Monday, October 18, 2010

Feast of St. Luke

October 18th has been an important date in my life.  I always feel its approach with a good deal of wariness.  It is the Feast Day of St. Luke in the Calendar of the Saints.  I had the misfortune of attending St. Luke Grammar School from kindergarten through eighth grade.  The experience was very emotionally scarring.  It was my mother's birthday; she would have been 74 -- she died from complications of diabetes back in 1998.  It was the day our Lara lost her sight due to a series of ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunt failures when she was 18 months old, immeasurably complicating her congenital spina bifida/hydrocephalus birth defect.  I was 5 month pregnant at the time with our second child (Soldier Girl).  It was also the day I went to be at the hospital with my sister who was having surgery and was told by the doctor that my dear sister had ovarian cancer.  I still remember my words to the doctor:  "But, she's only 29 years old."  I still remember the look on the doctor's face.  October 18th really sucks for me. 

So, to take my mind off all the bad memories, I steamed pumpkins all day.  I thought I would have finished with more than 10 quarts, but that was all I managed to freeze.  I made my version of Pumpkin Juice:  1 quart orange juice + 2 quarts steamed pumpkin juice + 1/2 cup sugar.  Then, I have a large amount of seeds drying for planting next year, and I have a good amount soaking in salt water overnight -- I'll roast them in the morning.  Roasted pumpkin seeds is a favorite Fall snack around here. 

Tomorrow we'll finish splitting wood for Dad.  He should now have plenty of firewood to last him for the winter. 

I guess there is really something to that saying, "Busy hands make for a happy heart."

1 comment:

  1. Would you be kind enough to tell me how you steam your pumpkins for canning or freezing? Thanks so much.

    (I think I would find a way to totally skip October 18th each year, if I were you.)

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