And Then There was One!

Do you recall my post about my Mom's Turkey salt and pepper shakers. Well---we didn't exactly get through Thanksgiving without a catastrophe. I went up to get ready for dinner and when I came down, Dan looked, well-----woried. He finally told me Magglio pulled down the tablecloth with the salt and pepper shakers on it and the Tom turkey ended up in "a million pieces". I felt so sad and I am not sure if I will even pull out this lone bird next year. She may stay up on a shelf for safekeeping! It didn't help that the weekend was peppered(excuse the pun) with Adam's comments such as "anyone want salt and pepper with dinner---er make that pepper" But I am THANKFUL I still have this one left!

Life was good around here the last couple days. I hope it was the same with your family too. All that is left are the memories----of a trip to the Toledo Museum of Art with Adam and Jonelle to see Chihuly Toledo, of a family outing to our new Lucas County Arena to see the new team in town--the Walleye and of course the food. I couldn't resist the shot of Jonelle with her fabulous Gingerbread Trifle that she was taking to her family Thanksgiving. Okay,a night of rest and on to Christmas decorations tomorrow!

Ahhhh---another Thanksgiving has come to an end and it was surrounded by Family and Good Food. Do these pictures look familiar---after dinner the men relax and stretch out and the ladies clean up. Little did the men know that while they were sitting there awaiting pie, we were finishing off the rest of the wine and having a great time!

IMG00339.jpg

I left my desk for a short while at work this morning and came back and found this! It was so pretty I had to take it's picture and then was so delicious I had to blog about it. It's a Caramel Frappe from McDonalds! It truly made my day!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

We are making stuffing!! A little early---and it isn't for Thanksgiving dinner. It's my Mom's recipe and 1.I didn't want to forget how to make this delicious dish a 2. Combined with a Turkey breast, it will come in handy during the busy days ahead when family is in and out and we don't want to cook anymore. Enjoy this wonderful holiday and all the delicious cooking aromas that accompany it.

These little guys are back on the table. They used to live at my Mom's house and every Thanksgiving they would join us at the table and now I am lucky to have them as part of our holiday table. They are perched in front of the makings of Cranberry Muffins which are going into the freezer until our Day after Thanksgiving breakfast!

We have officially ushered in the holiday season by watching Love, Actually! It is my favorite Christmas, feel-good, great music, put you in the holiday spirit movie. And it has Hugh Grant---nuff said. It does have some nudity, so probably not for the kiddies. Bring on the snow!!

We graduated. Last nite was our last session in Obedience School with Magglio. And while he has made a lot of progress--he still has a lot of work to do. It became clear during the sessions that he was probably abused and neglected in his former life but we are committed to working him through his issues---and in return he gives us his love and-------well, mostly it is us giving him food, shelter, treats, companionship, rides in the car, safety from storms, pockets of treats. But in return, he gives us love. And---he walked away with the reward for "Best Recall". He isn't dumb---he knows that if we let him walk away and then re-call him, there is a treat in hand waiting!

If you don't live in Ohio or havev never lived in Ohio, you won't understand this post, so you can just stop reading right now. For the rest of you(excluding those Ohioans who are Michigan fans) here is a treat for your eyes(I tried to upload a video but no luck)--the Best Damn Band in the Land. Saturday is the Ohio State-University of Michigan rivalry and it is almost a national holiday around here. We were at a beautiful, elegant wedding Saturday and the bride delayed her entrance to the reception until the game was over(the wedding party was watching "the game") and so we sang OSU marching band songs!

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time---and I have had it even longer--probably since 1960ish. I remember learning to read and the joy of being able to read it myself. I read the first story in the book today and suddenly remembered why I loved this book so much. The fairy tale was kind of quirky. The King was poor but was "the manliest of his sex" and his Queen was the "lovliest of hers". They had 19 children and although they were dirt poor they all had charming golden crowns. But let's not forget the young Princess Alicia's bridegroom---Prince Certainpersonio---who, when found, was sitting by himself, eating barley sugar and waiting to be ninety. I know---quirky but fun.

It's Friday Night Lights here in NW Ohio and we are following the St Francis Knights on their quest for a State title. And yes it is cold sitting out here but we have our thermal underwear on!We are in Fremont Stadium where Charles Woodson played his high school football and rumor has it he bought the Astro turf field.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

Here is my salute to all our Veteran's who have served to protect our freedoms. I thanked 5 Vet's today------and am posting a picture of my father in law---Donald Liberty Gross(cool middle name!) who is 2nd from the right. We salute you all!

Happy Birthday Sesame Street! I loved that show when our sons were little and am asking myself why I don't watch it every now and then. You don't need kids to appreciate that show. We watched it so much in the 80's that Matt used to watch the Canadian Broadcasting Version in the mornings and learned to say the Canadian alphabet which ends with X-Y-Zed instead of X-Y-Zee. It took some convincing to get him to recite the American alphabet. Gosh, Big Bird doesn't look 40!

As is happening all too often lately, a friend suddenly died. She was the younger sister of one of my best friends and nobody could make me laugh like she could. But what I am most grateful for is the Summer of 1975. She was living on a dude ranch(a real one) in Jackson Hole Wyoming(while this area still had unspoiled beauty without gated developments and the only celebrity that live there was Robert Goulet). Her sister and I went to visit and stayed a couple of weeks and we went horseback riding through the foothills, drove up to Montana and Yellowstone Park, went whitewater rafting down the Snake River, and found a crystal clear lake in a Mountain Range called Gros Ventre where we swam in our underwear. She took us to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar where real cowboys danced with you and then called you "little darlin" and drove us to bars so far into the mountains that real cowboys were there on horses. It was a wonderful time in my life and whenever we would get together in recent years, we always said we were going back to Jackson Hole and find that Dude Ranch. Sadly, that will never happen.

This is a portion of a building in downtown Toledo that is smack dab in the center of urban blight with run down buildings and broken glass---but these colors always pop out at me and finally I had to take a picture.

We've been blessed with summer like temperatures and our area farmer's are making hay while the sun shines---or in this case soy beans. Each bean field today has been dotted with John Deere Green combines-----or International Harvester Orange or Ford Blue. These are from the fields around my Mom's homestead and also in the field behind our house-----I think it is a beautiful sight.

Remember when I finished Dan's pair of socks and I gave them a title--Golden Autumn Day?I also mentioned the next pair would be called Valentine's Day. Well--after finishing half the pair, I changed my mind! These socks will be called Red Sky at Morning. And I LOVE this yarn from Lorna's Laces. It is almost silky soft and feels so good on your feet. Look at the skein before it is wound---all those glorious hand dyed colors. You really never know how it will look until it is knit but I am always pleased with the results.

Sigh! We are halfway through our obedience classes with Magglio and we can honestly see improvement, but it is a full time job. Magglio is at the point where he is constantly looking at us as if to say "what do you want me to do now so I can get a treat? I think he is doing well at class but Dan and I have a lot to learn

How did you spend your Halloween? We wandered the Toledo Museum of Art on a cold windy afternoon. Started out visiting the Dale Chihuly special exhibit and then walked across the street to the main museum. Every time I visit I discover something I never noticed before and also visit my favorites like the Van Gogh Wheat Field. And in honor of Art Tatum's 100th birthday, there are 100 specially decorated pianos throughout the city----and we saw 2 of them at the museum!

Oh yes--it is great to have an extra hour but we did so much yardwork on this gorgeous November day that we are too exhausted to enjoy the extra hour. And I am still picking flowers for the house---this is my new favorite flower, Everlasting Summer Hydrangea. It starts out in early summer with Periwinkle blooms(thanks to soil ammendments or otherwise it would be a pretty pink) and then in late Autumn it puts forth varigated blooms from seafoam green with shades of plum. But their appeal doesn't stop there---I put them in water and they last for a long time and then dry retaining the gorgeous shades and look great all winter long!