OVER THE RIVER

(Well, we could have gone that route, but we didn't.  Instead we went through the woods [a little apple orchard can count as forest, right?]) to Grandfather's house we went!  (Er, at least there were several grandfathers there at the Thanksgiving Day meal.  And the house itself belonged to a son of one of them.  Close enough.)

The horse knew the way (would have known the way, had the horse-driver behind the wheel been holding reins instead!) to carry the sleigh (covered that already, Reader Dear; we were in a car) through the white and drifted snow ("Wow," said The Yard Man, "just five miles away from our house, and it looks like they got more snow here than we did! The ground is completely covered, and it's slightly piled up.")

Hurrah for the fun,
Is the pudding done? 
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!**
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**I forgot to photograph the dessert table, Viewer Dear,
but you can be assured the pumpkin pie was there (along with the vanilla pie, the grapefruit pie, and the apple-caramel pie)!

**Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!

**Lydia Maria Child
(she wrote the poem I've
played with here)

THANKSGIVING DAY

Eve, in the evening, I was still working on the fruit salad. I had peeled and sectioned the great pile of citrus fruit earlier in the day.

Now I cut up the pineapple, washed the grapes, seeded the pomegranate.  And I started on the green salad, as well.

I washed the two kinds of lettuce, washed the grape tomatoes, peeled the carrots, peeled the onion, chopped up the (yellow) peppers, mixed up the salad dressing.  Then I put together an enormous tasty meal to feed to the chickens on Thanksgiving Day.
("No, no," said The Yard Man, "chickens don't really like fruit peelings." 
"Well, what?!" I said.  "I should give them turkey and gravy, make little cannibals of them all?!"
[Next day, they got the fruit, and clucked in a thrilled sort of way])


THANKSGIVING DAY in the morning,
I gently mixed all the cut-up fruit together, added the grapes, cut up the kiwi and added it.


As soon as I had that fruit salad ready to go, I got out two big bowls.  I chopped the carrots, chopped the onion, started tearing up the washed greens. 

By now, The Yard Man was ready to set out for his sister's house.  "Are you about ready to go?" he asked.
(I was tearing through that job of tearing the lettuce [at least I wasn't tearing up, as the onions caused me to do!)  "Just about ready," I said.


I tossed in the carrots, peppers, onions, tomatoes.  Poured on the sunflower seeds. 

When it came to the pomegranate seeds, I did a little dance in my head--should I set them waltzing with the fruit, or partner with the lettuce?  I couldn't decide, so the pomegranate seeds went solo. 

And then we were out the door, The Yard Man whisking two bowls from their waiting spot on the table, while I urged for caution.

(to be continued)
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IT WAS A RANDOM ACT

of kindness that I experienced in the grocery store parking lot today.
When I drove there through heavily falling snow, and spent an extended amount of time in the restaurant* part of the store, I found a thick layer of the wet, white stuff covering my car upon my return to it.  As I began a red mitten type clean-off (awkward and somewhat ineffective), up stepped a young man with a nifty tool he had just used to clean his own car.   He used that tool on my car, and did a fantastic job.  I was charmed by the fact that he even cleaned the roof (not entirely necessary, you know, Reader Dear)!

It made me thankful for kind strangers in parking lots!

*I was accepting past-due rent.  I was getting a "Cancellation of Lease" agreement signed.  I was visiting with my Youngest Tenant and his father, and explaining to Youngest Tenant that leaving only four months into a one-year lease involves a (reasonable [if-one-is-the-landlord]) penalty. Youngest Tenant ordered a French Vanilla latte, and I followed suit. Youngest Tenant's father treated. 

It made me thankful for kind fathers of tenants who make things right!  It made me thankful for French Vanilla lattes!

When I got home in my snow-free car, with French Vanilla latte coursing through my veins, I set about making an enormous quantity of fruit salad.

Dear Viewer, if you come back tomorrow, you will see more of this dish.  You will see an enormous quantity of other things that make me thankful, as well.

Happy Thanksgiving Day Eve,
Dear Reader Dear!

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MIXED BAG

For the past several weeks, I've been noticing this guy hanging out near the road, each time I'm making a trip to the post office. I usually wave as I go by, and once I thought (hoped) I saw him wave back.

Yesterday I stopped and took a picture.  I asked him if he plans to don a red suit soon, but he just grinned.


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The Yard Man brought home a box of vegetables from the food co-op where he works.  He does this regularly, but not so often do I utilize them to decorate the supper table.  (The next day we devoured the little Christmas tree and its ornaments).

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Three friends and I met for lunch yesterday.  Because the restaurant was Ethiopian, and there was no coffee to be had, we followed up our meal with a visit to the nearby Starbucks.  Viewer Dear, you likely cannot discern this from the photo (taken by a kind neighbor), but we did a riotous amount of laughing!  

..

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Our covered bridge in autumn.

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TINY ACTOR, ACTING LIKE

 he's eating tangerines.

Small Actor, taking a break from acting.

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FATE BROUGHT IT ALL ABOUT.

A pair of shoes, Reader Dear, had been residing in my closet for decades.  In fact, more than a couple decades, almost eons!  I up and threw those shoes away the other evening.  Just tossed them in the trash, along with the crumpled napkins and used teabags!

It was all in the timing of things,* the way I said goodbye to them so quickly.  You see, this event occurred during the late-night evening with four friends (only two of whom weighed in on the issue of the shoes, and the fact that I had stored them for such a lengthy expanse of time with no intent of ever actually wearing them again [because they were white and plastic and the cheapest pair of shoes I have ever purchased (that, and the fact that they were starting to get a little mildewed, and the style was that of the long-ago time when The Yard Man and I mutually answered a minister's questions with, I do!)]  The other two friends were discussing politics, or nature, or the nature of political persons with The Yard Man [actually, I have no idea what those men  were discussing] when my two female friends cast their eyes upon these shoes and exclaimed in a chorus, "THROW THEM OUT!!")
I suppose these friends, Dear Reader, are not of the most sentimental sort, but they are two of the very best that I've got!  I value their advice.  I carried that set of footwear directly to the garbage bin and pitched them in.


And, the next morning, I tried very hard not to give it a second thought as I covered those shoes over with trash and dragon fruit peelings.
.




......
*"I want to see the shoes you wore to the wedding!" had requested my  out-of-town friend.

As you may have read, Dear Reader Dear, the wedding of my Dark-haired Daughter and David took place just weeks ago.  As fate would have it, the shoes I wore to that wedding had been shuffled away to a far corner of my closet (since they're summer shoes). As fate would have it further, I'd just done the shuffling on the prior day; I'd just been reminded of another pair of footwear dwelling in that far corner.  As fate would have it, my friend didn't specify which wedding.

WE BROUGHT FRIENDS

along home from the fundraiser, because it was the birthday of one of them, and I had made a cake.  Yes, yes, Reader Dear--it was THE CAKE again!  (I have made it six times since I first told you about it.  [I realize that sounds as though I am a bit obsessed with this confection (I am)])!

I had baked the cake with my friend's birthday in mind.  But I had another reason for making the cake, as well.  Other friends, from out of town, were arriving to stay over at the home of the Yard Man and me that very night. I had promised one of them a cake (Conveniently enough, I hadn't promised her a whole cake. [Even though I've been the Baking Dynamo of the Veritable Piece-of-Cake Cake, I have to admit I was delighted to let the one cake do double duty].).*

The out-of-town friends showed up at our house so much later than our first guests.  I had to make a big production of the wine and cheese and crackers and nut mix, stalling for time.  These first two friends were eying the clock and starting to make remarks about their usual bedtime.

And then, the Yard Man left the table and came back with a dragon fruit (gifted to him earlier in the day by a Korean man he'd met.   (Reader Dear, how often have you seen this downright stunning fruit?! In the natural world, this shade of pink is reserved mainly for flowers and sunsets]!)  The Yard man went and got a knife and cut open this exotic edible, and what ensued was nearly a half-hour of exclaiming and raving over it (on my part, I must admit) and tasting it, and...before you know it, in walked the out-of-town friends!

We went straightaway to singing Happy Birthday, and I cut up that cake. It carried us all the way to the end of the celebrated day and into the next one!
......

Well, the bonhomie of close friends around a table had a lot to do with transporting us into the early hours, as well.  Even dragon fruit and birthday cake don't hold a candle to the beauty of true and abiding friendship!
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*Cream cheese icing this time.

THIS PAST SATURDAY

evening, The Yard Man and I attended a fundraising event which featured African food, a silent auction, and African-style dancing. 

It was interesting perusing the auction items.  There was quite an array of things for which to vie--upping one's bid according to how easily one could imagine some stranger walking off  with the basket of chocolates or the original water color or the week at the beach house or the quilt or the antique coins or the...well...Reader Dear, I simply can't give you the whole run-down! (I told you there were lots of items!)

The food was interesting, too, and I enjoyed most of it (though I found the sweet potatoes somewhat too spicy).

But the real fascination for me was the fundraising dancer!

The Dancing Dynamo!

Viewer Dear, this woman was a non-stop mover and shaker!
(And she wasn't young, my dear.  She was whirling along toward late-middle, I'd say. It's that fact that had my mouth gaping!)

It was a strenuous job!*

*Mentally helping that woman to throw her arms and legs around like that was not easy.  By the time we left the event, I was totally exhausted!  (But I was happy to do it;  I think they raised a lot of funds!)
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SKY-STRUCK

They are all shown chronologically, as I took them yesterday, from morning until evening, traveling on my errands.  Be relieved, Viewer Dear, that I have dwindled this array of photos down to relatively few!

So gaga was I over the ever-changing patterns overhead, I fear I snapped that camera way too many times while driving.  I craned my neck too often!

By all accounts, I should have been arrested for driving while under the influence!

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THE LITTLE ACTOR

had one big wish:  JEK-14!!

For months, he yearned for JEK-14!
He pined for JEK-14!
He dreamed and schemed as to how he could get his hands on JEK-14!*
When asked by his grandmother what he would most like to get for his birthday, he responded with, "JEK-14!"**

Viewer Dear, isn't it fantastic to know that sometimes dreams really DO come true?  That a person can--eventually and at long last and after a large percentage of his or her lifetime has elapsed--receive all he or she ever wanted?!

*While waiting for his birthday, which seemingly would never arrive, The Little Actor suggested to his mother that perhaps Evan might loan him the JEK-14 that Evan is privileged to own.  Could they go and visit Evan? (Known to The Little Actor only through U-Tube, and living a continent away!)
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**"JEK-14?!  Huh?!" exclaimed his poor clueless grandmother.  "What in the world is JEK-14?!"
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***It is also quite wonderfully satisfying to be the granter of someone's dearest dream! (What is it YOU long for most, Reader Dear?! [Uh, just askin' ya know])
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THIS BLOG HAS BECOME

unbuttoned, unwrapped, flapping loosely in the breeze; its emptiness is so painfully obvious.

I will make an attempt, Reader Dear, to fill it with...well...with a couple photos I've taken of autumn--bright and beautiful autumn!
(It's the best I've got).

A walk in the park--that's where I saw these lovely planters.

When I drove past the home of some Amish neighbors last week, I was reminded that nothing says "fall" like an Amish wedding!  The day was Tuesday, which let me know the field full of buggies and the crowd in the yard meant an all-day celebration was in progress.
I explained to the tourists taking photos at the covered bridge--just a stone's throw away--that Amish in this area get married in November (in recent years it has included late October or early December) and always on a Tuesday or Thursday.

   

These few photos will have to rattle around in the blog until I get something that is interesting, unique, and more than just another pretty photo.  Be patient, Reader-Viewer Dear!

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