Sweet November

Patience may be rewarded

We are coming to the end of November and the weather is gorgeous. The coming week will be cooler but mostly clear, so I can't complain. I will just pile on the hand knits and move mittens and mitts for myself higher on the list of things I need to make more of.

We did not eat these

Thanksgiving was fun - fabulous food and good company. With a crowd in attendance we had ample excuse to go all out and serve both turkey and ham, plus a big assortment of sides in including two kinds of dressing, two kinds of gravy, and oysters. No oysters survived the afternoon, but Shana and I went home with plenty of leftovers including pie. Nothing says Holiday Leftovers to me like pie for breakfast! My pictures of the day are almost uniformly terrible, I am sorry to say. It's seldom I have such a complete failure, but I'll have another chance at Christmas to do better.

Fungus Amongus

There was some kerfuffle on Thanksgiving among the dogs. With all of them jockeying for position to get to the most likely place where meat might fall Mitzi and Louie were at odds, which made Roxy look like the angel she assuredly is not. She just slipped around getting as many treats as possible. The day was so exciting for her that she was exhausted when it was over.



I'm deep into holiday knitting and shopping, with most of my list under control. As usual the knitting is backing up! I've done nearly all of my shopping online this year. There are not a lot of retail outlets on Cape to choose from and no power on earth cold get me into a store on Black Friday to shop, although I did work that day. Despite the lack of door busters, The Major Retailer where I work was quite solidly slammed nearly all day. I was on the floor all day and had a very few minutes when there was no one waiting to be rung up. I am happy to say that I did not have to witness any of the ghastly mayhem that is surfacing on You Tube this week. It's shocking to see the behavior that people think is appropriate and sobering to think that the commodities that inspire this behavior are so far from being essential to sustain life. How will these people behave after the Zombie Apocalypse?

And instead of the ravening hordes of Black Friday - here is a hummingbird snoring:

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - All at Once

Lots of people I know are participating in naming the things for which they are thankful every day. Being the disorganized and procrastinating person that I am, I  want to just blurt them all out at once, in no particular order.

I am thankful for my excellent health, which makes so many other things possible.

I am grateful not to have any physical handicaps.

I am grateful to have three children, and all still living.

I am thankful that all three of my children are in reasonable health.

I am also thankful that all of my children are gainfully employed.

I am lucky to have two beautiful grandchildren.

I am fortunate to have my mother still living and in good health.

It was my good fortune to have two parents at home, which allowed my mother to be an home with us.

`I am grateful that my mother taught me not only to crochet, embroider, knit and sew, but even more valuable: to think that I might be able to make anything I fancied.

I am thankful that I learned early the value of reading for entertainment and knowledge.

I was given the great gift of having all four grandparents nearby through all of my growing up.

I was blessed with a good education.

I have been lucky to have lived both in the country and the city and in several states.

I am lucky to have kept my love of cycling for my whole life.

I am thankful that knitting has brought me to meet so many wonderful women.

I am thankful that from childhood I was exposed to people who taught me the value of democracy and participation in public life.

I am thankful that I was brought up in a union famliy and understand to this day the value of labor unions.

I am blessed to be living in the United States.

I am fortunate to have been able to move to Massachusetts at this time in my life.

I am lucky to able to enjoy the outdoors.

I am so happy to have a paid for and decent car.

I'm glad I learned what good Mexican food tastes like before I moved to Massachusetts (!)

I am thankful to have a wife who loves me after all these years.

I am thankful to have cordial and respectful relationships with my ex husbands and their families.

I am luck enough to have a home of my own and one that I love.

I am among the very lucky who always has enough to eat every single day.

I am so thankful that I am assured of an income (however small!) for life.

I am thankful that my wife is also employed when so many are not.

I have been the lucky owner of a number of very interesting dogs, who have added so much to my life.

I am lucky enough to be able to take a part time job doing something that is fun and pays a little too.

I am grateful for the Internet, through which I am able to keep in daily contact with friends and family members who are not physically nearby.




Of course there are many things that are not on the list. I am lucky indeed to have been born in the place and time and to the family I was. I've had a lot of opportunities in my life and although I have not taken advantage of all of them I am still very well off indeed. Of course I "did not build that" alone, so today I am pleased to be able to feature the people I love most.

While the Fall Weather Holds

Fall continues to be beautiful here on Cape Cod. We made it through Hurricane Sandy and the  nor'easter that arrived conveniently the following week with only minor damage done by each. My apologies to those who had large limbs across the road or their cars, of course. My neighbor's tree had a big branch twisted  off with each storm; one fell over my side of the fence and one on his. They are just hanging there waiting to be removed. Everyone here on the Cape thinks the nor'easter was much worse than Sandy - two days of strong wind and heavy rain were not much fun, plus it was much colder. The wind speeds from the nor'easter were about the same as Sandy here, and I think there was as much beach erosion with it.  From inside my house I felt like I was living on the highway because the wind sounded like trucks going down the road. Poor Roxy almost blew over one morning trying to do her "business". The Cape did not get any snow at all, and I am not at all disappointed. Because I had to secure my deck furniture in advance of the hurricane some of my fall cleanup is done already. I have not had my faucets & irrigation turned off yet. Must do  SOON.

Today we are enjoying a warm day, maybe the last warm one this week. After I finished my errands Roxy and I went for a walk at the Lowell Holly Reservation to make the most of the day. We walked about half a mile in and came back. In that time we saw easily half a dozen other groups on the trail, most with dogs. No one wants to miss out on a chance to get out for a walk because no one knows how long the weather will hold. I gave up on Furnace Wars just before the nor'easter came in - I thought we would lose power and with colder temperatures coming in with the storm I wanted to be sure the house was at a reasonable temperature. Also I was going around the house with the hood of my sweatshirt pulled up. I have the thermostat set at 60 degrees, so it's hardly tropical in here.

Looks like Thanksgiving will be a large and well attended meal. I'm looking forward to it, and to enjoying the traditional foods. We'll be frying a turkey again, plus baking a ham. As I look over the menu Shana and Lisa put together I think I can safely forecast a lot of people laying around helplessly after the meal.

Holiday knitting continues apace, with a lot of progress happening. Of course as soon as I finish one project I think of something else I'd like to add to the queue. One of the yarn stores here is going out of business, so I was able to replenish some of my basic stash for a reduced price. I've been knitting mostly from stash for a year, so it was almost an "emergency".