Snow Job

The newspaper tells us this morning that a "Siberian Express" weather event will hit us sometime this winter. The article goes on to say that we are most likely in for a "snowmageddon". Last winter we only received 50 inches of snow, total. The normal is about 120 inches.

This is not sitting well with me.

Of course, how often are the weather people correct, right?

Right?

Mindful Monday

Snowing again. 

The turkey is all gone.

Should have made two pumpkin pies.

We watched the animated movie, "Brave".  Really entertaining. Scottish accents, too.

Here's a cute picture of my son and daughter.

They have great smiles, don't they? And beautiful eyes.

A quiet, mindful Monday today. Lots to think about and plan.

Yule is coming.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like........

SNOW!! 6:45 am this very morning, I got up to a snowy world. 3-5 inches predicted for today. Hot chocolate, anyone?

Good Gravy & The Day After

We had a delicious Thanksgiving. And now are thinking about the leftovers we will have tonight. Always so good. Of course, I had my traditional, morning-after Thanksgiving slice of pumpkin pie for breakfast.  The weather is unusually mild. I did miss that crisp, chill air yesterday.

My success story for Thanksgiving dinner this year is a new way to make the gravy. Our wonderful Jaz at OctoberFarm blog posted her method, which saves the stress of having to make the gravy at the last second while everything else is ready. Click HERE  for her wonderful gravy recipe.

The above is a photo of my stock pot filled with turkey parts (legs, wings, necks) and a large variety of veggies and herbs and seasonings. It smelled divine whilst simmering away.

A steamy photo of the finished turkey gravy. It is a cinch to make, especially if you are familiar with making the basic roux (flour and butter) then continuing on to make a bechamel sauce (basic white sauce), etc. If you have never done that type of sauce before, Jaz's instruction are very easy to follow, and with photos!!
This was an excellent tasting gravy, and such a relief to have it all done way before the turkey came out of the oven. Next year I will be making this gravy a few days before the big day.

Naturally I completely forgot to get a nice photo of our Thanksgiving table. So aggravating. Please take my word for it that everything looked and smelled wonderful, and everyone enjoyed all those wonderful flavors.

I hope all who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday had a terrific day.

We are not Black Friday shoppers so today is a family-oriented day. It's quite pleasant.

Here's two curious kitties peering out the front door for the first time. It's a big world out there, kittens!

Have a super day!

Fourth Thursday of November

image source

Blessed be on Thanksgiving

The Eve of Thanksgiving

Busy goings-on here, as is most likely the case in homes across this great nation of ours! The Thanksgiving feast is poised to greet us tomorrow, and I for one, am very happy. Love the flavors, aromas, the menu and the memories of Thanksgiving. Particularly poignant for my family this year, our first without Mom.

The cranberries are simmering away, the butternut squash is roasting away and soon pumpkin pie will be baking away.

Cranberries simmering on the stove this morning

We have a 23.68 pound fresh turkey in the fridge just waiting to hop into the oven tomorrow morning and do his part for our dinner. To Mr. Tom Turkey, you have the gratitude of a thankful family. I have been buying fresh turkeys for several years now, as I am so tired of the anxiety of defrosting the big ole butterball. Some years worse than others, especially when, on occasion, another frozen bag of "innards" would appear way down somewhere unexpected. Now don't anyone tell me that has not happened to you!! lol!!

image source

So scurrying around, cleaning (rather haphazardly, I might add), baking, checking my 100 lists, getting excited for the arrival of our lovely Raethan and her sweet husband, herding kittens, and looking forward to the quiet evening of happy chatter, the roll of dice on the board games, and thoroughly enjoying this Time Between Time holiday.

And absolutely no thought given to all the Black Friday nonsense (or Black Thanksgiving for that matter, ludicrous). Stay home with the family. Don't be bullied by the retail industry into racing around like turkeys without their heads trying to find the best, better, cheapest deal on most likely made-in-China crap that will be broken or forgotten by New Years.    Okay, sorry for the rant.

How is your Eve of Thanksgiving going???

Ascending from the Murky Depths

Huh? "Ascending from the Murky Depths"?

Oh, that's just me being melodramatic.

I am feeling a lot better today, though I really got hit hard by this dang cold. And now here it is, two days before Thanksgiving. Have not done the food shopping yet. The house is a disaster. Pies must be baked. Cranberry sauce needs cooking.
I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on and emails to answer.

But, the good news is I have family members to lasso. They will pitch in at the last minute and all will be well.

And I do give thanks for that!!

funny turkey hands source

Bless Me!!

The kittens and I survived their surgeries! They spent the night at the veterinary hospital and then were ready to come home the next day. Everything went well and they were very very happy to return home.  I was glad to get them back home too!

Don't get too close to the screen, now! I have a miserable cold and am coughing, sneezing, sniffling and groaning. So much to do before Thanksgiving! Isn't this always the way?!

Meanwhile, the computer is still giving me some problems; it seems to be hit or miss as to whether I can get to websites. Very strange. I am glad my husband will be home from his trip tomorrow. Fix it, please, dearest husband.

Have a superior weekend!! Can you hand me a tissue please?

The Glitches and the Power Outages

Oh, people, I have had a terrible time this morning trying to get my computer to do what it is supposed to do. Firefox kept crashing (at least 4 times in a row). So, I shut down the laptop, got a cup of coffee, turned the ding dong thing back on. Wait. Wait. Wait. Finally, up and running, seemingly. Just seconds away from logging into my email, and "Blam" the power went out. A minute or two later, the power came back on, then, right back off again. About three minutes later, the power is back on. Still on. Waiting. Should I turn on the computer? Wait. Still on. Okay. Turned the computer back on. Got another cup of coffee and a book.

So here I am about an hour later, answered one email and signed into blogger. I will attempt to read some blogs. Completely forgot my plans for today's post. Just happy to be here at all.

Have a great Wednesday. Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow.

Argh, my kittens are having their surgeries tomorrow. Wish us all luck.

Ruminations

After two gorgeous, sunny high 60's days, we are back to the chilly gray drizzly ones. But it's November so what can one expect? 

The leaves are all off the trees and have turned into dried brown skittering-along-the-street things. All day long yesterday the streets were in constant motion with hundreds of dried-up leaves dashing off to parts unknown. It was an interesting sound.

So much going on in the news these last few days, and on the blogs. I am disgusted at the Petraeus situation, concerned and shocked about the lack of progress being made in NY and NJ with post-Hurricane Sandy problems. I like to keep abreast of current events, but it is difficult at times, to not become obsessed with certain situations.

Unfortunately, some of the blogs I have been following are suffering from negative situations; death, both people and beloved pets, jobs lost, ill-health and other life upsets.  One leaves sympathetic comments, but that never seems enough. Makes you feel helpless.

I realize that Mercury is in retrograde and these circumstances crop up a lot more during this time. We just must redouble our efforts to send out as much positive energy as possible.

On the homefront, my husband is away on business for a week, my brother has medical tests and appointments, and the kittens are having their spay/neuter surgeries this week. The good news is Thanksgiving is just around the corner and my daughter and her husband will be able to join us this year to observe the feast with us. Now that makes me smile!!

Sending out good wishes for calm, non-eventful days!

Because of the Brave

Veteran's Day has come round again. I join in with honoring all the men and women who have served the United States during war and peacetime. It does seem a very long time since we have seen peacetime.  I will repeat a phrase I love, which I have used here before:  "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave."  My heartfelt good wishes and gratitude go out to all who have served and are serving now.

My dad was a veteran of World War I. My husband is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, retired after 24 years of service. His father was a veteran of World War II. My dearest friend and godmother to our children is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in the Persian Gulf.

No matter the stance one has on wars and armed conflicts, or one's political views, the fact that our military is ready to serve, ready to risk life and limb, that so many have been killed, maimed and suffer countless other traumas on behalf of our country--we must support them, honor them, help them when they return home. We must thank them, believe in them and be proud of our fellow Americans.

Today also is a special day for our family. My darling husband was born on Veteran's Day, November 11th (um...some years ago, lol). Happy Birthday, Hunny Bunny! We are all very proud of you!

Three cheers for all our veterans!

KnockDown DragOut--Post Election FallOut

Yesterday morning I was sitting in a doctor's waiting room while my brother had an appointment. I was reading a really good book.

Next thing you know, a loud conversation started up between two older gentlemen. One was ranting about the election and the second one was ranting louder about the election. Of course it became apparent which party they each belonged to and that their opinions were vastly different.

The older of the two started getting quite riled up which made the other fellow even louder. They were each spouting extreme opinions.

There were about 12 people in the room. Reactions varied to this debate; chuckling, outright laughter, embarrassed silence, irritation. The lady sitting next to me was also reading, or trying to. She stated "People are trying to read, please be quiet." The two men kept right on going, louder and angrier. She hissed at them again to settle down.

I asked the old guys, "Can't you two just agree to disagree?"

Apparently not.

Finally the loudest man was called by the nurse. He rumbled and ranted from his seat, then stood by the nurse who was holding the door open for him and barked a a little bit more. Eventually he went in (to get his blood pressure taken by the way!).  The other man huffed and puffed for a bit until another lady handed him some magazines to look at. A quiet peace descended upon the rest of us.

I thought at one point the old geezers were going to come to blows.

Most likely, this same scene is playing out across the country in diners, barber shops & hair salons, club meetings, work places.  On the positive side, I am glad to see people showing interest in the issues that face this country; for too long there has been a lax and apathetic feeling among a vast group of people.  It would be more productive, though if discussions could be less volatile, better informed and less accusing.

Probably never going to happen though. But freedom of speech is alive and well in America, and dissenters were the impetus behind the founding of our country.

So talk on, people. But a little more quietly...people are trying to read.

arguing source

Now that It's Over.....

Not a landslide victory, but still a Win. What we can hope for now is that the next four years will justify the votes of 50% of the US. And that our President will do his utmost to fix/repair/heal the significant ills that face our country.

My heartfelt and fervent wish is that the people who did not vote for Barack Obama will put down their mudslings and do their utmost to support the President. Not a naive wish; it could happen.

Congratulations, Mr. President, make us proud.

Tuesday November 6th

It is our right and our duty.

Not-So-Lonely Pumpkin

In yesterday's post, I put up a photo of my pumpkin, looking sad and lonely on the deck. This drew sympathy from my caring readers who wished the poor thing didn't look so melancholy.

In the interest of keeping my Wiccan Wreaders happy and engaged, I present now a Happy Pumpkin, no longer singular or unbefriended.  Your Welcome.

Have a great Saturday!!

November Tempest

Dreary, rainy, chilly. Typical for November. But at least we are safe and snug in our homes here, while the thousands of people affected by the Hurricane in New York and New Jersey, as well as the other states, suffer through the tempest that has become their daily lives. Catastrophes from weather events continue to display the power of Nature over us humans despite the fact that Man is supposedly advanced in all arenas of intellect and technology. Nature will win. Our thoughts and prayers and energies go out to all who are suffering. And to the many rescuers and repairers as the damage and destruction of the hurricane is made right.

Halloween has come and gone. All that remains is one lonely pumpkin and some fallen leaves. The Wheel of the Year completed its circuit with Samhain. The end of one year. In December the first sabbat of the New Year is Yule, the Winter Solstice. For me, from Samhain to Yule is a "Time Between Time". A waiting time. Sort of a take a breath, say goodbye to the year just passed and get ready for the next sabbat and the start of all new things. Squirreling away things for a long, cold winter. Planning festivities for Thanksgiving at the end of November. Reading, baking, talking with family and friends. Reflecting on the past year, thinking about the good and bad, putting it behind me, though taking note of lessons learned and generating ideas for the New Year. No action taken at this time. Simply being in the present moment and waiting for what will come. Time between Time.

On the deck under the woodpile, somebunny is preparing for winter too. Fortunately somedoggies were not aware of this trespass.

Meanwhile, out the front window, kittens discover sparrows in the Japanese weeping cherry.

And Lexie keeps an eye on the kittens, making sure they don't shred the curtains or wreck the blinds.
All is well and quiet in our little world.

"I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too proud. So I like best of all autumn, because its tone is mellower, its colours are richer, and it is tinged with a little sorrow. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and its content."|

-  Lin Yutang