Music Monday

Just couldn’t resist.  I loved spinning this one on my parents’ big console stereo and imagining that David Cassidy was singing it straight to me.

Welcome to our world!

Look who came knocking on our door on Friday morning!   A family in the neighborhood had bought him off Craigslist (isn’t that illegal?) and then realized he was more work than they had planned on and that he wasn’t an outside dog.  They knew the right house to come to!  They even already had all of his bags packed and brought them with them.  He trotted right in, and he has not left my side since.  I mean NOT LEFT MY SIDE, helping me now to understand what my friends on the AOL Pug Board mean when they refer to velcro pugs. 

I’m always taken off guard when someone makes a comment about pugs being ugly.  What?! Long before I had one, I thought they were adorable.  And now that I’ve been owned by one (and now two)?  I think they are just flat out handsome.  But it’s not their looks that have so endeared the breed to me.  It is their adorable personalities.  They  live to please and love and entertain.   They totally give themselves up to sleep- with snoring and rolling into a ball and smacking their lips at the deliciousness of it all.  They know how to find a good spot for a nap, generally in someone’s lap, or on the high back of the couch or  on the floor wherever a strong ray of sunlight  is shining in.  They like to pop off, barking long and hard at a passing pit bull…….once it is at least a half a block past him.  We are mighty lucky to have such an exuberant guard dog!

We don’t know a thing about where life has taken little Otis so far, but we are sure glad to welcome him into our family.

Thanksgiving with the family

 

Rules for a successful holiday: 1. Get together with the family 2. Relive old times 3. Get out before it blows  storypeople

 

Dessert Errata by Michael Feldman
A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Go resignedly to the folks’ remembering it’s just for a few hours. Though you must make appearances at her side as well as your own, eat with as much relish as you can muster, for this, too, shall pass. Choose carefully your words, gingerly stepping around your cousin Ruth’s latest fiasco with the Arthur Murray instructor, and ask not about Marlene.
Let on not that you have heard the stories before, and utter them not aloud simultaneously nor anticipate the punch lines. Chew with vigor and bite thy tongue, for the bird hath been cooked since Tuesday, yet praise it tenderly for it never heard a compliment in life. Be sage about the dressing though you know not the origin of the little hard things; should you bite into the wedding band, return it with discretion. Though it resemble syrup, pour not the Manischewitz on the sherbet.

Avoid your Uncle Lou; he is vexatious to the spirit. Kick not your little brother under the table, but show the forbearance of the season and pound him later. Picture Naomi and the kids as alien life-forms, and learn from them. Shout not at Gram, for she heareth what she chooseth. Though you take on much wine, sing not The Barber of Seville nor show undue attention to your niece, who has become quite the young lady. If belch thou must, let it not herald the start of a contest. Mince no words over the piece of pie which passeth all understanding.

Above all, say nothing on the ride home, even though the temptation to cite what might have happened but didn’t be great. For that give silent thanks, resolving to firm up those plans for Aruba over Christmas.

Amen.

 

 

All funny stories aside, one of the greatest things I have to give thanks for this year is my family.  I truly love every holiday minute with them……or most of those minutes…….or lots of minutes with various individual family members…..No, I truly do love every moment with them and do not take those moments for granted.

A tradition that we started on our first Thanksgiving after my father died was to do some sort of a family project together as a way of giving.  We’ve done stockings for homeless men, toys for kids at a neighborhood center, and this year we did stockings for little boys in a residential care program. 

I wouldn’t trade families with anyone. Not on our worst days, and certainly not on Thanksgiving!

Wednesday Link Love

Aren’t these sweet potato cupcakes the cutest?! And they sound tasty as well.

Priceless post here if you are a dog owner/lover or if you love cats, or if you don’t care for either.  Just a good read!

Grinch or no Grinch, what a great idea for an Advent calendar!

File this idea for next year. Cute as can be!

Filing this one away too. For….something, someday.

These pictures make me feel all warm and smiley.

We all need to heed this list from time to time.

Music Monday

Okay, so it’s Tuesday.  Well, actually Wednesday….Link love later

Pure joy. Pure joy.

What the Day Gives

Suddenly, sun. Over my shoulder
in the middle of gray November
what I hoped to do comes back,
asking.

Across the street the fiery trees
hold onto their leaves,
red and gold in the final months
of this unfinished year,
they offer blazing riddles..

In the frozen fields of my life
there are no shortcuts to spring,
but stories of great birds in migration
carrying small ones on their backs,
predators flying next to warblers
they would, in a different season, eat.

Stunned by the astonishing mix in this uneasy world
that plunges in a single day from despair
to hope and back again, I commend my life
to Ruskin's difficult duty of delight,
and to that most beautiful form of courage,
to be happy.

~ Jeanne Lohmann ~

(The Light of Invisible Bodies)

Thanksgiving Countdown

One week from today is the big day!  Not sure what you most look forward to on the dinner table that day, but I have some definite favorites. 

My mother’s dumplings and her stewed tomatoes have been my lifelong favorites.  At the big gathering we attend earlier in the day, the absolute must- have’s are yellow squash casserole, real mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (the old fashioned marshmallows on the top kind) and persimmon pie!  Heavy emphasis on the persimmon pie! What is it on your table each year that it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without?

I guess we could make light work of eating if we just whipped it all up into a cake.   Here is the recipe!