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What started as a simple festival celebrating the year’s bountiful harvest has turned into an archetypal American holiday, with grand dinners featuring savory and sweet dishes alike. Thanksgiving foods have changed over the years, but there are still some iconic favorites that have withstood time. Hover over each food below in this interactive image and find out more about their role in this day of feasting:

What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes? Let us know in the comments below!

The post A look at Thanksgiving favorites appeared first on OUPblog.

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Spent a good part of today kneeling and lying on the garage floor painting...and repainting...letters.

I think I already mentioned that I wasn't excited about painting letters and, yes, I did overfuss it.  The more I tried to refine the letters, the less I liked them (and the more they seemed to draw attention away from the mural).  In the end, I went back to fairly loose letters (sans serif).  The title simply reads:  Celebrate the Harvest - Santa Maria Valley (across the bottom of 3 panels)


I also worked on detailing the leaves around the pumpkins and building a little more contrast in that area.


Now, I'm a little more excited about working on the mural again.  I will be moving some panels tonmorrow to (finally) detail the field beneath the wave.  There'll be a little bit of greenery and some dots of red (strawberries) to pull a teensy bit more color into those first two panels.

At least I won't have to lay on the floor for the next phase!

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Well, not only did the laptop get a virus, but the charger ceased charging.  Then, the desktop computer got a really nasty virus, rendering it useless.  And, on a sad note, my fathe- in-law, Robert Smith, passed away last weekend.  Needless to say, no mural progress worth noting has happened...that is, until now.

Little details have been my focus - the bottle and wine glasses...

...the swirled hair and curling vines on the Dionysus character...


...and the vines reaching across the top of the arch.


Now, I've started some lettering along the bottom (the mural's title) and I'll show that when I've worked out some kinks.   One thing I've realized is that I really don't like doing the lettering.  Since it's along the bottom, I have to be down low on the floor and it gets uncomfortable quickly.  Also, I tend to overfuss letters, so it can be tedious. 

The only thing after that is the field beneath the wave - I have to line up the panels in order to put in the plants and some dots of red strawberries.

The Studio Photo-Bomber Strikes Again!

Summer is running out, so I'd really like to be done and work on some personal projects for a change.  Unfortunately, I don't think much of that will happen.  So, finishing the mural will be my summer goal.

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I'm REALLY glad that the mural is being painted on panels which allows me to work in the garage around my schedule during odd hours!  I don't feel rushed, yet I feel like I'm still getting things accomplished (even with daytime demands).

This evening, I played around with the grape colors, bringing them closer to what I want.  I still need to build up layers and values.

Before

After

I also worked out a couple of issues with the figures - particularly the man.  I dealt with the NCS, or Narrow Chin Syndrome, as well as the Big-Footitis that he suffered from.  He really had too much heel - the heel was more profile while the front of the foot was more 3/4 view.  Anyway, he's been healed - Hallelujah!  (And "heeled," I guess).

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Here's the free monthly colouring page. Download a larger version here. As always, I'd love to post some coloured versions of the pages, if you can get your kid to sit down and colour while it's still nice outside!

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luclatulippe:

The New Harvest Time Report – Completely Redesigned

Sweet Jiminy Cricket I love Harvest! Not only is it THE best invoicing, time-tracking, and expense-tracking app I’ve ever used (and I’ve tested MANY), but they are constantly improving the product, they listen to users, the app is gorgeous and smartly designed, and they’re truly committed to what they do. They recently redesigned the “Reports” tab and it’s marvelous. You should totally go sign up!

Agreed! I’ve used a number of invoicing web apps as well, and no one beats the elegance and price-to-feature ratio of Harvest. I’ve been using it for a few years now, and I keep track of all my invoices and incoming payments with it.

As a freelancer and a one-person business, Harvest lets me invoice unlimited clients for $12/month. The ability to manage unlimited clients is key for someone who does countless one-off jobs throughout the year.

People seem to love FreshBooks, but their cheapest plan is not only $20/month, it also limits the amount of clients you can manage to 25. What kind of small business limits itself to 25 clients? To get unlimited clients, I’d have to upgrade to their $30/month plan. That’s more than twice the price of Harvest.

So, I echo Luc — if you’re a freelancer struggling with keeping track of your invoicing, I strongly encourage you to sign up with Harvest.

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It feels strange, writing in august. Back when my kids were little, or even young, I usually abandoned the attempt and just became Mum for the period of the holidays when we weren't on holiday, as well as when we were. I used to start writing again in September, when we returned, the weather was cooler, and they were back at school.

Now August is when everyone else is away, my email box fills up only slowly, and the traffic in town is non-existent. It is easy to get parked in Waitrose - I don't need to go on a writer's retreat, the world has ebbed away from me. Unfortunately this year there are a lot of things that need doing to the house, and a major window-replacement-operation looms towards the end of the month - but I am still enjoying the sense of freedom. A holiday! I can get on with Writing my Stories.

In addition, I have the garden. August is harvest, beans, mangetouts, courgettes, onions, spinach beet, kohlrabi, tomatoes, chillies and aubergines. The figs and autumn-fruiting raspberries are coming on and ripe windfall apples are bumping off the Tydeman's Early Worcester tree. Soon I shall just be able to wander out and pick myself an apple when I want a snack while writing! We harvested the garlic in July and I can go and admire the 50-odd bulbs which will take us through the year. And there are the pumpkins.

They are magic, though I'm not sure if I can fulfil my daughter's request to reserve one as transport to her wedding next May. It might have got a bit wrinkly by then. I grow two kinds, one large, one small. The large one is illustrated above, this is the Enormous Pumpkin, the biggest of all, which must weigh close on five kilograms. It's a Crown Prince, and ripens to steel-grey, at present it is like the sea on a dull day, silver-green - I love it. The little ones are the apricot-coloured ones, they fit in the palm of your hand, they are called Jack Be Little, and would actually be perfect to take a miniature Cinderella to the ball in. They mature to a rich orange, and come ripe all the time, a lovely alternative to courgettes. But they keep too, and when I find unsuspected ones they won't have rotted. My pumpkins are like free-range hens, they ramble around and decide for themselves where to lay their massive or small eggs. Up to me to find them - I recently discovered a whopper smugly lying against the fence, shielded by leaves. Though shortly the leaves will have to come off, to assist the ripening process.

What has this got to do with writing? Well, it's odd, but it feeds into it. Of course the pumpkins also feed me in the literal way, but there's something about having them - they are planted in a raised bed just outside my study window, though (see above) they have sprawled away from it to actually fruit - the excitement of seeing them get huge, seeing the colours change, gloating over their size and weight - that helps me to write. So, the current answer to the question so frequently asked of writers: 'What do you do when you get stuck?' is: 'I go outside and inspect my pumpkins.' Later I shall inspect them stored in the house. Some people grow decorative gourds and don't eat them. I grow lovely pumpkins and then they get eaten. You opens your seed catalogue and you takes your choice.

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We started combining the crops, wheat and barley, today. And I understand tomorrow is supposed to be Talk Like a Pirate Day. I'm not the first person to notice that combines look rather like ships, sailing steadily and majestically through waves of grain. And while you wait on the truck, or run up the combine ladder to check how the wheat is coming in, and the warm wind blows through your hair

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Evans cherries before pitting: and after:

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Author: Karen E. Lotz
Illustrator: Elisa Kleven
Published: 1997 Puffin Books
ISBN: 0140558659 Chapters.ca Amazon.com

This beautiful book, packed with playful illustrations and cozy rhyme, invites us into winter with such joy I just can’t imagine an autumn without it.

(Arrgh!! Another gorgeous book that’s out of print! This book is available for purchase at Elisa Kleven’s website.)

Tags:autumn, book, celebration, children, gratitude, harmony, harvest, joy, picture, podcast, poetry, review, seasons, winterautumn, book, celebration, children, gratitude, harmony, harvest, joy, picture, podcast, poetry, review, seasons, winter

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