I should be in Canada this weekend

It's Thanksgiving this weekend. Or at least it is if you live in Canada, where I should be this weekend. Thanksgiving weekend can't quite compare to the national frenzy that happens here in the U.S. for American Thanksgiving in November (notice how there is 'Thanksgiving' and 'American Thanksgiving.' Some things will never change for me, even as I spend more time here, and one of those things is the knowledge that Thanksgiving takes place in October). It is a much more subdued holiday, when most people will join family and friends for a meal, but they don't travel the country on six different flights to do it. It is, however, filled with many of the same indulgences. It seems that Canadians and Americans speak the same language when it comes to pumpkin pie.

In the hierarchy of holidays (and shouldn't we all have a hierarchy of holidays?) Thanksgiving falls just after my birthday (yes, a holiday) and is tied for second place with Halloween. What do these things all have in common? October. What else? The fall. Glorious, colourful, rainy, pumpkin-y, chill-in-the-air fall. And so in October you'll find me celebrating all of these wonderful days with a big old smile on my face. And I'm not the only happy one--come October you'll find my family and friends celebrating the end of my relentless complaining about the heat of summer.

I hope the fall brings you the same glow it does me and that you enjoy a magnificent weekend in honour of Thanksgiving (Canadian or not). While I'm not able to spend my weekend in Canada, I am going to enjoy a Saturday afternoon with a good friend and a Sunday afternoon baking.

I'll leave you with one of my favourite, newly acquired, fall pleasures: watching Alyce in the rain.