Thanksgiving & leftovers

Thanksgiving was wild as ever. We start out thinking, gee, only a few people, then..and then...it grows! Thankfully! Lou and Linda arrived on Wednesday. Chuck came over. Much wine was drunk!! I spent Wed. readying all kinds of food so T-day would be "calmer." In that respect...it was! Bought a different kind of turkey this year (what was I thinking?). So, it was not my usual, fantastic, bird. Oh well...I made the mashed potatoes differently (again, thinking?) they were dry, what the hell? My famous sweet potato casserole? Not up to snuff either. And then....green bean casserole, which I have NEVER made in my life...passable. Everyone was gracious enough to say nothing. Or...maybe they thought it was good. They said so...but you know, you can't always trust that. OK, I have been making Thanksgiving dinner for over 40 years (yikes!)...this year begged for the old ways. My kids, Lesli & Miles, were here. Sammy's daughter, Kim, and her family were in St. Augustine. Daughter Molly, in Colorado. She is a vegeterian, eats "meat" once a year, Thanksgiving, and, this year she even added bacon to her dressing! Patte (stepmom for 54ish years) and her friend Julie, Brad and his father, Howard, Celeste (ex sister in law/now sister). We were able to eat on the patio. Lots of loud political talk, which I dearly love!! Generally, preaching to the choir type of thing, but very supportive! Lovely day. My niece, Gabrielle, her very newborn son, Max, and her partner, Nate came for dessert. All in all...a very great day. No raucous dominoes 'tho. Sorely missed. My personal favorite game. It is a family game which we play all the time, with lots of yelling, hollering, tapping of tiles, laughter. I was thankful to have loved ones all together.
Friday night, Jonathan & Tama, friends from Tuscaloosa, came for dinner. At that point there were 5 dogs communing. All quite happy, as were the 2-leggeds. We had a great time. It was great having them here! I cooked Picadillo which I don't think I screwed up! It was quite a rousing evening too. LOTS of political talk! Whoopee! Keep it alive, ripple it out to the universe!
Miles did mention to Lou that he was tact challenged!
A very old friend, from high school days passed away last week. We found out Monday, just in time to attend his memorial service. It was moving. He was a marine, back in the day. There were 3 full dressed Marines there. The flag was folded and presented to his wife, Vicky. They played taps, which always brings tears. Jimmy was dressed in his favorite Hawaiian shirt, which brought a chuckle. Ahhhh Jimmy, we'll miss ya!
Yesterday was Celeste's birthday. She wanted all the "girls" to go bowling. Let me tell you, girls is the operative word here! Girls we are not!! I sorta strained my back working in the yard a couple of weeks ago. Not healed. Left side. Not good when you have to slide with your left foot...it was nothing short of grueling! The highest score of the 4 of us was 88!! That would not be me!! Good music in Pinarama, lights flashing. Corky, our friend the owner, asked us several times if we wanted the "rails" up! Absolutely not!! Maybe we will overcome the gutter!! I felt pretty good today, but you know, it's usually the second day when your muscles scream!
12.06.07
Today is Cody's 13th birthday! In doggie years that's about 70. He's doing great!
Sammy keeps saying he's going to do his "turkey" blog...so I'm going to go ahead & post this so I can do another one!! Tired of waiting for "el escargot"
*Perky*

Onward Thru the Blog

In response to the many requests to continue the blog(actually only one.Thanks,R)we have decided to keep posting ruminations on whatever as it's pretty good therapy and certainly cheaper than the standard varieties of shrinkology.Accordingly,we are asking our hordes of readers to submit suggestions on topics,format,good books,yoga postures and like that.Since our return to what passes for normality here,my main contrbution has been to stand around scratching my head and breathing thru my mouth.I NEED INSPIRATION,PEOPLE-help me out here!!!!Please limit your text to 5000 words or less and feel free to send pix.I remain your faithful servant(uh-huh)

el Escargot