After having a year with basically no winter to speak of, Mother Nature has decided that it is well beyond time for those in my part of the world to “chill out”, as it were, and conveniently dropped the temperatures a good 40 degrees F from where we were just last week.

Mind you, I rather fancy the cooler weather, and since it’s almost November, it’s only right that the skies turn grey, that the flurries start to fly, and the frost comes on the pumpkin.

Speaking of pumpkin, however, brings back to mind those absolutely horrid supermarket pies that are overspiced, over cooked, and feel like you have a mouth of mush if you were so inclined to eat them. Myself? I’d rather take my chances and make a pumpkin ravioli. Or a soup. Something where the vegetable (fruit? Yes, a pumpkin is actually a fruit!) shines and not the spice cabinet. Think of it much like squash or sweet potatoes (which, also, common to popular misconceptions, are NOT “yams”. A yam is a different vegetable all together).

To-may-to, to-mah-to. The improtant thing to remember is to put some colour in your diet, and to eat what you like. Take it easy on the fats, and get your veggies in. (Say what you will, but there’s some correlation — I’ve been losing weight, and increasing my intake of veggies, and my eyes have IMPROVED as I have gotten older. Granted, I’m still nearsighted, but it’s not anywhere near as bad as it once was (in fact, it is over a full point improvement in each eye).

Also… take time each day, even if only 30 seconds, to close your eyes and focus on something that brings you a great deal of joy. There’s really no better medicine for the spirit.

Summer ended today, with one final hurrah, warm temps, bright sun, crystal blue skies…all to give way to chillier temperatures, and the true onset of autumn. Sure, we’ll have days in the upper 60s (F), but Old Man Winter is going to be knocking soon … and he will not be denied.

As the seasons turn, it’s bringing on a bounty of apples, of winter fruits, and, as the song goes, summer wine (it takes time to ferment, obviously), the wind begins to howl as the leaves change their colours, and frost claims the last of the garden goodness. So goes the “circle of life.” We, as individuals, are born in the springtime, mature in the summer, age in the autumn of our years, and pass on in the winter.

The thing I’m grateful for with all this change is that the cooler nights have set the rose bushes to blooming their little hearts out one final time before going dormant for the season.

Do you find yourself looking at the little things and finding joy? As a friend of mine told me today, “Don’t cry because someone died. Smile, because you were a part of their life.”

Take time to scope out recipes that make you smile. Try new ingredients. Don’t be afraid to fumble in the kitchen. Some of the greatest recipe creations were discovered by improvising, or even by a dish that didn’t turn out just right. Remember — never, ever give up — especially on yourself.

Another friend of mine is going through a rough patch, having left her husband, heading for a divorce. To make matters even rougher for her, she is attempting to reconcile her religious beliefs with the necessity of the divorce. As I attempted to explain to her… if she has done her best, she need fear nothing. But by staying in an unhealthy relationship, she need fear everything.

Life isn’t black and white. It’s infinite shades of grey. And somewhere, mixed in it all, are the bright colours of the rainbow. Find yours. Celebrate life, love and happiness. Every day.

“We never talked forever… we were in love and through it all… our hearts would sing everytime they’d ring the ancient bells of St. Paul’s…” (Linda Eder)

In what seems like a completely different lifetime, I used to sing… not for money, but in front of an audience. One of my favourite tunes was called “A Season In Your Path.”

I was touched by a phrase I once read that said “People come into your life for a moment, a reason, or a season.” Nothing lasts forever — the thing that matters is what we do with the time that we have been allotted. Make a positive difference. Learn to build up instead of tear down. Be a catalyst for improvement.

It’s on days like today, when it was chill, the wind was whipping the leaves off the trees and blowing them down to oblivion, when I came to realize exactly what my grandmother, whom I lost last month, meant when she said that “the older you grow, the faster time goes. There is no holding back the hands of time.” She was a wise woman, on in her 85 3/4 journeys through the calendar, she saw many emotions — from elation to heartbreak. She was the kind of sturdy stock, however, that always gave thanks — even when someone she loved died. She didn’t give thanks because they passed on, she gave thanks for the time she had with them. Her… season in their path.

Let someone who’s in your “season” know how much you care about them. Better yet, let your actions magnify and amplify your true heart’s voice.

A cold, damp, miserable day around the house. Still, It is beyond the middle of October, so it’s only fitting that Autumn starts to show its true colours.

Time to break out the soup recipes. Time to break out flat breat. Time to break out the baked goods.

Time to stop and give thanks for all that life has to give. Remember when I said that Thanksgiving wasn’t just limited to a day in October for Canadians and a day in November for Americans? This is what I meant. There should always be something that makes you stop, pause, reflect, smile, and be grateful every day. As a dear friend of mine gave me this quote the other day because she says it reminds her of me and the relationship I’m in: “I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I’m with you.”

You see, in my mind, people put too much pressure on finding “the one” because they’re sure they won’t be ‘complete’ without a certain someone to love. But no one can complete you. A person may complement who you are, but that’s as far as it can go. Take a moment and be thankful for being who you are. Love starts inside of you.

(It’s also the only thing in life that you have more of, the more you give away.)

Backups say so much. Okay, Elton John, I am not.

But I did lose everything on the hard drive. According to the company:

We are sorry to inform you that no data was able to be recovered from the hard drive that you submitted for data recovery.

Cause: Track Damage
The dedicated track contains all the parameters for the hard drive data.
It is magnetic writing and is critical in finding the data which you requested. Sometimes this is caused when the Read-Write heads writes and does not stop writing, destroying the needed parameters. Sometimes this is also caused when  the plastic coating is damaged beyond repair. The plastic coating is layered over the platters protecting the magnetic material below.  This can happen when the head on the Read-Write heads gets displaced allowing metal to make contact with the platters.

I wish I could have come through for you, I know how important this Recovery was.

So, there you have it. What I haven’t been able to recreate is now gone. I had a backup of much of the stuff, which is of some comfort. I’m just thankful that my last backup actually was on September 26, ten days before the drive died. I wasn’t thinking coherently and thought my last backup was 20 days earlier than that.

All told, I’m now a more careful person with backing up my important documents and data.

Did you celebrate Thanksgiving? (Remember, Canada’s was yesterday). I did, with a feast that consisted of Cornish game hen, dressing, veggies, and apple bundles for dessert. I’ll be sure to post the recipe in the upcoming days for the bundles. They’re very tasty, and somewhat healthy!

I do have plenty in my life that I remain thankful for. You’ll hear more about this in the coming months. Just remember to do something kind for someone else. Don’t feel awkward in “paying it forward” — you might just be surprised at how the good comes back to you.

Tomorrow is the first of two Thanksgiving “holidays” that I celebrate (the other being American Thanksgiving), but as I hope you’ve been able to discern from my posts, Thanksgiving shouldn’t be just something that you just think about as you stuff yourself full of food. It also shouldn’t be the only time (or, combined with Christmas, the “only times”) you think about assisting the “have nots”. There are plenty of people down on their luck, and while I have little patience for those who are capable of working but will not because they see a job as being “beneath” them, for those who are shut ins due to age or illness, maybe you will consider going a bit out of your way to help those who are in need.

I know, I know, with the current economic downturn, we all are in need, but still. When I was first starting out on my own, really learning how to cook (and I’m not talking about throwing a dish in a microwave or glopping a can into a casserole), I used to look out for my neighbours. Elsie lived on one side. She was in her 80s, her daughter came to see her 3 or 4 times a week. Up until the last six months before I moved, she was in perfect health, had her wits about her, but couldn’t get out, and was frail to the point where she couldn’t cook for herself. The Colonel and his wife lived on the other side of me. He was in his 70s, she was in her mid 60s, and suffering from terminal cancer. Every day, he would rise, walk the dog, then return to bathe his wife, dress her, and bring her (normally in a wheel chair) out to the patio (if the weather was good) or their picture window (if the weather was not). These three people were very appreciative of the dishes I prepared. I learned that I liked spices, and they did too (well, I like pepper more than the average human being, but I digress). I’d cook 3-4 times a week (mostly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and on the weekend), and always made sure that little containers of food (enough for at least a meal for everyone) was delivered. Sometimes, they’d want to pay me for the food — and sometimes, I took the money, and spent it on buying more food with which I fed us all. Sometimes, I refused the money, knowing that they were living on a fixed income.

There was one thanksgiving that I sent enough turkey and sides over to feed Elsie, her daughter Ruth, The Colonel, his wife, and their son. I still had plenty of food to fill my plate, and have leftovers for days.

I didn’t do it because I wanted thanks or glory. I did it because I was giving thanks. These wonderful people were a part of my life — the Colonel is still alive, and still lives there, but his wife passed on about 10 years ago, and Elsie passed shortly thereafter after suffering from dementia and probably Alzheimers’ for about 2 years.

The point I’m trying to make is that to me, Thanksgiving was more than a dream, and it’s more than just a day that we celebrate. It’s a joy that should live on in our hearts, every day of the year.