Count down to caught up...

in 5, 4, 3...

I just couldn't keep up. It must be the loss of daylight hours. Almost every day I have lots of thoughts I want to share, but by nightfall, which now is before dinner time, I'm tired and ready to curl up with a book.

November was all about baking. Lots and lots of pumpkin baking (it's Jon's favorite) and a few other things as well, like chili, and cranberry salad, and mulled cider.

November has also been about Greece. Ancient, Dark, Classical, Athenian, you name it. We started with the Minoans on Crete, moved on to the Mycenaeans on the peninsula, and from there it was a Trojan War fest, with Rosemary Sutcliff and Michael Wood. Myths and Mus and philosophers, oh my. Only this week did we make it into the Athenian Age and start looking at the great philosophers and the emergence of Greek Tragedy. We also started learning Greek. Why not? It's hard to tell who loves the topic more, and we're having a great time as usual.

The final days of football, the final days of sunny warm weather...that's November. And Thanksgiving, of course. We're sensitive to the issue of Thanksgiving in our house. I don't think there is a simple answer to the meaning of the holiday. In addition to the parade and plenty of football, this year we also watched a couple of videos from the History Channel that traced the true history of the holiday—Converted harvest festival? Commemoration of a group of uptight religious founders? Noxious remembrance of a kindness gone wrong in the end?

But the safe thing about the holiday is its connection to the harvest home celebration, the celebration of family and the warmth of good times and good food.

We headed north this year, braving traffic and some obscene weather conditions to celebrate with extended family, some of whom is relatively new to us, and regardless of football outcomes, we had a great time. And plenty—plenty—of good food. Plus we found that Black Friday shopping in a small town is actually enjoyable.

Place card crafts

Computer programming

Mourning football

Tug-of-war

Oz Fluxx

Local eating

Local shopping

Local brewery

Wild weather

Carcassonne

Beautiful snow (plus a squirrel)

Which brings me to today, which doesn't feel like today. Not if today is after Thanksgiving, already several days into the supposed Christmas season. With Thanksgiving being early this year, and us being out of town, our usual Christmas vim and vigor has yet to arrive, so I am declaring next weekend the first weekend of Christmas in our home. In the mean time, it's back to the Greek and the Greeks, and a few other fun things on the burner.

Brookfield Zoo

Like the Field Museum, the Brookfield Zoo has become one of our favorite Chicago stops. They have okapis, need I say more? With temperatures in the low to mid sixties we had the perfect weather, and so did the animals, which means we got to see more of them, and see more of them doing stuff, like the polar bear playing with his ball. We ate bison burgers, we pet stingrays, we gave a wide berth to a giant animatronic wasp. Desert animals, African animals, Australian animals, and us animals.

After the zoo we went out for a birthday dinner at favorite Italian spot, and tomorrow it will be time to head home and get back to life as usual. October means so many lovely fall things. Jon is already begging for pumpkin cheesecake, and we have to visit our own zoo again in these cooler, delightful days. Classes have started up at HAA, Hallowe'en Nights is up at Henry Ford, and Halloween is just around the corner. I guess the first thing on our list for this week should be decorating. Right after laundry, that is.

Windy City

We're in Chicago for what is becoming an annual birthday visit. We came into town last night and enjoyed true Chicago deep dish pizza for dinner. Then today we had a late breakfast at our favorite local place before spending the rest of the afternoon at the Field Museum, per Calvin's request. Egypt, Tibet, the Pacific Islands, biodiversity, evolution, and Extreme Mammals—we did it all. Afterwards? Pool, football on TV, relaxing, and great dinner.

Tomorrow? Zoo time.

Football is back

I'll make no comment on the football game itself (our team so far has left much to be desired), but our fun football Saturdays are back, and that's something we can cheer for. Tailgating with good friends, eating good food, and enjoying beautiful weather. Calvin and I got to go to the game this time around, which treated us to helicopters, a bald eagle, and a stealth bomber, all in pre-game. The rest of the game was just as heart bursting, but not for such enjoyable reasons (eek!). Jon, who is not a huge fan of football itself, got to stay home and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Playing catch up

The problem with falling behind on a journal of any kind, is a reluctance to go forward before catching up on the past. Unfortunately, that means that the more behind one falls, the less likely one is to get caught up, the less likely one is to ever start again. Over the past week-plus of my blog hibernation that something exciting has happened I've thought "Great! I now have something to write about and pictures to share!" quickly followed by "Oh, but I have to catch up first." So how about a quick catch-up post—everything that has happened, or at least everything that I have pictures of (pics or it didn't happen!), and then we'll move on from there.

Journaling the trip

Climbing at the park with HAA (our homeschooling group that meets once a week)

I found this word fun on the floor one morning.

On the first day of September we drove to a Lake Michigan beach to visit with family and soak up some final  joys of summer.

We had science over for dinner.

And we partyied in our garden, finding the first signs of fall and ridding the beds of weeds.

And I'm calling that caught up. Tomorrow is the first day of school for many, just another day for us, but I'm sure it will be a great day.