Thanksgiving

I am having mixed feelings about this Thanksgiving. It will be the first one that I can remember really being without my family. It will be the first one in almost 30 years that I have not cooked at least a large portion of the meal. The hardest part about it all is that it was my own decision to do this. I am taking a class and have a major project/research synthesis due and need the days off from work to devote to completing this assignment. I always have the time off from work but the cooking of the meal takes at least three days. One to shop, one (the day before) to advance prep food items that I can, then the actual day of Thanksgiving, cooking, cleaning and getting everything ready for the guests. Not to mention the time it takes to clean up and put everything away. I just don't have the time to do all of this. I feel doubly guilty because my Mom's birthday always is around and on Thanksgiving. They are heading to Nashville to be with my oldest sons family. I know they will all have a great time, but I am not happy I can't cook. Nashville folks work schedules would not allow them to be here anyway this year, but I hate not following through with a tradition that does mean so much to everyone. I just have to do this for me..... so fly away turkeys.... Gobble on another day. Loved this picture of some turkeys I caught at a pumpkin patch this fall. Thought it fitting to use now.

THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

By William Butler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gabe and Mel came in on Friday evening and have been here for the weekend. Don't know if I posted here or not but they are expecting! Yay! A new baby in the family. We have not had a baby in a long time around here. Nashville will seem even further away once a baby is in the house. I will have to see what this skype is all about. It was so very good to see them. They will be in again in a couple of weeks for Ashley's wedding.

Trav had a little gig at a local coffeehouse called Common Grounds on Saturday night. We had a good time and all went well. The pics turned out a little blurry but that has been happening lately, so I hope everything is well with my camera. Our laptop went DOA and our new stove is messing up big time so the saga continues with my luck and electronics and appliances. I think it has something to do with my electric personality! HA! I can never wear a watch for over a year. They always give up and die. I think I do carry an extra electrical charge because static electricity builds up so badly in me. I shock myself to pieces on everything I touch especially in the winter. Later!

 

 

 

Friday FIll In

1. My car _____. (needs a wash and detail very badly)

2. ___________ is coming up next. (Trav's gig)

3. Lately, things seem ___________. (out of my control)

4. ___________ is one of my favorite 'hiding' places. (My backyard swing)

5. What happened ___________. (to responsibility)

6. ___________ is not impossible! (Finishing this class with me still intact)

Maxi Moo!

 

 

Maximus Teddy

 

New Little Dog

Well... we did it. Got a scruffy little matted mess at Jessamine County Humane Society. He was just pitiful! I have never seen so many fleas and matted spots. Took him straight to the groomer to be shaved. They could not save much. That is really my excuse for putting clothes on him. I thought he would be cold. You know after having a quilt on and then bare naked. I can't wait to see him grown out and cut in a true puppy cut. He is very sweet. So far no barking at all and only one little accident in the house. The first night we got him. Loves to cuddle and he is truly Roger's dog. Follows him everywhere. We decided to name him Max because my niece said he looked like Max on the Grinch. All long ears, pointy nose, skinny, and just plain pitiful and with a heart as big as Christmas! We shall see how the days go. Good for now.

I have never been hurt by what I have not said.
Calvin Coolidge

Gabriel's Branch Bank Opens

Where the Sidewalk Ends
by
Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

I love this poem and had not read it for a while. Thought I would read it and post it this week.

The Road Not Taken
by
Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.