A special day

Today is for John.

It's always be his birthday.

He is always missed.

Not quite Thanksgiving

Margaret came for me yesterday afternoon, and she's been cooking all day today.  I've done a little helping - mostly what I can do sitting down.  Then I did the last part of making the dressing - adding the seasonings and stirring and tasting.  I mentioned that I was hungry for a steak, so she got some for us tonight.  Jesse cooked them on the grill - and a lovely medium-rare steak was SO good.

The big news here was a phone call from Sarah (the youngest grandchild) telling me that her Carson had literally gotten down on one knee and proposed to her - ring and all.  I don't think the wedding will be too soon, but they've been together for a while, so no hurry.  We're all excited for the two of them. 

Love and Food

It's gotten to be late November and time for Thanksgiving.

This is one of my favorite holidays and I hate that it has gotten passed over with all the emphasis on Christmas.  And that's really all about shopping, spending money, and commercialism. The radio station playing in the lobby of The Terrace started playing Christmas music on the day after Halloween!  I asked them to turn it off, but of course, that didn't happen.  Sigh...

The traditional Southern Thanksgiving meal is one of my favorites.  It's a lot of work, but since everything is the same each year, there's really not much mental work involved.  I love the turkey, dressing, country ham, cranberries (in all forms), squash casserole, green beans, potatoes (white and sweet), gravy, mincemeat pie, pumpkin pie, and whatever else shows up.

And then there's the family and friends who gather to share in the bounty.  When the girls married, shared holidays with other families, had children, and traditions of their own to develop, John and I started having our celebration on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  The getting-together was the important thing, not a specific day or date.

The number to feed has always been variable.  It depends on which family members are able to come.  So we started inviting friends to join us.  Since there is always SO much food, the number of mouths isn't important.  Plus we never try to all sit down at the same table at the same time.

For this family, the holiday is about Love (and food)!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday Six

1. I've slept well the two nights since that last "Sleepless in Chattanooga" night.
2. Sue asked me about making the Christmas thing with the mothballs in a tank of water that bounced up and down like snowballs, using the mixture of baking soda and vinegar to make the carbonation bubbles.  I hadn't thought of that in a zillion years.  Did anybody else do that?  Do you remember the formula?
3. That terrible line of thunderstorms roared through here last evening, with only about 0.25" of rain.  It was fast, and nothing severe here. I just learned tonight that there was an F1 tornado in the Nashville area last night.  Wow!
4. It did get cold overnight, but turned out to be a nice sunny day.
5. It's supposed to be near freezing in the morning when I leave for the Y.  So I guess I'll have to scrape the windshield.  I hate doing that.  I think I'll try the spray bottle of alcohol if there's frost.
6. Thinking ahead to Thanksgiving, my friend posted pictures of her table already set for dinner.  That couldn't happen in our family!  For starters, we have our Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day.  And, our dinner is never for a finite number of people.  Our celebration has always been with the family who can be there in person, plus an assortment of good friends who are able to be with us. It's probably my favorite holiday for sharing.

Tough night

Four hours sleep, in spurts,

Just doesn't get the job done.

Hope better tonight.

Bridge

I played duplicate last night.  For a change, my partner and I did well.  With 10 pairs and 18 boards, we came in 2nd and had a couple of high boards - all for 0.56 MP!  Nothing much else going on.

Five for Friday

• The pool felt really good this morning.  And coffee with my buddies is always a treat.
• I did a couple of errands while I was out - post office, and checking on my Comcast account. They keep telling us that the building is going to switch to our local fiberoptic provider (which we had before I moved here).  It is so much better - and I wish that would happen sometime.
• I'm going to have to start bringing the bird feeders in again.  Some critter cleaned them out last night.  I don't know what, though.  It couldn't have been a raccoon because the feeders weren't knocked off their hooks or disturbed in any way - just empty.  A mystery!
• The folks here at the Terrace have put up a Wall of Honor across from the dining room, with photos of our veterans, back in the day, in their uniforms.  There's a special party tomorrow morning to honor them.  We even have a woman who served in the Air Force during WW2.
• I've placed a pick-up order from my local Walmart and will pick it up in the morning.  I absolutely LOVE this service, and haven't been in the store in several months.  Plus there's no charge!

Tuesday weather

I woke up about 4 and couldn't go back to sleep.  I got up about 5, ate some cereal, and headed for the chair.  To my surprise, I slept hard until after 8!  I really had to make myself get up, get dressed, and go to Silver Sneakers.

We had a lovely hard rain this morning - nothing severe or windy, but an inch in the rain gauge.  The temperature dropped about 15* during the day.  According to the weatherman tonight, there were severe storms with very high winds and some damage in the counties just north of us. I'm glad we didn't get any of that.

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Yorkshire Pudding is a blog I follow. His post today about the "Paradise Papers" and paying (or not paying) taxes is super.  Check it out.

Good start to the week

At the suggestion of a friend, I got some Icy-Hot patches to try for symptomatic relief for my back pain.  I didn't have much pain yesterday when I first tried one, but one time does not a solution make.  On the other hand, it's almost impossible to put a sticky patch on your own lower back - especially when one arm doesn't work very well.  So I don't know if it's something I want to try again (unless I can find some kind soul to apply it for me - LOL).

Monday night is for duplicate.  Partner and I wound up in the middle - not too bad, but no Master Points.

I had a year-end appointment with my financial counsellor this morning.  She is great, and is doing such a good job with managing my assets.  I'm really pleased with the way she/the firm are handling things.  They're not only keeping me solvent, but continuing to grow my "nest egg".  It's certainly comforting to me (and the girls) to know that I can live out my life without any money problems or being a financial burden on the kids.

Sunday Stealing

First Things First

{1} First thing you would do/buy if you won the lottery: First thing I could call my financial advisor and arrange for an attorney. Of course, I would have to buy a ticket first.
{2} First person you call when you get amazing news: My daughters.
{3} First thing you do when you've had a bad day: Head for my chair and some knitting.
{4} First movie you went to without your parents: That was probably 70+ years ago - I have no idea.
{5} First sport you played (Little League-style or in school): Never played sports in school, except when required in gym class.
{6} First major injury: Severed artery from a broken bowl.
{7} First product I use in the shower: Body wash.
{8} First apartment or house on your own (away from you parents!): When John and I moved into the apartment on Garrett St.
{9} First Roommate(s): John
{10} First Time Living Away from Home: Summer away from home working at a resort hotel in Colorado.
{11} First magazine subscription: Jack & Jill
{12} First real piece of jewelry you owned: My wedding ring.
{13} First time staying home alone: I have no idea.
{14} First thing I reach for in the fridge: Ice
{15} First car accident or traffic violation: Rear ended by a truck.

Bonus:  Toilet paper, over or under? Over.  

Five for Friday

1. Obviously it's been a very quiet week.
2. Margaret came over last Saturday to get the transportable plants off my deck, to put in her greenhouse.  We were due to get a frost Sunday night. It did frost, and the tender stuff that was left got shriveled.
3. I played duplicate Monday night with a different party.  We did fairly well, but the scorekeeper screwed something up, and the results never got posted.  Oh, well - maybe next week.
4. My back pain has gotten bad enough that I've made an appointment to see the spine doctor.  Earliest available time is on 8 December.  We'll make it work until then.
5. I substituted at duplicate this afternoon.  The scores got posted, but we didn't win any master points.  Oh, well...