"In November the smell of food is different.  It's an orange smell.  A squash and pumpkin smell."

from the poem, "In November," by Cynthia Rylant

Simple Living, October III

On this page . . .

Dreams of an Orchard  ❤  The Pony Closet  ❤  Waiting for Thankgiving  ❤ Feast of Autumn  ❤  Drying Celery  ❤  Cutting the Canteloup  ❤  It's All Good  ❤  Key Lime Pie  ❤

Dreams of An Orchard

We'll see how long it takes me to get the juice out of those little green marbles.

I like to save the rind of any citrus that comes my way. It makes lemon or orange icing exceptional--much better than bottled flavoring. The trick is to get all the pith (white) part removed, because it's very bitter. That can be done fairly easily with the tools we have now; but I started out with my own squirrely method and haven't yet made the effort to change my ways. I won't even try to describe the process, but you can see in the picture that I end up with some snazzy little citrus curls.

The Pony Closet 

I liked the name so well that I eventually found a space upstairs that I could dedicate exclusively to a permanent Pony Closet that would include . . . well, anything.  I must say, it has served us all quite well. 

It's the one place I can secretly store gifts out of sight all year round, or things I don't need, but want to keep anyway, just because I like the way they look.  There is only one rule:  no one is allowed to go inside without clearance from me.  

This fall I cleaned out my Pony Closet and rearranged a few things so I at least had room to turn around inside.  To tell you the truth, seeing these pictures taken before the clean-up, I'm sorry it's not quite as interesting now.  I miss all the excess I used to have,  and some of the things I had forgotten about are fun to see again. 

Yes, the clean-up was a help, and I can finally walk inside the closet and turn around.  After the holidays, however, I've already decided I'll be a little more free with myself  and commence to restocking it.  That shouldn't take long.  Then I'll wedge myself inside occasionally for the sole purpose of looking around and wondering what's there.  "Why, it could be almost anything!"  Shoe laces, tea pots, burlap ribbon, vintage skirts, candle wax, a pony.

A good pony closet should entertain as well as be functional.  Mine is so exciting that I tend to use it more for entertainment.  

So now that you understand the concept, I hope you'll consider a Pony Closet of your own.  It's never too late.  Be sure to arrange it in an interesting way--  compositon matters.  Whatever you do, don't try to be too zen about it or too hard on yourself.  This is one place where misfits are welcome, and clutter is encouraged. 

Oh, and don't forget to add plenty of gifts for yourself. Then I want to see a picture of it when it's up and running.   

Waiting for Thanksgiving 

It never got tiresome or old.  Looking forward to the next big celebration seemed like good work to me. 

That's what the holidays are like, or what I always aim for them to be.  The problem for me, however, is that it can become overwhelming.   That postcard ideal doesn't show the stress and impatience that can come when expectations aren't realistic.   Not to mention the sinking feeling of knowing quite well I've overspent on all those clever decorations that started showing up in September.  I want them all, you see.

The glitter and burlap of the year's grand finale makes my life speed up too much, and I find myself buried under things that don't even seem like Christmas anymore--black and turquoise bulbs, chubby little gnomes, vintage postcards of someone else's family.   Who are those people? 

It happens every year, faster than the year before.  What happened to cookies and quilting ?  What about popcorn and Tony Bennett?

In a moment of soberness as Christmas Eve draws near I usually end up asking myself, "Why am I doing this to Christmas?  Don't I have enough stuff already?"  

The answer, of course, is, "Yes, I do have enough."  And yet the temptation to have more and have it faster is persistent.  It leaves me in an exhausted heap on the couch wondering if I'll ever be able to slow this crazy ride down. 

The good answer is "yes."   Just give me a minute. 

I found a book several years ago called "A Foxfire Christmas" published by the group that compiled the wildly popular Foxfire Series in the 1970's.  It contains the first-hand accounts of what Christmas was like for people of my mother's generation who lived in our area of the Southern Appalachians.  That would have been sometime in the 1930's.  It's a personal telling of the customs and celebrations of people who expected so much less than I do now.  They had very little, and yet their memories are mostly of happy times with their families and neighbors.  Again and again they speak of the abundance they felt in the midst of so little.  

I try to read A Foxfire Christmas every year before the holidays.  It's a reset for me.  It makes me see in my mind's eye a simple evergreen wreath with nothing on it.  Or a light snow falling through a wooden window frame.  It sobers me up and calms me down.  Without so much worry and fret, I move more slowly as I go about decorating our home with familiar things from our own Christmases past, and  I aim to be more like those people. 

It's time to get out my well-worn copy to read for this year.   

Today I set the table for our Thanksgiving Dinner, which will be two days early this year.  It is a beautiful table, and I am grateful for such bounty as we have in our little home on Rabbit Hill.  I can't help but thank the Good Lord for His gracious plenty to our family.  

I hope your Day of Thanks is a good one!  

The Feast of Autumn 

Carnival Pumpkins

Everything is starting to have a "late in the day look" now that November is here and we've just passed through Daylight Savings Time.  We "fell back," into another time warp where shadows are long and I'm perpetually late for something, though I'm not sure what.  

There's talk of the possibility of food shortages for this year's Thanksgiving meals, or perhaps delays in shipments.  In early September I ordered a special roll mix our family likes and the delivery date was listed as the day before Thanksgiving.  We'll see if that works out.  

Last week I picked up a can of evaporated milk for pumpkin pie, just because it was there in front of me at the grocery store.  It felt smart, and proved that I was on top of things. 

You can't really custom-order your holidays, although I've tried a time or two.  It's best to just let them come as they are, otherwise it can become obtuse.  I always tell my family, it only takes two of us to make a party, and I firmly believe that.  In fact, I'm certain because that has happened occasionally.   

This year there will be six of us for Thanksgiving - me and five of my favorite people.  You can't beat that.  I have decided to prepare the very same dinner we ate every November when I was a child, without the embellishments and modernizing I added along my adult way.    

So here for the record is this year's Thankskgiving Day Menu. Let's call it

The Rabbit Hill Feast of Thanks Extraordinaire     

Drying Celery 

This is also the time of year when fresh celery is in full, healthy supply at the grocery store.  A few years ago, as an experiment I cut the leafy tops off the stalks to dry them.  It was just as easy as you might think, the same as drying more traditional herbs.  I simply placed all the leafy parts I had cut off the stalks into a basket after they were washed, and let the air do the rest.  Oh, I did shake them around once in a while to keep airflow going to each leaf. 

The celery taste is strong when dried, so it doesn't take a lot in a recipe.  I like to add it to chicken salad, soups, on hamburgers (mmmm), and deviled eggs.  

I still perform the herb and celery ritual every year in late fall, usually about the time I'm thinking of Thanksgiving stuffing.  The whole house smells fresh and "green" and reminds me that the holidays are on the way.  Even the basket I use for drying the herbs and celery tops holds its scent throughout the year, and I don't at all mind using it to serve breads and crackers.