black friday

We were up at 2:45 am getting ready for the Black Friday shopping frenzy, when Dorothy told me I could stay home if I wanted to. It was to be my first experience in this annual ordeal, but Dorothy spared me in an act of love and devotion, or perhaps, like a military commander, seeing the fear in a soldiers eyes, left me behind for the sake of the mission.

I prefer to do my shopping online. No lines, no frustration. I just hope Dorothy and Kelly don't injure themselves or anyone else today.

daffodils

This is my latest painting.

tastes

What I love about the Thanksgiving dinner is the combination of tastes. The stuffing (cornbread style, is there any other?), the sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green beans; hot rolls drenched in butter (not margarine), broccoli and rice casserole. You just can't beat that combination, can you?

Some flavors are great by themselves. Here are my favorites:

• Black Jelly Beans
• Black Pepper
• Iced Tea (a strong brew with sugar. Most of the country does not know the taste of real iced tea)
• Peanut Butter (this is what we'll all eat in Heaven)
• Sweet Onions
• Cilantro
• Bull's Eye spicy hot barbecue sauce.
• Hominy
• Dorothy's cinnamon rolls

Then there are certain food that when combined are just delicious for me. I have trouble stopping when I start eating:

• Beans and cornbread, then add fresh diced onion.
• Tacos (lettuce, cheese, tortilla, meat, hot sauce, oh boy!)
• Spaghetti with meat sauce and toasted french bread.
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Tuna sandwich and french fries

I think I'll stop this post. I ate a small breakfast in anticipation of a big dinner, so my blood sugar must be low because thoughts of food keep popping into my head. I'll go get ready to eat. Have a great Thanksgiving.

i'm thankful for:

• Dorothy (the love of my life)
• My children and grand children (they all bring lots of joy to my life)
• Health (my quality of life depends on this)
• Retirement (I'm still adjusting, I dream about work, but it's great)
• My blog and email friends (I feel like we've always known each other)
• Living in the country where the air I breathe is clean and crisp.
• Not having to commute to work and be exposed to the weather this winter
• Books (some of them are life changers)
• The ability to express myself through poetry and painting.
• Travel opportunities (I get so tired on the road, but upon arriving home I'm ready to go again.

quote of the day

What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.
-- Bob Dylan

ice skates

top: Burk and the girls get the skates on while Hunter looks on
next: Marley's ready
next: Tara and Sam skate with Marley
bottom: Burk and Marley

kelly and marley kate

let's eat

Marley shares a meal with fellow pilgrims and Indians.

thanksgiving feast

Marley Kate's class re-enact the first Thanksgiving

quote of the day

Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get. Where there is no ventilation, fresh air is declared unwholesome.
--George Bernard Shaw

tara's birthday

Tara blows out the candles on her birthday cake with a little help from Marley Kate. I think Hunter was able to blow out the last one. Whenever there's a birthday in the family the honoree gets to chose his/her birthday meal which is prepared lovingly by Dorothy. Tara requested tacos. Then we had a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and you guessed it, chocolate ice cream. It's Tara's 18th birthday. She said she wasn't ready for adulthood. I consoled her with the news that it only lasts 47 years and then you can goof off again when you retire. She didn't seem consoled, though.

found treasure

Dorothy's been doing some housecleaning; going through closets, drawers, etc.. She found this old, crumbling water color painting I did of her cat, Nutmeg, back in 1963. We were just kids at the time; I caught her cat sitting on a pillow and sketched her in pencil, then applied water colors. I was 17 years old. I'm going through all that stuff she unearthed. Maybe I'll find some more things for show and tell.

blast from the past

Today, two things reminded me of my work years. One, the alarm went off. That was a most unpleasant sound. We set the alarm because we were to pick up grandson Hunter this morning and keep him until Kelly picks him up this afternoon. I don't know why we set the alarm, we always wake up before that anyway. Two, it was 18 degrees outside and I had to scrape ice off the windshielf of the minivan before we could leave. I was hoping I had done that for the last time after 26 winters of scraping, scraping, scraping. Oh, well. It's Friday. I'll just take the rest of the day off and play with Hunter. He's in the kitchen right now with Grandma helping her to cook -- I'd better go relieve her.

looking back over the week

It's Friday so it's time to look back over this week and survey what I've accomplished. Not that I have a big desire to accomplish anything. I'm perfectly capable of sitting in the porch swing and watching the cars go by. But, I did work on a few projects this week. I cut down a snowball tree that hadn't bloomed in several years and replaced it with two Crepe Myrtles, one on each side of the side walk. I also cut up some limbs that had fallen out of trees around the place, adding to the stack of firewood I'll be hauling up to my daughter's house, soon. They burn wood during the winter.

I also made a frame for the painting my grand daughter, Sami, did for us. I painted it yesterday and today I'll give it another coat and mount the painting this afternoon.

I stained our bathroom door. It was unpainted and after I stained it, I noticed spots where Dorothy's hair spray had marked the door. They were unnoticeable before I stained it, so now I'll have to sand it down and restain it.

Wednesday I reformatted my computer. I was up til midnight on that project, but at least now the old 'puter is running smoother and faster. It's still going to be a few days before I get all the programs reinstalled.

So I haven't spent the whole week lollygagging, although that would have been an equally satisfying pastime.

quote of the day

"Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century Transcendental philosopher