Easy as Pie

Late night last night. I did not get to bed until after midnight. Medical emergency? No. Maggie drama? No. Night out on the town? Hardly. I was baking pumpkin pies. In April. Fortunately, our unseasonably hot weather broke and I was not blasting the oven in 90-degree heat.


Today there is a party for Ivana, Maggie’s friend and mentor at school. Ivana is the woman who uses a power chair and inspires Maggie to go faster and farther by joining in her power chair sessions. The teacher told me about this a while ago and said Ivana’s favorite thing is pumpkin pie. Teacher Joe said he usually makes three. Two to be consumed at the party and one for Ivana to take home with her. I said, let me do that. I am happy to do something so easy for someone who has been so nice to Maggie.

Shortly after making the offer, I forgot all about it. (That seems to be a habit with me lately.) As Maggie got off the bus yesterday afternoon, her nurse made an offhand comment about Pumpkin Pies on Thursday. I blanched. It was four o’clock then; I had a meeting at five, and did not have a single pumpkin pie ingredient in the house. I bought the stuff on the way home and planned to start making the pies after dinner. That was delayed by some drama with a volunteer group I am involved with.


It is funny. I am involved with several different organizations as a board member or volunteer in some capacity. It keeps me connected to the community and especially to organizations that have helped Maggie or other kids. I am working for things I believe in. It is feel good work. When the drama occasionally happens it does not feel so good, but volunteering means commitment and we cannot just run away when things get a little sticky.

However, why does it have to happen when I have already screwed up by forgetting my promise to bake pies? Dealt with the drama and finally started making the pies around 9:30 or so. It really would not do to make pumpkin pies and not have one for Steve. That would just be cruel. So instead of three, I made four. That meant two rounds in the oven and very late to bed. The bonus was the wonderful fall smell in the house on a spring night.





Maybe tonight we’ll have eggnog.




since we're talking about pumpkins and cooking, I figured you needed to see another pic of Maggie as the chef from last Halloween.