1. Halloween is just coming into vogue in the UK; we got a single trick-and/or-treater whom we duly ignored. Bah, humbug!
2. Instead, we wholeheartedly embrace Bonfire Night. Technically the 5th of November (as in, “remember, remember the”), but aside from a few fireworks last night, the celebrations tend to be moved to the weekend before or after. We’re looking forward to our first potential effigy burning (apparently, this is beginning to fall out of favor) on the 8th.
3. U.S. Election Day. Marking the end of making excuses for and/or avoiding the topic of our President. At least until January 20—until then, Obama can do no wrong. It was pretty frustrating waiting for all you Americans to actually roll out of bed and vote, though, and then I had to stay up until 4 a.m. to learn the results.
4. Poppy Day (aka Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Veterans Day). It seems to be a much more visible commemoration here, and I find the poppy emblem already appearing everywhere to be both meaningful and aesthetically pleasing.
5. Super Stupendous Camping 2008-3: Tony and Cenaida Come To Visit. (2008-1: boating down or perhaps up the Columbia, camping on Government Island, and firing a potato gun at things; 2008-2 [cancelled]: October yurting.) Had I been consulted, I would have voted for a 2008a, 2008b, 2008c nomenclature, but I was not. I guess that’s what I get for leaving the country.
At any rate: HOORAY. The aforementioned Tony and Cenaida will be here for Thanksgiving, so I will be roasting a turkey for the very first time and tricking some English people into coming over for a very important lesson in pumpkin pie.
Mmm, pumpkin pie. One of my favorite Cenaida’s mom stories is that she (who works for the Department of Health and whom I automatically implore people not to tell when I eat something that may have fallen on the floor or taste what I’m cooking and then put the spoon back in) used to let Cenaida eat pumpkin pie for breakfast when she was little–technically, it is a fruit. My other favorite story is that when she first moved from El Paso to Portland, she was sincerely flummoxed by why all of the women wore white nylons all the time before she discovered that, no, that’s just what your legs look like when you live under a perpetual cloudbank.
Nothing like what it’s like here, no sirree.
2 Comments
can you find canned pumpkin in England? or do you have to buy a fresh one, and make your own puree? good luck, and have fun with making your pie(s)…you will have to let your visitors help in the search for the perfect food for your American Thanksgiving dinner!!! Should be fun!!! Love, Mom
We haven’t had any luck finding pumpkin, and I’m told that it very rarely exists here, so Cenaida is bringing some. She’s also bringing a recipe passed down from someone named Ma. They do already have frozen turkeys available, so we’re good on that front.