A new Thanksgiving recipe

Ingredients:
One tired couple
Two congenial family members
One luxurious B & B
One nearly-deserted beach



Rise late. Eat sumptuous breakfast. Spend the rest of the day strolling on the beach in eighty-degree weather.
Consider repeating annually.

Too cute (For dog lovers only)

Amie is generally somewhat reserved and sedate (except when she hears the word WALK), but when she is alone in the back yard, she loves to cut loose and roll, roll, roll. She is very reticent about doing it if either of us is watching. The Scientist took these pictures through the living room window, and I just had to show you Amie in mid-roll. Fellow dogbloggers (you know who you are), consider it a Thanksgiving present.



Ahhh! That's better!

We're headed for our favorite beachtown bed and breakfast tomorrow with the Scientist's mom and sister. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Delurking Week

Don't be shy! Leave a (hug) or a (o) if you can't think of anything to say! Thanks for stopping by!

Thankful, part 2

The "Friday Five" assignment is to list five people, things, etc. for which we are thankful. Here are some random impressions:

1. All the blessings that have come to me over the years as a part of the family of God--not just the blessing of salvation, with its present implications of healing and movement toward wholeness, as well as its "by and by" implications. That would be more than enough, but when I add the blessings of friends and community that I have known within the Body of Christ over the decades, and now even across cyberspace, I don't have language for my gratitude. I can only ask God again for help in living in a way that shows God how grateful I am.

2. The Scientist. Enough said (not really, but I'll restrain myself).

3. Good health. Freedom from pain. Five functional senses. All of my physical blessings.

4. A warm house, a full pantry, and interesting employment that helps pay for both.

5. Literacy. How impoverished I would be (in every way) without the ability to read.

It's hard to stop at five, isn't it? I must make it six and include the love and companionship of all my furbabies, past and present, especially the little blue heeler lying next to my chair right now.

Today I am especially thankful for the visit of our friends C and P, who stopped by for brunch on their way from Austin to Galveston to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. C remembers playing Candy Land at my house when she was five years old. I don't remember that, but I do have a picture of her eating ice cream at my seventh birthday party. We later suffered all the slings and arrows of high school together, and although our lives have taken very different paths, we have kept our friendship through all these decades. Happy anniversary, kids!

Taco time!

Dining solo tonight, I wanted to make a couple of egg tacos before dashing off to choir practice. Now, the only thing I don't like about eating egg tacos is that the picante sauce drips out, usually onto my lap. So tonight I had the bright idea to scramble it into the eggs. It worked beautifully! Try it!

If you're looking for profundity, you'd better go to another blog. If you just want a good quick supper, tonight I'm your gal. Off to choir!

Mistaken identity

Our happy little home at "123 Blossom Court" is getting a much-needed new roof this week. We are having all the fascia, soffit and gutters replaced too. The past two days have involved the usual round of missing work, waiting around for workers who don't show, etc. Today we left before the carpenters arrived, but had been assured that they were getting supplies and would be there shortly. When I came home for lunch, I found that indeed a three-man crew had been busy all morning, up on extension ladders, pulling down gutters, tearing out the old fascia and soffit.

Around the corner.

At 123 North Blossom Drive.

Oops.

Now, that house is for sale and unoccupied. The lead carpenter explained to me later that when he realized what they had done, he called the realtor, who then called the homeowner, who agreed that as long as everything was put back in place, he would be a happy camper. All I could do was laugh, and the lead carpenter laughed too. I don't think the other guys were laughing.

When I got home this evening, two men were working away at my house. The third was at the house around the corner, painting the new fascia he had just installed. He still wasn't laughing.

Friday Five: What's red, blue, and purple all over?

1. Favorite red food
Does Erath Pinot Noir count? If not, I guess I'll say strawberries. Or cherry pie!

2. Tell us about the bluest body of water you've ever seen in person.
First let me show you.


This is Crater Lake, in Oregon. We made a wonderful trip to Oregon about four summers ago (where we sampled the aforementioned pinot), and Crater Lake was one of the highlights. I went through several pages of images on the Web before I decided that this was as close as I could get to the real thing--which is bluer than this!

3. It's movie rental time: Blue Planet, The Color Purple, or Crimson Tide?
Before I saw this meme, oddly enough, I was thinking about Crimson Tide this morning--the part where Denzel Washington has to make the decision to close off part of the submarine, knowing that a lot of the sailors will die, and as this is happening you hear the Navy Hymn. I don't usually enjoy this type of movie, but Crimson Tide was a good one.

4. What has you seeing red these days?
The same thing as always: animal abuse and neglect. Your local branch of the Humane Society or SPCA can always use your help. They're even happy to receive your old towels and bathmats, so don't throw those away.

5. What or who picks you up when you're feeling blue?
My two favorite life forms: the Scientist, and little Amie, who grins when she sees me coming and wags her stubby tail as fast as she can. Cuddling with either of them makes the world look a lot better. If I'm alone and slightly mopey, I like to get a glass of red wine and play my old LP's from high school and college, singing along with Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell ("Love came to my door/With a sleeping roll/And a madman's soul..."), Dan Fogelberg, and Laura Nyro's Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. After a while I go to bed. I learned when I was in college and often feeling overwhelmed, that things always look better in the morning.

Post-election wrap-up

This morning I heard a story about a coworker's friend who babysat her young niece after school and into the evening yesterday because of a family emergency. Late last night when the child's mother came to get her, she lamented,"With everything that went on today, I never had a chance to vote."

Her daughter piped up, "We voted! We voted! Emmitt and Cheryl!"

****

On a different note, every election season reminds me of my service as a precinct judge when we were living in California in 1986. Earlier that year, news coverage of Corazon Aquino's election to the presidency of the Philippines had shown courageous poll workers who defended the ballot boxes with their lives. And the biggest sacrifice I made to work the polls was to be there by 6:00 A.M. How grateful I always am for our election process and our right to vote. May we never take that for granted.

If the shoe fits...

Zorra -- [adjective]: Pretentiously academian 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

(sigh)

My happy girl, 1998

This is my favorite picture of Zorra, taken when she was probably about three years old. We had had her for a little over a year at this time. This picture shows her unusual markings better than the one I posted a while ago. She's taking a break from demolishing an old bathmat, one of her favorite activities.

Friday Five: Nothing But the Tooth

1. The Tooth Fairy
She only brought me ten cents per tooth, but I believe that was the going rate in my neighborhood at the time. One morning I awoke to find...my tooth still under the pillow! The Tooth Fairy had forgotten me! I wailed to my mother, and lo and behold, by the time I had finished breakfast, the Tooth Fairy had arrived. Her tardiness didn't bother me. (Now I understand how exhausted the Tooth Fairy often was by bedtime. It's a credit to her that she only forgot once, in all those years.)

2. Flossing
No, I don't do it every day. Yes, I should. Next topic.

3. Toothpaste Brands
Whatever is cheapest. Usually that's Aim or Ultra Brite. Toothpaste is toothpaste. The Scientist was always partial to Colgate until I told him it's one of the most expensive brands. Now he uses whatever I bring home.

4. Orthodontia for Adults
Why not? Maybe your parents couldn't afford braces when you were a kid. If you need it and want it, go for it.

5. Whitening Products
Thank God I don't remember this, but I was very anemic as a baby and had to take iron shots in my head! The iron caused my teeth to come in darker than the average person's teeth. Although I was always mildly self-conscious about it, I never did anything about it until my 20th high school reunion was on the horizon. I went the whole nine yards with the mouth mold and the expensive stuff from the dentist, and it was well worth it. My creepy-looking little plaster jaws broke a long time ago, but I still have the little plastic things that fit over my teeth, and use them occasionally.