the vaccine as soon as it is available. I have hope and faith that all will be better eventually in 2021 but understand that it likely will be worse before it gets better. I can only look forward to traveling to visit family in other states. I will be ready! In the meantime, the last two months of this dreadful year was experienced as positively as I could muster my skills with optimism. I do feel stronger but certainly don't take anything for granted. I feel blessed but will not stop praying for strength to endure whatever lies ahead. I will always be grateful for what I have. With all this joyous baking and eating I am surprised to see I haven't gained any weight yet! So I guess miracles can happed!
I continued finding joy in cooking! I also felt joy in decorating. This all came together very well as I took two days to cook a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving Dinner. I was especially motivated because my daughter and her family wanted to come over for the whole day. That made me very happy!
November
Word Art that Expressed My Joys
New Lighted Thanksgiving Wreath that shown at the end of the hallway first thing each morning
Updated Dried Plant Arrangement Makes Me Smile
Thanksgiving Table Set For My Daughter and Her Family
Master Turkey Carver - We had 2-12# turkeys; 1 smoked & 1 roasted. Fixings include: stuffing, green bean casserole, mac & cheese casserole, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, cranberry sauce, variety veggies with dip, homemade biscuits with variety butters & jams, apple pie with ice cream, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream, fancy chocolates
Swing Time with My Granddaughter in My Yard
Neighborhood Walk with My Girls
Sunflower Girls in My Kitchen
Face Time with Our Son Online
Best Apple Pie!
Time for Goodbye Hugs
December
We were blessed with good weather so far this season and December was no exception. We took advantage of the warm days to get outside and enjoy the natural beauty around us. Adventures included discovering a new access to the Sac River in Cedar County for early spring fishing. We also had a full afternoon on our Lake Pomme de Terre kayaking close to home. So much fun catching fish and being with natural things!
Great Access to the Sac River Discovered!
Shallow waters now but will be great come Springtime
Kayak time on our Lake PDT close to home
I love to follow my fisherman husband in my kayak today while observing nature
Friendly Great Blue Heron let me get close for a long visit
Warm enough weather for a Mayfly to visit me
My favorite sunsets are at this time of year on the mirror-like water
Geese looking for a place for the night at the end of the day
Peaceful sunset with just us two kayakers in sight
Nemo Bridge was quiet as the sun went down
The colder weather was now dominating as the month moves towards more indoor activities. The first sign of Christmas was receiving professional photos from my daughter. The joy continues as my heart fills with love from daily baking and candy making along with additional decorating.
My Lovely Granddaughter
My Precious Girls
Fun with Gingerbread Men left out overnight to dry icing
Wondered about this trouble maker maybe causing mischief overnight...
...all is well with peace on earth in our home
Guardian Angel at the Sanitizing Station
Bobi Kitty at His Guard Post
My Birthday Dinner of grilled ribeye steak, baked potato, and broccoli
Warm enough afternoon on my birthday to enjoy a healthy 3-mile walk below the dam and a fun slide
Decorations include fewer Christmas cards every year now
It's not Christmas without baking traditional Kolache! The wooden KC Chiefs tray will be a gift to my daughter and her family as they are big fans as I became this year. They also got 3 containers of a variety of candies and cookies I made. They gave us packages of deer sausage and jerky from the 3 deer they got this season.
Variety of candies and baked goods made this month include: white & dark chocolate pretzels, peanut clusters, coconut snowballs, chocolate & peanut butter fudge, chocolate covered cherries, orange chocolate ball, Spanish Rabitos (chocolate fig bonbons), rollos, peanut butter cups, old fashion hard candies, gingerbread men, decorated sugar cookies, and of course, KOLACHE!
Our Master Gardeners Service Project at Settlers Village near our home was festively decorated this year. After we drove to the dam for the Jupiter/Saturn planet alignment in the sky that occurred for the first time since 800 years ago, we enjoyed all the Christmas light displays on our way home.
I got the T-shirt and hoped nothing else (virus) to bring home...
...for my peak 2020 event: a root canal through a crown a week before Christmas!
Off the pain meds and healed up just in time to spend a couple days/nights at my daughter's up to the end of Christmas Eve Day
One of my gifts to my daughter's family was KC Chief Patrick Mahomes, Star Quarterback
My granddaughter was so proud of her first snowman ornament that she made at pre-school
So joyful watching the opening of many presents early on Christmas Eve morning including the special stocking moments! My heart is so full with the best memories and many more photos!
My favorite photo of me and my granddaughter
Bright and sunny Christmas morning at my home with my husband and Bobi Kitty
Bobi Kitty enjoyed his treats almost as much as the wrappings from our presents!
Overnight shipment of 3 kinds of seafood from Maine gifted by our son and daughter-in-law included lobster tails which I added rosemary potatoes and asparagus on Christmas Day.
The next day, my husband's turn to cook Bucatini Pasta with fresh crab in white wine sauce grated with Fontina cheese; sides are green baby peas and rye bread.
The grand finale was the following day when I cooked fresh Citrus Scallops over a bed of Romaine lettuce and baby spinach wilted with a citrus-mustard-green onion sauce and grape tomatoes. Sides are brown rice with butter and toasted pita bread.
My husband's birthday was soon after so we duplicated what we did for my birthday a couple weeks before - grilled ribeye steak with baked potato, and broccoli with rye bread.
So today is New Years Eve Day as I finish this final entry for 2020. Plans are to stay home and relax and eat everything left in the house so we can start the New Year on a more realistic and healthy meal plan. But for now we have done a great job of whittling away at all the foods I will not call "junk" because it was all mighty fine! But for today I have added some homemade onion dip for potato chips and ice cream which is really yummy "junk" food! Several containers of candy and cookies made it in the freezer early on and will be a treat in a couple months. Few cookies and fig bonbons remain which will be added to a variety of fine cheeses and wine for tonight's celebration which we will watch on TV. I will take an extra long nap this afternoon so I can be sure that I will be awake to see 2020 exit with a good slam of the door on its ass!
HAPPY NEW YEAR
