Gathered, Well, & Special

Thanksgiving morning

found the table ready, but empty...

by early afternoon the counter was full with

turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie,

cheesecake, apple pie, cherry pie, and

carrot cake.

~

Granddaughter Katie smiled as she created

the smiley face on the pumpkin cheesecake.

The new stove had done some serious cooking

without any mishaps, all went extremely well...

~

and 18 family members gathered...
thankful for the food and that all of us were well.


My first blog post in 2008 was a similar photo!


Dessert was finally served...
some took only their favorite...
like Andrew and his apple pie...
while others took a little of each...
I think I took some of five!




My son Rick helped clean the kitchen...and
the next morning the counter looked empty...but
I had plenty of leftovers for another day.




I also had this little gift from Alivia...
a song she hoped I would like...




She came back down that next afternoon...
and worked on 2 puzzles blogging friend Marcy had sent her.

They weren't too hard to do!

She also worked on these wood puzzles from

last Christmas, which I had photographed

because they are very hard to do!

We always end up going outside...

where the leaf pile quickly drew her attention.

She played there for a short time and then...




it was back in for some dessert!




Then we finished our visit with her writing
a letter to Santa. Bif the Elf gave her a password
to use in 2 days time to read Santa's reply.




The rest of the weekend I spent relaxing...
feet up and watching cars with red bows on TV.
The Poinsettia in it's red dress was a gift
from someone very special!




Someone that looked pretty in her red dress
for Christmas...about 20 years ago...

and pretty in white about 6 years later...

at the Railroad Days Festival!

Someone who wrote this poem about 10 years ago...

Grandma was cooking,
Grandpa was looking,
family stopped by,
just to say hi!
friends here and there,
cousins who care,
moms run around,
kids are abound,
parents like to talk,
kids like to walk,
well, actually they run
and like to have fun.
Anyone can have a part,
if they care
and have a heart,
in a family, they can be,
a family just...
like you and me!
...Amanda
~

Someone who turns 21 on Nov. 30th.

Someone who has played pranks on gramma...

is in her third year of college...

who is Alivia's big sister...

and Bronson's girlfriend !

Happy Birthday Amanda Shayne !

We Love You !!!

Thank You

This beautiful card came from a dear friend...

I wish to thank her...

and wish all my Blogging Friends...

a wonderful and joyous day!

~

For The Beauty Of The Earth Hymn

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above,

Pleasures pure and undefiled,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

~

~

Today...November 24th

would have been my Mother's 84th birthday!

~

~

Everything in Nature Bespeaks the Mother

Everything in nature bespeaks the MOTHER.

The sun is the mother of the earth and

gives it its nourishment of heat;

it never leaves the universe at night

until it has put the earth to sleep

to the song of the sea

and the hymn of the birds and brooks.

And this earth

is the mother of trees and flowers.

It produces them,

nurses them, and weans them.

The trees and flowers

become kind mothers

of their great fruits and seeds.

And the mother,

the prototype of all existence,

is the eternal spirit,

full of beauty and love.
.....Kahlil Gibran

Happy Thanksgiving To All!!!

Love, Wanda

Colors and Camouflage

Tuesday morning...I was up before sunrise...
having coffee on the porch...

but soon I found myself in the yard
taking photos of the sky...in the dark...

alone in the black dark!

I even went into the field alone...

my bravery surprised me!

~

The clouds looked as if...

they were exploding toward me...

from their base...






of pink and blue...






and the colors quickly spread across the sky.






By the time I got back to the porch...
a wind had had blown in much cooler air...
and I was getting cold.

~





Just as well,
.
because I had grocery shopping to do...
.
our refrigerator was empty
.
"reeeally" empty!!!






Empty because it "quit" working...
It was 13 years old and I loved it!
It's black!





it sat across the end of this extra hallway
...but it had to go...




and replacing it wasn't easy...
but we did.


This is what sits here now...
and it's "reeeally" black
it looks like a big black beast...
to help tame it we put
a drawing done by Dylan on the door...





and my mother-in-law's pig and
a few chickens on top...






and camouflaged it from the back!

and filled it with food...

so I guess it will do.

The falling leaves have kept us busy too,

this enormous pile is from the front yard

most of it will be composted.

There are still leaves hanging on the

Oak trees in the front yard though...

and the leaves in the back yard

haven't been touched,

but Herhusband keeps clean water

flowing back there for the birds...

and I still have some parsley hanging on
out back...

just like the leaves

on the Oak trees out front

...and

guess what I saw through these

same leaves.

Look closely...

It's The Good Year Blimp flying over!

~enlarges~

Then walking over after school one day...

were grandsons Andrew and Dylan.

Dylan walked the length of the drive

with his face covered...

or you could say...camouflaged!

But I got him here!

followed by Andrew!

Another day Alivia came over to spend some time!

Alivia loves to read...sitting or lying down!

She likes pink a lot too!

I haven't been on walks deep in the woods...

because it's hunting season...but from the back

yard you can see fairly far through the trees...

that's where I spotted this Buck and Doe...

on the far hill...they're camouflaged...

so enlarge the photo to better see!

They had been down in this valley and

surprised me.

Note the hollow tree....

This is the same hollow tree back in May...
where Alivia found her buried treasure

It's pretty in the brown...It's pretty in the green!
This winter I will get it in Snow!