Pie Problems

Here are the two pies I baked - pumpkin on the left, apple on the right - early Thanksgiving morning. Pretty, aren't they? This photo was taken on my new smartphone shortly before the pie on the left slid off its cooling rack on my side table onto the floor. Face down, of course.

I have a problem with pumpkin pies, it seems.

When I was a little girl, one Thanksgiving there was a pumpkin pie cooling in the pantry. When we went to get it we discovered kitty-cat footprints across the top.

Then, a few years ago my daughter and I got up on Thanksgiving morning and discovered we had no pumpkin with which to make the pie – usually I use the canned pumpkin called One Pie.  We drove all over the island hoping to find one last, stray pumpkin in a field, but with no luck. We kept driving and when we got back to Edgartown we saw two pumpkins sitting on a porch for fall decorations. So yes, we stole one and took it home, baked it, scooped out the meat and made our pie.

(The last story is not as bad as it first seems – you see, the porch was the office of my sister-in-law’s real estate company. I called her later and told her the story and of course promised to replace the missing pumpkin.)

The good news is, I managed to salvage most of the pie, and it was delicious - though not pretty anymore.

Also, next year we'll have another story to add to our repertoire and we'll have a good laugh: "Remember last year when the pie fell off the table?"

This all reminds me of a little song my mother taught me years ago (and that we sang to baby Ethan yesterday):

A pumpkin ran away
Upon Thanksgiving day,
Said he, "They'll make a pie of me
if here I stay."