Thanksgiving in Pictures

 

I've never made this cute relish plate that looks like a turkey, but saved the picture from a few years back.  Someone was pretty creative.

This was many many years ago.  This was Mom I'm thinking maybe 40ish years ago.  

This is about the same time frame, as the family was small enough we were all able to sit together around Mom's beautiful table.  Those days of using the family china etc and all sitting together are long gone.  I think there were 8-10 of us back in the day.

One year when people were sick and we didn't get together.  It was just hubby, Darling Daughter and me at our place.  We used the antique family dishes.  This might have been during Covid?  I didn't date it, so am not 100% certain.

Fun outdoor decorations I spotted on a walk through the neighborhood a few years back.

Darling Daughter, Myself, and Hubby, the same year as the table picture above.

Our Thanksgiving this year will be at my youngest nephews house.  He has a nice large house with plenty of moving around room for 21 of us.  At least I think that's the latest head count.  We'll take a Pumpkin and Cherry pie with whip cream, 2 veggie casseroles (cranberries, Brussel Sprouts, and Butternut squash), and Bakes Brie in a pastry sheet with fig jam and crackers.

If you're traveling for the holiday, safe travels.  AND Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

The First Snow, In the Kitchen, The Hawk on the Deck, Resist

 

Not a fan of winter, waking up to this on November 10th did not make me a happy camper.  AND you can see we hadn't put away the remnants of summer with outdoor umbrella still there.  Plus, as you can see the trees still haven't dropped their leaves.  This is really really early to have snow.  MELT and chant with me 130 until Spring!!

Not too long ago hubby got a good picture of this big hawk resting on one of the chairs on the deck.  See the sun and plants vs the above white ick!  I love seeing hawks in the neighborhood to try and keep some of the over abundance of chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits in check.  Though I think we need more hawks, cause each year it seems we have bigger problems with the other critters eating and digging in the yard.

This is not something I stitched, but spotted on the internet and really liked it, so thought I would share it.

A very simple and tasty way to make a yummy sauce for your pasta.  Cut up onions and tomatoes (I cut mine tomatoes in half, as I use those sweet Compari tomatoes), a whole container of Boursin cheese.  I had some nice large basil leaves to add flavor.  Cook in the oven on 350 for about half an hour, then stir together.  I took out the leaves at that point and crushed them to mix in well and serve over your paste or blend your cooked pasta right in the dish.  Excellent!

Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray is a book many women can probably relate to.  At work or at home feeling that what they do goes un-appreciated.  A funny twist as she becomes in fact invisible and her son and husband fail to notice she's not really there.  Though her best friend does.  Then it gets really entertaining as she's able to spy on folks being invisible.  When to be naked and when to dress....now there's an interesting question.  A light hearted and entertaining book, but......it does touch on a real problem.

Love story, beach, money, and a mystery all rolled into an entertaining book.  Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores.

Mailman by Stephen Starring Grant.  A nonfiction story about a man who loses his job, can't find another one and settles to be a mailman in rural Appalachia Virginia.  He needed insurance so he took the job.  It turned his life around in such a positive way.  A real eye opener for me.  The hard work that goes unseen.  Entertaining, and educational.

E. Jean Carroll's book about trumpie and a detailed review of the courtoom with all it's drama.  She is very entertaining in the book, even though this is a serious topic.  It's her personality.  Of course we all know she won, we know he's guilty and sadly has still not paid her.  Between this book and Nobody's Girl (previous post), women trying to take down important and wealthy men is not a new problem.

I recommend all 4 of these books.  Let me know what you think.

I've started blogging about my France Adventure, click HERE.

Good Bye Summer, boooo Fall Has Arrived.

 

I'm happy to see so many Democrats won in yesterday's election, and hope things will continue that way as we move towards the midterms.

I haven't worked much on this variegated afghan, as summer really isn't the time to have something this heavy on your lap; but now that the weather has turned; time to pull it out and get busy again.

This past summer I planted Milkweed for the first time, and this was the first of 2 caterpillars I saw.  The season was almost over before I spotted any, and as you can see the plant was on it's way out.  After he ate a good bit, I moved him to a 2nd plant that was looking a bit better, I thought.  Then several days later as the cat was getting bigger, it moved it'self to a smaller plant and ate almost all of it...hopefully next year will be a bit better.  It was exciting to see the caterpillars.  Monarchs and all butterflies need folks to plant accordingly.

I finished this book a few days ago and am sorry I took the time to read it.  I stopped reading it multiple times and switched to other books that became available on my Libby.  I should have returned it unread.  Really HATED it.  I'm surprised it's rated pretty well.  I thought it was boring and slow moving initially, the story disjointed, and the ending DEPRESSING.  If it's on your to read list, do yourself a favor and delete it.

This book, How Fascism Works is a must read for everyone.  I wish I thought some of trumpie's supporters would read it, but I'm not hopeful.  

A very talked about book.  A bit hard to read.  We all know how horrific Epstein and Maxwell were, but to hear the details of what this poor child went through, as did others........heartbreaking.  I hope it's read by many and that increases the pressure on the pedophile protectors to release the files.

I've not kept up with documenting my exercise, as the summer's heat kept me from doing much walking beyond yard work and mowing.  However, hubby and I spent 16 days getting to and touring France and got lots of walking in.  Over our 16 days we walked 237,453 steps for an average of 14,841 per day with our highest day of 19,879.  Our total mileage was 96.53 for an average 6.03 miles per day.  The balls of my feet actually got sore, felt almost bruised.  I think it was all the cobblestone, and uneven terrain.  I'll be blogging about the trip with lots of pictures once I get them all edited.  

Been ages since I've blogged, must get back into and look forward to visiting all your blogs to catch up.