Pumpkins and Hikes

I was at the market on Friday morning and found that my favorite veggie lady had beautiful pumpkins. I requested two of them and she stopped and asked me what my intention was for the pumpkins. Umm, my intention? I felt nervous as I explained my recipe for pumpkin muffins. Her body relaxed and she told me earlier in the day a woman had tried to buy the same two pumpkins (she only had a few available). However, this woman was going to use them as part of a centerpiece for her table. The veggie lady was not about to have her gorgeous pumpkins sitting on some table, so she refused to sell them to her and sold her some gourds instead. She was happy to sell them to me because I was cooking with them. I felt relieved to be approved for the pumpkin purchase and we made pumpkin muffins on Friday after school:

Aurelia is wanting an apron and chef's hat of her own, but I am trying to push her off until December because I bought new ones for Eston in Paris and they were meant to be a Christmas present for him. I tied a dish cloth around her waist (which didn't really work) but she seemed satisfied.

 I was tempted to return to the veggie lady on Saturday morning and show her proof of the muffins, but I had a meeting to attend and couldn't get to the market, so I will just have to tell her how wonderful the pumpkin puree was for the muffins. 

On Sunday morning Rory headed out for his training ride and I took the kids out for a hike. We did just over 5km and we were on a hunt for pine cones and branches. Christmas tree ornaments are not easy to come by here, so we usually make our own. 

I took some photos as we were leaving town:

 I love how quickly we can be out of town and on the trails.

 It was a beautiful morning and Aurelia is learning how to hike, which thrills me to no end. She did a solid kilometer before I put her in the pack. We keep a solid pace and she really enjoyed trying to keep up with us.

Rory brought her that pink vest from China. It is nice and warm, so I am trying to go with it and not focus on my hatred of pink and my frustrations of people buying pink for girls and blue for boys. I won't go into it now, haha! I will just say that Aurelia has to be a ballerina for a costume day at school and she won't have a stitch of pink on her because the tutu I have is blue.

Happy Monday!