Thanksgivings

Hi all!

Hope everyone is planning to have a great Thanksgiving. Ours will be smaller but the three of us – two of us and my brother - will enjoy eating the small feast we’re planning.

Back in ‘98, (the year we moved to NH) we started having our family Thanksgiving here at our house. Dad and my younger brother, plus another younger brother with his wife and three kids. It was fun. Dad loved having us all around him at the same time. Moving extra tables together, borrowing chairs from church, finding enough table cloths to cover the tables. I used my mom’s good china and M’s mom’s silver. Our kids always called, if they weren’t here, my sister always called if she wasn’t here (We could have been one of those old long distance ads). I hate peeling potatoes and quickly learned to do it poorly so that dad would let me know and just as quickly, take over the peeling of the potatoes. Then he’d say, “You do this on purpose, don’t you?” Yup!

We prepared the standards – although we have a wonderful turkey farm restaurant here in town and purchased turkey and gravy there. Picked it up hot and fragrant around 1 PM. We also have the green bean casserole (that so many people despise…). Dad was convinced that his wife, my mom, invented that recipe. This year, our sons will be together for Thanksgiving and they’re making the green bean casserole, too.

Finally, when we started eating, Dad would proclaim, “This is the best damn turkey we’ve had this year!” He’s done that every year since I was young.

In 2005, dad was living at a nearby nursing home. They do a wonderful family Thanksgiving Dinner so we would join dad there AND do Thanksgiving for the group at home. Last year, dad was not able to sit in the dining room with others due to his MRSA. The nursing home set us up in a private conference room w/ glass doors. Dad could see everyone else, people came in to speak with him and we were near the pianist. It was different but still a lovely holiday celebration. And we ALWAYS reminded dad to say his line! (Photo is the piano lady with dad in 2008)

I consider myself fortunate to have wonderful holiday family memories. I’m sure one of the three of us will proclaim this turkey to be the best damn turkey (although, I’m cooking it so who knows?).

Have a great Thanksgiving, wherever you are!

November in New Hampshire

Ahhh, November in New Hampshire, sounds like a poem, huh… Nope, not from me.

Wood has been brought into the house. And more wood has been brought closer to the house.
The deck furniture has been put under the house.
The acorns have been swept from the deck, several times. (It’s much simpler to shovel the deck without bumping into frozen acorns.)
The day lilies’ stems have been pulled out so as not to magnify their deadness.
The small flower garden has been chopped down so it won’t be so difficult to work with after the snow melts (always looking ahead).
The hoses have been drained and put away.
The outside water has been turned off.
Our sunrises (later) and sunsets (earlier) have been gorgeous.

There have been a few flakes but nothing to get excited about for now, which is good.

Thanks for the memories

We had a fabulous time at the wedding this weekend. It really was nice to meet up with our old friends from our first neighborhood. The bride and the groom (son of our friends) were fun and it was a wonderful party to celebrate their marriage. It was a little unnerving to enjoy spending time with our former teenage babysitter (sister of the groom), now a mom of four young adults. It rained and rained the day of the wedding but everything and everybody stayed relatively dry.

Colleen – Cathy – Gail – Linda

Sunday’s weather was great for our drive back to NH. Gail and Donnie came back w/ us. Gail and I drove separately and made what we thought would be a quick stop at the Yankee Candle store off I91. Not a quick stop after all but we did our share for New England’s economy. The four couples have been friends and kept in contact for over 30 years. It’s been a great friendship for all of us!

 

Where is Fall?

It’s cold here, darn cold. It snowed on Tuesday, nothing to get excited about but those were snowflakes hitting my windshield as I drove to work. Not good!

Moffett went to KC last week. He had a great time seeing old friends, going to the Chiefs’ game w/ Chris and spending time w/ Kyle.

We shoveled out the guest room today, sort of… Boxed up a lot of stuff and threw out a lot of stuff. Much of the stuff is dad’s from the nursing home. It’s boxed, I don’t have the impetus to sort through it just yet. We gave his clothing to the nursing home. They have medicaid patients who have nothing. Dad’s clothes that I’d purchased during the last four years were pretty nice. They came from a place that makes clothing for nursing home residents and/or those who need easier clothing to manipulate. His favorite was the velcro buttons on his shirts.

Moffett has the deck furniture all lined up at the steps to go down and be stored under the house. I have to move the plants off the hearth so we will be able to get a fire going in the woodstove.

We’re off to Massachusetts next weekend for a wedding and time w/ friends. Gail and Donnie are coming up here after the wedding (clean up the guestroom…). They’re also very kindly bringing up some Duke’s mayonnaise and Virginia Gentleman bourbon – both items are not available up here.

The tourists are for the most part, gone. We can turn left again! To see some of our October photos, go to: Smilebox.

Fall, already?

Where did summer go?? I dread saying this to some of you, my friends, but – we never turned on our AC this summer. I know, my turn will come when I’m still buried in snow and ice, and can’t drive down (or up) the driveway next February. I didn’t miss the summer electric bill though.

Moffett and Kevin have been moving wood. We have wood from dad’s house moved over here – and wood from our house – moved closer to the house.

Kyle has a job!! Actually, right now, he has two jobs. The computer recycling place where he worked last year closed (ummm… last year). He survived on unemployment and other contributions… but finally has a job. He’s working at a furniture store and so far, seems to enjoy it. He’s also working at a Halloween store, so that job won’t last too much longer.

Chris has season’s tickets for the Chiefs and has invited Moffett to join him for the Dallas-Chiefs game this month. So he’s off to Kansas City on the 8th. He’ll be getting together with old bank friends and spending time with Chris and Kyle.

Dad’s house has not sold. Stupid economy. We’re not looking forward to another winter of keeping an eye on the plowing, the roof raking, the heat, the electricity. Oh well.

We’re ok. Looking forward to our short trip for the wedding next month in Massachusetts. Even better, friends may venture up here after the wedding for a short visit. Of course, that means I have to get this house put into some kind of order.

There was an article in the Globe recently about the abundance of acorns this year. I can totally agree with that as they’re crashing on the roof, the deck and make a terrible sound when they hit the glass table on the deck. Thankfully, the oak tree is over the living part of the house and not the bedroom.

Our view, the evening of September 5th.

Old friends

Well, we’re not ready to say, “By George, she’s got it!” But I’m getting closer as far as Office 2007. There’s hope!!

Weird thing – at the office we’re already putting stuff in next year’s calendar. It’ s very strange to type/write 2010 – After hitting two zeroes – have to go back and get a one in there. It’s annoying but I guess I’ll get used to it.

Old friends – way back a long, long time ago, we moved into our first house in Richmond, VA. We were lucky as our neighbors became our very best, long time friends. We were the “young ones,” no kids and no clue. They liked us anyway. Next month we’re off to a wedding of one of the neighbor’s sons. We’re all going to be there – there are four couples and I know we’re all very excited to spend some time together.

Our first son had a serious illness during the winter of ‘79. These friends were incredibly, awesomely  the best one could ask for. Our 20 month old son was in the hospital for two weeks. Richmond probably had some of its worst snow during those two weeks. I was pregnant. Moffett (yes, that’s really his name…) and I alternated spending nights at the hospital w/ our son. When either one of us got home in the evening, our sidewalk was shoveled, there was food in the kitchen, gifts and even a huge wall size card signed by everyone for our son (I still have that). One morning my husband woke up in a very cold house – turned out the thermostat had died. Another neighbor came over that morning and fixed it. I always get teary when I think about these good friends who supported us. We are so lucky to still be in touch with some of these great neighbors from a long time ago. And I’m truly looking forward to being with them again. (Oh, ps – the 20 month old is 32 and doing great!) Oh – and three of us were pregnant that winter – must have been something in the water…

We cherish all of our friends, especially those that have been with us for a long, long time.

Learning to learn… again?

We’ve done a whole bunch of computer upgrading at our church office. I’m excited, it’s going to be great. Right now though, it’s the pits. This week is better but navigating through Office 2007 and its ribbons is driving me nuts!! I’ve never gone to the help screens so often. I’ve never been so totally stumped when it comes to working on a computer. Ummm, hmmmm, yes I have I guess, since I’m also working with the new Dreamweaver (CSS, what’s that?? ((Cascading Style Sheet))). No wonder I’m feeling so untechnical. I’ve installed both at home (legally!) and I’m looking forward to uninterrupted time to explore and find what I need. It’s hard at the office to learn the new stuff. Between the phones, people and other staff members who are more lost than I am – I don’t have time to “get it.” My sister has kindly sent me all sorts of help files so I’m hoping to stretch my brain and maybe learn something new.

One very cool thing – I now have remote access to my office computer. That means that during a snowstorm, I’ll be able to work from home if necessary. Of course, that’s assuming there’s electricity and cable.

A visit with the dermatologist resulted in lots of nice scabs on my forehead and one on my nose. I look funny but then, I’m used to that.

In other news, dad’s house has only been shown three times in the last month. In the past, homes on the lake sold quickly. Not now. We need to go over there this weekend to do a little cleaning and put away all the summer stuff.

And the best news, the unemployed son has a job. It’s temporary but at least he’s earning some money and will hopefully be able to pay his own bills very soon.

It’s supposed to be a beautiful weekend here in NH. I’m looking forward to spending some time on the deck and – pulling more weeds out of the garden. Such fun!

Disappearing Font

My fonts are green and ugly. I have no idea what’s happened.

I’m working on it – so please excuse the difficulty of reading this.

5 minutes later – well, now they’re blue/black and some of them are still ugly. Seems okay if you just look at one post – but the “home” setting is messed up!!!

Some photos




Make a Smilebox slideshow

Selling the house on the lake

We have dad’s house for sale. Actually it’s mom and dad’s house. Mom died in 1988, dad this year. We’d love to keep the house but, regrettably, none of us can afford it. Selling an expensive house is not going to be easy as, we all know, there aren’t a lot of people with money just burning a hole in their pockets. We continue to enjoy the house, the lake, the loons.

Below is a photo taken by one of our sons, earlier this month.