What a great to start to what is usually a wet, cold, dreary time of the year. The seasons seem to change ever faster as I get older and find it hard to believe we are already less than two months away from the end of the year.
The last couple months have been nice, with nothing too exciting. As I previously wrote about, we had a couple close calls with matching to a baby but were not fortunate enough to have done so. Some time has passed now and I can speak for myself in saying that I am stronger for having these experiences and more prepared to handle similar situations in the future if they present and do not work out to our favor as these previous situations have not. In the end, we still eagerly await a new edition to our family and hope to have one soon.
It has now been over two years that we have lived in home at 707 Hoyt St SE. 
We grow more fond of the area we live in and have gotten to know a few more neighbors in the last couple months. We have a kind, welcoming community that is full of energy with young families always outside and people walking by all day long. The convenience of living within blocks of grocery stores, restaurants and a hardware store are something we have already started to take for granted and try to remind ourselves often of the convenience we are afforded by living in the established area of Alger Heights. It hard to speculate what the future will bring but as much as we love it here, we often feel the call to move back to one of home towns to get out of the city, and closer to those we love. We’ll have to see what the next year or two brings us.
In keeping with homes old and new, we finally bit the bullet and did some further upgrades around the old place. Having spent the last two winters trying to get every last-minute of life out of our old windows and doors, we finally had new ones installed. 
It seemed time. The house is close to 100 years old with still having 9 original, single pane, and in many cases, broken windows. We opted with Lowe’s which did a phenomenal job with removal, installation and cleanup from the job. We both could not speak more highly of the work they provided at what we felt was a very reasonable price after having other companies come out and bid the work. After briefly considering doing the work ourselves, the better of our judgement guided us to instead write a check, which was in the end the best thing we could have done. Although I think we would have found ourselves plenty capable of the work, we would have spent I am sure at least four hours, to the Lowe’s contractor’s one. What ended being one working day for them easily would have been a week for Ben and myself. Plus we are still married after the install which I would suspect may not have been the outcome otherwise.
As the smoldering oranges turned to flames of red in the leaves, so did the pumpkin season come to an end. 
We had a great season helping wonderful friends at the Wild Pumpkin again this year. Although we were only able to be there for three weekends of the seven open, we enjoyed the time with both friends and family. It was busy as usual with cider donuts flying off the rack which meant many tired workers, but a blessing for the Hedricks, who own a beautiful, fun farm that many enjoy. We closed up the camper at the end of the season and carried it back down south for the winter, eagerly awaiting the crisp spring mornings that mean we can once again get the mobile vacation home back out on the road
What is probably the harshest reminder of our advancing age is that I am already at that point in my career where I must re-certify for my licensure. Five years ago this December 22, I passed my first exam and although I am taking the re-certification exam a year early, the time has come to sit for the examination once again. My career has taken me far and taught me much. I can only say I look forward to the journey ahead to see where else it takes me.
Speaking of careers, Ben, our moms and I had a great experience today together. We took advantage of our new Sur la Table that opened near the Breton Village area and took a cooking class learning how to make french macarons (and a side note, for great local macarons visit here), meeting two great women in the class with us, Amy and Jodi. Interestingly, this class was instructed by chef Susan VandenBerg of The French Tarte. What an amazing woman and great teacher. What I loved the most about her wa
s her story. I do not want to speak to much for her but to summarize, she started in emergency medicine and overtime realized she was not following her passion and made the move from the science of medicine to the science of pastries after attending Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France. I find myself so intrigued by her journey and am in awe of her tenacity and adventure in life. Some of my close friends and family know I almost went a very different path in life which would have found me today working in a restaurant or owning my own bakery. But instead, I was steered in other ways to medicine. I often wonder what the other Daniel in the world of what-ifs is doing today and I felt in meeting her, I saw a glimpse of him. Although I am not sad I do not really know him, I was happy to get the opportunity to see that in someone else today. I can not speak more highly of Susan’s ability to teach and if you are ever looking for an adventure in gastronomy, take a class with her at Sur la Table or privately through her business aforementioned, The French Tarte.
As I close this out, I want to take a moment to thank our moms for the great day we spent together today. I am often forgetting to thank them for all the do for us and it is moments like today that remind me quickly of the love they have for us and we for them, and the fun times we have shared and have yet to share. Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and it is meant to be a time to reflect on those we are thankful for and the times we are thankful of; both Rhonda and Diana are two of the people and the times we have with them are those we are thankful.
Daniel
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