A Time To Be Thankful

 We had a really nice Thanksgiving with family.  There were 14 of us that gathered around the tables! With that crowd one table isn't enough. Which I'm very thankful for!

The dining room table was pretty full.

So was the kitchen table.  The island was loaded with the usual suspects...turkey, dressing, and all other manner of goodness!   

We even set up some extra seating in the living room in case we had any extra folks come along. The rug under the table is a new one that we had to roll out upside down to get it to be flat.  I'll be showing it after I get it put in the dining room.  It's a bright one that will look great for Christmas and the winter season in that room.   Before dinner started I had anyone that wanted to get some pics for their Christmas cards go outside to the area I set up for that purpose.

My son Jack and my daughter-in-law, Evelyn.  Jack celebrated his 48th birthday on Saturday.  I can't believe he's that old!  (I'm not! Ha!)

Jack with my grandsons, Anthony (in red) and Cameron.  Love those boys!

Of course they had to be comedians! I laughed when I saw this! 

My granddaughter, Summer, and her pup Happy.  Her sister Driana wasn't able to come because she was working.  She's a nurse and as I know from my own experience, no holidays in the medical field. 

Evelyn's daughter Megan, and her hubby Landon, grabbed Annabelle for a photo shoot! 

After dinner some of us walked off calories to go meet our neighbor's new member of the alpaca family.  This is Espresso Bean! Or Beano as they call her! 

Welcome to the neighborhood Beano! I love the markings on her head and her white sox. It's the first one they have with markings.

Beano's Momma kept a close watch.  All the kids got to feed the alpaca and their horse, Temp.  Soon we headed back home and the gang started the pumpkin shoot.  Annabelle was not thrilled with the noise but she stayed in the house and curled up on the recliner with Summer and Happy.  They all took a quick nap.  Soon it was time for everyone to hit the road.  Take home boxes were packed with goodies and we closed the records on another family Thanksgiving.  It was fun to see everyone and be with the grandkiddos too.  They are all so busy with work, school, or both and we don't always get the chance to just sit and talk and laugh.  I mentioned that my son Jack had a birthday on Saturday.  He and Evelyn came over around noon and Jackie and my hubby watched the Ohio State game while Evelyn and I went shopping on small business day.  We  had fun going to all the cute shops here in Ashland and I got a few gifts for family and it was great to see so many folks out and about downtown.  We grabbed a smoothie and headed back to the car a few hours later.  I  happened to look  up and saw this:

I was surprised to see a hot air balloon.  In fact, there were 2 of them flying over.  It was chilly on Saturday but that must not be a problem for flying.  That sums up my weekend and I'm glad I'm off tomorrow so I can decorate for Christmas. Night all!

Take A Deep Breath

 Jack and I have been doing some choga..chair yoga...again after a little hiatus.  We also do a relaxing breathing exercise afterwards.  It's suppose to be good for your body and mind.  So as tomorrow is the big turkey day for some I say take a deep cleansing breath and enjoy time with family or friends or maybe just a quiet day at home.  Loosen up those yoga pants for some good eats.  We're hosting about 15 tomorrow. Sometimes we have extras and that's just fine.  I made all my sides on Sunday and pies were done yesterday.  Today I did the turkey that will get carved up tomorrow and put in the roaster.  It frees up my oven so I can reheat all those sides!  I have a few other goodies coming from my Granddaughter, Summer and my Daughter-in-Law, Evelyn.  I ran to the store today for a few items I forgot and it wasn't as crazy as it was Tuesday when I was there to get some things I forgot...I hate when I forget stuff! But all's good now and after dinner I'm planning on some good old pumpkin shooting and with the weather cooperating we should have good outdoor time to burn up those calories!  I made a little spot for anyone that would like to take a photo for their Christmas cards.  So here's a few pics of some of my decor that will come down on Friday.  I'll have more to post about after tomorrow and Saturday.  Saturday is my oldest son's birthday and he's coming over to watch the Ohio State game with his Dad while Evelyn and I go shopping for small business Saturday.  Busy weekend and soon to be busy December...whew, this year has flown.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Kitchen fireplace has the season on a plaque.  I'm sad to see Fall end.

Many grateful hearts will be gathering here tomorrow and for that I'm super grateful!

This turkey dude I've  had for a long time and the little Pilgrim guy was found last week at a barn sale.

These teeny, tiny Pilgrims and turkey are at least 25yrs old.  They sit on my shelf every Thanksgiving.

The stove has had a workout these past days and I enjoy my little doo-dads on the shelf above.

The dining room is ready and we'll have another table set up across the hall in the kitchen and another in the living room.  I like to be prepared so nobody feels like we weren't expecting them. 

Jack got me flowers last week from the Lion's club sale.  They are so beautiful and still look fresh! I love fresh flowers.

We put our Christmas lights on the bushes and front porch last week when it was nice and warm.  We found about 4 bird's nests.  This one is super tiny.  It looks bigger than it is.  So sweet. We just leave them alone.  It reminds me Spring will be back one day! 

Last but not least we set up a little photo shoot spot.  We took down the Fall wreath, moved the pumpkins for the shoot out, and with all our pine trees I was able to make some greenery happen.  I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow and a good weekend ahead.  I tried to keep up with writing my thankful list this month.  I did pretty good with it and I need to write how blessed and thankful I am for my family, friends, and all my blog buddies!  Have a nice holiday everyone!

Thank You Veterans

 I try to do a shout out to our Veterans each year on Veteran's Day.   I'm grateful to all who have served or who are serving our country today.  I'm very proud of those who have served that are part of my family.  My Dad who fought in WWII.  He was in the Army and drove a tank.  A very dangerous job.  I'm proud of my brothers, Phil and Greg, who served in Vietnam. Phil in the Army, Greg in the Marines.  Greg passed away in 2021 and we sure miss him.  I don't have any photos of my brothers while they were in the service but I've shared pics of my Dad during his time in WWII.  My sister sent me a couple of new photos of Dad that I had never seen so I'm posting those today.  

Dad on the left.

Again, Dad on the left.

Thanks to all our Veterans.  I hope if you know someone who served in any capacity of the armed forces that you gave them a big thanks.  I'm happy to see that our little town did many things to let our hometown heroes know of our appreciation. There were community breakfasts, lunches, school lectures, free meals in restaurants and I'm sure other things that I don't know about.  Thank you and God bless America!

Quiet, It's November

 Be quiet..be very quiet.  If you've followed my blog for any length of time you know I always call November my quiet month.  It's the time before all the hubbub of December with it's shopping, parties, decorating, and food prep.  Plus lots more if you have kiddos.  Concerts, school things, etc. Through out my life there have been times when it wasn't the quiet and calm month.  I blogged about those times last year. This year I'm hoping for some time to gather my thoughts and remember my blessings.  I've even been writing down some things I've been thankful for each day and hope to complete 30 days of thankfulness and look back and remember that even simple things can make a day full of thanks.  But with the sweet we must take the bitter and a good friend of mine is going through a very tough time right now. Her hubby was put in hospice care on Saturday and she's really trying to keep it all together and just be with him through these last days. Jack and I have spent time with her and her hubby and many others have been there with support and prayers.  So I know this won't be the month of holiday thoughts and prep for her and we will be there for her in any way we can.  She's a woman of great faith and I know she will get through this.   So I'm going to just post a few pics of the simple things I accomplished in the first days of my quiet month. 

Raking up the few leaves we get since most of our trees are pines.  The big oak in the back yard does give us something to rake though.

Ahhh, the smell of burning leaves.  A fall staple if you're allowed to burn leaves.  Since we live in the country we can do this and it brings back childhood memories where everyone was allowed to do this.

Don't you know there's always some slackers that just want to soak up some fleeting sun? I guess Annabelle knew we would be soon turning our clocks back and she wanted to sun bathe as much as possible.  She's just no help at all! But we love her anyway!  I hope everyone's November is filled with lots of thankful moments.  Night all!

Hello Halloween And Goodbye October

I guess it's a nice thing that my favorite month of the year ends with my favorite holiday.  Happy Halloween everyone!  Here in Ashland the kids go trick or treating the Thursday before Halloween.  The weather that day was perfect unlike the weather we're having tonight. We did have a lovely day today weather wise early in the day but I was working and missed most of it.  Thankfully our downtown activities tonight had good, dry weather and tons of kids doing what they call "Costume Capers".  The downtown merchants hand out candy and the kids can go from business to business and enjoy all the fun activities.  There was even a haunted house that was put together in one of the businesses that was free for the kids to run through.  Our downtown has done so many fun activities and even the adults were able to dress up and have last Friday night to go to all the restaurants and bars and have some costume capers of their own!  We didn't do any of that and unfortunately we don't get trick or treaters out here in the country. Jack and I both miss having littles to do Halloween.  We sometimes head into town just to see the kids having fun.  But now the time has come to bid farewell to October.  The candy and costume isles are now replaced with Christmas decor.  Even our weather gave us a little winter wonderland surprise tonight:

Can you see the snow on the deck? Those white dots are snow in the air.  As for the white mist? Well, I'm chalking that up to the eeriness of the season! Boo! With the frost we had this morning and the rain and wind from the last couple of days, the Fall colors are faded and lots of leaves are carpeting the lawns.

Please ignore Annabelle's bum! I was trying to show the oak tree shedding it's leaves! We did manage to get out for a little leaf peeping over the weekend when we headed out to the apple orchard.

Scenic Ridge did not disappoint. We snagged some tastey ever crisp apples. Yum!

They have a fun little space for kids and families to gather and play and just enjoy the "scenic" view! I'm assuming that's how they got the fruit farm's name.  Jack's Mom and I used to go here so many years ago and pick pears, peaches, grapes and strawberries.  

Annabelle was enjoying the outing.

Ok, so I couldn't resist this shot...yes, I'm one of those dog owners!  She didn't mind it at all..I think! As the weather started getting colder I decided to make some homemade bread and veggie soup:

Both turned out delish and made for a warm and filling dinner last night.  One project that we were super happy to get finished was getting our fireplaces fixed so we can have a fire in them.

Can you see the dude in the fireplace?  It's not Santa! He came last week on the last really warm day we had and did his magic.

Voila'! We have fire! The bottom pic is the livingroom and we never had a fire in there in the 22yrs we've lived here.  The kitchen one is now safe too and I know we'll get lots of use out of them.  Plus if we ever sell we can claim 2 working fireplaces.  So tomorrow the Halloween decor will come down for another year.  I'll leave the Fall things out because it's still is Fall and Thanksgiving will soon be here. Yes, I decorate for Thanksgiving too!  We have had a fun season so far. With our trip up to Michigan in September and getting things ready for family and our annual party a few weeks ago we did manage to enjoy the sights, sounds, and lovely smells of this time of year.  We do have a warm up coming this weekend and I know we'll spend more time outside finishing up yard work and prepping for winter.  I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! 

Last night's blazingly lovely sunset!  Bye October!

 

lost AND FOUND!!!

 Yesterday when I told Midge I had lost my memory card as well as my mind, she suggested I pray to St. Anthony (like Janice also suggested from "Prims by the Water" blog).  Not my religion but hey, praying is always a good idea.  She also suggested tying a knot in the corner of a handkerchief and throwing it over my shoulder.  I kid you not.  Ever hear of that one? Of course I had to ask which shoulder.  I guess it doesn't matter.  So first I threw out the prayer to St. Anthony then I threw the hanky over not just one but both shoulders. I'm an over achiever. Then I continued to look everywhere again and still no luck. I went to work today and when I came home Jack held up the missing memory card!  Where was it?  He found it in the dryer.  He does the laundry on Wednesday and there it was all fresh and clean and fluffy.  Not really fluffy but you get the picture.  I had gone through the laundry hamper at least 4 times and shook every piece of clothing out. Well, I guess St. Anthony must have been laughing at me throwing the hanky over the shoulder and decided to throw the card in wash!  I don't want to waste the magic of the lost and found so here's just a few pics from that crazy card:

More of the gang all snugged around tables in the garage.

My sweet Granddaughter Summer with my son (her Dad) holding onto her pup, Happy.

Did I mention we had the classic donut game?  Here's my niece Katie.  She's a police officer in Chicago and I know she can take a bite out of crime but she also can take a nice bite out of a donut...wait, is that a cop thing?  Sorry Katie, I couldn't resist!

And the winner was....my niece Amy!  Good job!

The kids enjoyed the Pinata.  It was shaped like a tombstone and filled to brim with goodies and everyone had a good whack at it! 

I know I showed a pic of the bucket game but this is a better shot. Jordan in the black sweatshirt against his cousin Bill.  They actually followed the rule and didn't use their hands! 

Unlike these witches who cheated just a tiny bit! Midge won by the way. I let her win so she wouldn't cry...the big baby! 

We then headed into the dining room for some Happy Birthday singing to the birthday sisters.

Here's the not so famous coffin cake! Dark chocolate with salted caramel filling.  Tasted pretty good even if it didn't look too pretty!

We had to throw in some witch's fingers and ghost faces.  A few of my blog buddies have asked about the ghost sandwiches.  I didn't get a pic of them but what I do every year is take white bread and cut out ghost shapes with a cookie cutter.  I put holes for eyes and spread nutella and jelly on them and make them into sandwiches.  Simple but the kids like them and they magically disappear like ghosts in the night!  So that wraps up the Family Halloween Gathering for another year.  Tonight Jack and I went to our Church's Trunk or Treat.

We were ready with our magic broom that the kids really loved and tons of candy.  I love Jack's costume.  As the world's best Chiropractor, he really does have your back!  Boo! Happy Halloween!