The ebb and the flood clearing all the channels of your heart

I am often awake at three in the morning, but I am awake at three in the morning tonight because of a pumpkin pie that needed fifteen minutes past its baking time and then another fifteen minutes after that. I kept checking and it kept cooking. It was like Cucurbita scheherazade. It is now cooling on the kitchen counter underneath the lights in the shape and colors of Orion and will be served tomorrow, along with the two apple pies I baked earlier tonight. In past years I have specialized in complicated side dishes, but this year it's just going to be a butternut squash gratin and whatever I figure out to do with the sweet potatoes when I get up—I am thinking there's no reason coconut milk and chipotles can't go together, although I suspect I cannot quite treat them like a curry. I cannot tell if maple syrup would be an inspiration or a disaster. I may just try it and see.

There are things I am thankful for this year. I think I talk about them a lot. I think that's important.