Thankful

We had a strange but Happy Thanksgiving week.  We visited a local farmer to purchase our turkey, which had lived happily on their farm until the day before.  I would not have bothered with a 20 pound turkey for just us, but Jack lobbied hard for us to have a whole turkey and all the fixings at our dinner-for-two.  I predict that will be a lot of turkey tetrazzini and turkey pot pie in our future, but he says he enjoys turkey enough to make it worth it for him.  Jack prepared the turkey and stuffing for us, and I confess to more than a moment of regret that he hadn't wanted me to cook, because I enjoy my cooking SO much more than his.   I needed to remind myself more than once that my cooking probably doesn't taste like traditional Thanksgiving to him any more than his does to me!    We skipped most of the sides we would normally have had, and didn't make any dessert at all,  to avoid the sheer volume of food, and I missed those a lot.  All in all, this was not a Thanksgiving menu to remember.

On Thanksgiving morning I made cranberry sauce, cranberry relish and yeast rolls to drop off at my kids' house for their Thanksgiving dinner.  Also included in my delivery was a box of cocoa bombs, a quart of locally made "wake up" coffee/mocha ice cream, and four advent calendars.  One of the calendars was filled with make-up for my granddaughter, one filled with cheese for my grandson, an advent doggie treat calendar for Allie, and an advent wine assortment for the adults.   I am clearly making up for not being with them by filling their house with reasons to think of me.   Silly, but it helps me feel a little more connected.    They sent home a couple of items they were having for Thanksgiving so that we could all feel like we had shared a meal.

The next day we bought an iPad and drove it up to my brother, a couple hours north of us.  With virus numbers getting worse, we wanted to have him ready and able to meet with us on Zoom or Google Meet so that we can continue to stay in  faux-touch until family gatherings are okay again.   His old computer won't handle virtual meetings so we decided to take action and I think he was pleased.    I took along a little tabletop tree that lights up; my brother has not had a christmas tree in a decade or more but confessed to me last year that he misses it, so, although he won't be surrounded by physical family this year, at least he will have a tree and know that he is in our thoughts.  

Meanwhile, here at home, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care . . .  and our holiday season is ready to begin.  

Jack, who would ignore christmas altogether if I would let him, didn't lift a finger to help with decorating the tree and he won't give any input on what holiday foods to make or gifts to buy.  My revenge is underway -- we take turns choosing a movie each evening, and all my movies from now until the end of the month will be holiday movies.  The ones we've watched so far have been awful, but I told him he has only himself to blame!

My birthday is this week,  and I am planning to make myself a cake today, something I have never done before.  Jack wanted to make or buy one for me but I decided that I want a cake that I will really enjoy and not waste calories on being polite, so the obvious solution is to make it myself!  Honestly, I wish I had thought of doing this years ago, especially because there were many years when my birthday passed by without notice, but perhaps I was too willing to remain silent and feel sorry for myself.  Jack is a big fan of birthdays and so the self-pity-plan hasn't been an option these last several years, and I've discovered that I like it!  I also bought myself a quilting advent calendar and one filled with candles-- another thing I've never done, although I have bought a lot of advent calendars for other people! -  so I am ready to celebrate for the next month, to make up a little for the isolation this year.    Our anniversary is on the 8th (2 years!) and Jack's birthday is on the 23rd -- both reasons to celebrate but so far I have no ideas for either.  Normally we would probably schedule a nice dinner out and maybe a weekend away, but neither of those are options this year.  I need to come up with a menu to prepare at home for the 8th and something fun for Jack's birthday, so it's time for me to get those creative juices flowing!

Mid-November

Our national election mess continues to disappoint.  I am amazed daily at how thin a facade of democratic principles our elected politicians had and how easily and publicly that facade has been damaged.

I have been keeping busy with little tasks, continuing our quiet life of isolation.  I bought a stamped embroidery sampler and a random assortment of carded embroidery floss from an etsy shop called Dropcloth.  If I finish the sampler, as I hope, it will be sewn into four little ornaments.  My hands are so frozen up by carpel tunnel and arthritis that even a few stitches are enough to start them burning.  It is frustrating; I used to do some pretty nice embroidery, if I do say so myself, and made several large pieces, but of course I gave them all away.  Now it is a challenge even to hold a needle still in numb fingers long enough to thread it, and my stitches, when I do try to make the effort, are uneven and disappointing because they are generally made with nerveless fingers.   But the Dropcloth samplers, which I first saw on Spiral, really spoke to me because there is something primitive and non-judgmental about them.  The artist says in her post,  "I used back stitch, couching, and french knots, but you can choose your own stitches to suit your own taste."  Somehow that simple permission, which I should have given myself long ago, was enough to convince me to put in the order.  I am stitching away now, using mostly running and back stitch and stopping about every six inches of thread, but it is giving me something new to do when I don't feel much like doing anything.  

Today, as I have been threatening my husband, I put up our christmas tree. I know it is awfully early, but it is that kind of year.   I have not decorated it yet (it is fake and prelit), or hung stockings; I will wait a bit for that, but now I have the fairy lights near the fireplace where I can enjoy both for the next few weeks.  

And although it is warm-ish today and not Christmas weather at all, I picked up some "cocoa bombs" from a local candy maker who works out of her home.  I haven't tried them yet, but the idea is to place one of these candies into a mug of hot milk (or almond milk, in my case) and the chocolate melts into a chocolaty drink while the melted sphere releases a handful of mini marshmallows.  I bought them for my grands, of course, but I will keep one or two to try myself and I am looking forward to it!   Even if the idea is cuter than the result turns out to be, this is exactly the kind of little thing that makes me feel pampered.

Speaking of being pampered, November is my birthday month and Jack has already surprised me with flowers.  It's funny, this is a month I have dreaded for most of my life, but he has put the fun back into it.  Living with him has turned me into something out of a high school musical, I find myself singing and dancing around the house with no care for how I look or sound.  I have never behaved that way before unless I was alone or with my young children, so perhaps I am regressing.   It is not, I think, that we are deliriously happy, it is more that we are deliriously comfortable.  Whatever the reason, I like it, and he likes it, too.   I suspect that other men in my life would have enjoyed this freer me, but those relationships somehow never sparked the trust that made it possible.   I hope young people find it sooner, seventy years is a long time to wait.

Our backyard continues to provide a limited entertainment that truly brings us joy.  We had a visit this week from a pileated woodpecker, a fairly rare sighting in our yard although we know there are many of them in mid Michigan, just not usually within the city limits.  We also had a hawk stop by and window-shop our bird feeders.  I did not see him strike, but he got a good look at our rodent and songbird buffet.  It will be there all winter because we keep our feeders full when the weather is cold.  We have not seen deer since hunting season began, but we are sure they are out there.  There is no hunting behind us but if I were a deer I wouldn't trust us, either.    I put some "deer candy" out to try to tempt and comfort the city deer, but it appears that they are either watching their weight or are more into health food.  It was not until after several  hard rains, presumably washing away some of the sweetness, that the squirrels were finally willing to taste the "candy", which consisted of corn and pellets and molasses.   We would like to avoid having any of our local deer starve to death this winter, so I will continue to experiment, as with picky children, to find out what they are willing to eat.  Next up is likely to be sugar beets, a local crop, and hay.  Hopefully we will find something that helps them winter over when the cold temperatures are finally here for good.

                                    

Tomorrow is the three-year anniversary of Jack's strokes.  This is the end of the heightened "danger period" the physicians warned us about.  He will always be a a higher than average risk for another stroke, but we are grateful to have gotten here without further incident.   We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

A Mess

Although the Presidential election was two weeks ago, things have not gotten better yet.  Trump, of course, is still tweeting multiple times a day that he won the election, that the election was rigged, and that the democrats are trying to rob him.  His legal challenges to the election are being dismissed in state after state, but he is not deterred by that.  Today two large national militia groups announced that they will not recognize Joe Biden as president and will not follow any law or directive he passes.   They view themselves, said the founder of the largest militia, as founding fathers, and they are eager "to nullify and resist."  (Militia are illegal in every state, but they continue to grow without interference, another story for another time.)  Meanwhile, Covid-19 infections are doubling in our state every five days, deaths are rising, the hospitals are begging for help, and our governor has put some new restrictions into place.  Our Republican Legislature refused to meet with her to create a pandemic plan; instead, they are planning to try to impeach her for taking steps herself to stem the spread. They are also supporting Trump's claims that there was massive election fraud and vow to "get to the bottom of it."   It is a frightening time and hard to imagine healing this division any time soon.

But here at home things remain calm and bright, even as it appears from the news that the country, and even the state around us is falling apart.  My son's family had a Facetime visit with us this week, something we hope will become a regular habit (something Jack's large family does every week because he was smart enough to start it a dozen years ago), and it was so good to see and hear them.  My grandson told me about his experience as a beginning driver and cello lessons and my granddaughter talked about the art and theater she is doing.   Under the governor's latest order, all of the high schools and colleges in Michigan have gone back to remote learning for at least the next several weeks.  I am glad that my son's family will be able to stay home together for awhile now and keep themselves safer than when they were exposed to many other people during their work and school days.

Because of the pandemic, we will not be getting together tomorrow for my grandson's 16th birthday, although I plan to do a "drive by" to drop off his gifts.  We will not be getting together for Thanksgiving, although I plan to prepare a dish to share with them, just to feel that connection.  It is frustrating for everyone and even more frustrating to feel that our elected government is intent on making this time last longer than it ever needed to because of their rejection of science and common sense.  We already know that we will not be getting together for Christmas.  

Meanwhile, much is good, at least in my little life.    Our home-life is peaceful, which I know from past experience should not be taken for granted.  And we have lots of little joys along the way, including the kindnesses of strangers.

One little joy this week was a delightful package from a child named Grace,  a young Irish artist.  Grace's mother, aside from being mother to five, is an amazing home maker and also an artist, and I have followed her blog, her Instagram and (used to follow her) Facebook accounts for eleven or twelve years.  I saw Grace's Instagram posts because I recognized the connection between the two of them.  Recently Grace awarded me the "prize" of a portrait.  Grace drew my husband of me from a photo that I had on line and I received it, beautifully packaged and with a sweet note, in the mail this week.  She included in the package a set of the 'stickers' she made, and they are also adorable.  Her professional screen name is gracegoldenrose, and she is the sweetest child, no more than 12 years old, I'm sure.  A child with many talents, in a very talented family.  I love being able to cheer her on.   Jack and I plan to have our portrait, which is about 4 by 6 inches in size, framed and we will hang it proudly on our wall.   Everything about this makes me happy.

Another wonderful surprise came at the hands of another person I don't really know.  Last year for my birthday, my son's family gave me a Shipt membership so that I could have my shopping done and delivered while I was recovering from my shoulder surgery.   Once the pandemic took hold, the service became even more valuable to us, because stores were limiting the number of shoppers and neither of us felt comfortable going out more than we had to.  Over time, a couple of the shoppers have proven themselves to be truly amazing at their jobs.  I added notes in my last few grocery orders asking whether the stores had a cheese advent calendar because I'd read that they were going to be available.   One shopper, Melinda, took it upon herself to check every store in the area for the calendar and today she found and delivered it.  Melinda has been a full time shopper for three years and she clearly loves her work.  Although I am not religious, I love advent calendars.   I have given my grands some kind of over-the-top advent calendar each year for the past several years, and I was really hoping to find the cheese one for my grandson so I am happy as a clam to finally have it!   My granddaughter's calendar this year is filled with make-up samples, and it was hard to think of something that my grandson would find amusing, but I think this will do it, even though the cheese itself is unlikely to be very good.  Melinda searched for and found another item on my fantasy wish list, too, 'cocoa bombs' that are dropped in hot milk to make a cup of hot chocolate.  She will be delivering those next week and they will be part of my Thanksgiving delivery to the kids.   Her kindness makes it possible for me to stay out of crowds and still provide fun surprises for my grands,  who are growing up way too fast, so she has been a bright spot for me during these long months of being apart from my family.

So I am ever aware that this is an amazing world with amazing people in it.  I am hoping, despite the state and national news, that we will somehow manage, despite the crazies and science deniers, to let life continue on a mostly even keel, no matter how unlikely it may sometimes seem.

Things Are Looking Up

Finally, although not truly final, the new outlets have announced the results of the American election, and the results are good.  I am sad that they are not better, because they show a depth of division and a repudiation of so many things that were good in my fantasy America, but I am happy with the result itself.  And after all, we cannot fix what we do not admit, so hopefully, in the long run, this will have been an All Good time.  It is unfortunate that there will likely be a lot of drama before the January inauguration, and probably beyond, but most of that looks meritless at this point.  So yay.

Not much got done this week as I participated in the election by stress eating.  It's important to do one's part.  My sister's friend posted a funny thing about how she was stress eating so much that she might reach 270 (the needed electoral votes) before either candidate did.   My eating habits this week were much the same, and very little sewing got done.  I did use scraps to make a couple of patchwork Christmas stockings, which was fun.  I did not do a careful job because I was simply stress-sewing, but if I ever get actual holiday fabric I might make them again with more care and straighter seams.   For now, they'll do.  I am so clearly not a perfectionist, and while I sometimes regret it, I apparently don't care enough to change.

My embroidery machine is still in the shop -- when I called the other day, a month after taking it in, they told me they've been 'so busy' that they haven't even looked at it yet.  I guess it's a good thing that I've been too lazy to do much sewing, but annoying all the same.  With a machine that is worth more than my old car, I kind of resent them keeping it from me for this long, but there's not much I can do about that.  I am lucky to have a second machine, and I have a long list of things I hope to get working on now that I can stop checking election news!

So that's it for this week.  The cynic in me suspects that the rest of this year is going to feel like it lasts forever and is almost certain to see more attempts to damage our country, our people and our democracy.  But a new year will come, with new leadership.  Today I celebrate the corner we are about to turn.   I think a lot of us are going to have to re-learn how to relax again after this phase is over, but I am looking forward to the opportunity.

November, The Countdown

This was a baking week.  Of course I made bread, because my husband has become accustomed to having it almost every morning with breakfast.  But I also decided to try out my new mini bundt pans by making a favorite poppy cake recipe.  I should have made it with the new King Arthur's sugar substitute that arrived this week, to keep the calorie count lower, but I went the full-sugar version instead.  I am scheduled to see my doctor in a couple of weeks for my annual well check and he is certain to lecture me about my diet.  So I am making hay while the proverbial sun shines.  My husband likes bread, but let me eat cake.  (Perhaps I secretly wish I were a closet queen after all, although probably not the mistreated Marie Antoinette.  But I digress.)

I made a few more masks this week, using the new adjustable ties that I ordered recently.  I wanted to get them sewn and mailed out so that my family members can try them and give reports.  I have made them so many masks that at this point they are all just humoring me.  But, aside from trying the new ear thingies,  I thought this would be a good time to get a few ready for the holidays.  I already missed using Halloween as a mask-making excuse, so it is time to get to work on the rest of the year.   I do not have a lot of holiday fabric in my stash, but I am finding some.

With infection numbers going in the wrong direction, it is unlikely that holidays will be anywhere near "normal" this year, so festive masks might be one of the few areas where I can display a celebratory mood, however insincere, since it will be hard to feel celebratory if I can't be with my family.  But despite my whining, I know we are lucky.  Jack and I are happy to be together, and we feel sad for people who are finding any excuse to be away from their spouses, suffering from too much togetherness.  

I won the sweetest prize from Denise at Count It All Joy  as part of a Halloween blog hop, and it arrived in the mail this week.  Denise makes adorable little fabric acorns that she tops with real acorn crowns, as well as little candy corn-shaped 'bean bags.'  She sent these, along with beautiful laminated autumn cut-outs and little rhinestone candy corn stick-ons in  a package that also included -- bonus! -- my personal favorite, Riesen caramels.  My husband teases that I would have married caramels if it were an option and he might be right.  What a nice surprise and a colorful little display to celebrate the season.

I sewed a very simple piece last week that I plan to use as a backing; now I just need to put together a quilt top that will fit nicely underneath. I had started on one with a cream background but decided that I don't want cream backed with white, so I need to dig through the stash again.   I am looking forward to seeing how this little experiment turns out.

And autumn is still getting prettier, even though it won't last much longer.  Our house is surrounded by maples and red and other varieties of oak, which is nice since we aren't taking many "color drives" this year.

We have developed the habit of watching a movie every night.  This is more for Jack's benefit than mine, since he likes movies more than I do.  But the deal is that we take turns picking the movie.  Since we've been doing this for a few months now, it is not as easy as it sounds.  And as time goes on, we have started to lean toward romantic comedies, since they are never stressful.  Neither of us likes horror movies, but my tolerance for violence is a lot lower than his.  On the plus side, we have seen some really good (some really bad) and some interesting and thought provoking movies along the way.  The one that Jack hated the most was The Lobster.  And I think he most liked the Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher.  I liked them both, although Lobster is definitely campy.  I am not sure what I've liked best, but many of them, even the silly ones, have given me things to think about.   We recently watched Life Itself, which has a dark start and a hopeful ending, and I find myself questioning both.  I like movies that make me question.  For sure we are open to suggestions, because choosing things is always stressful for me!

Speaking of stress, daylight savings ends tomorrow -- clocks here will be turned back an hour on November 1st, an added inconvenience that no one enjoys, although I remember walking to school in the dark prior to daylight savings, and that was no fun, either.   The string of hurricanes this year has also added some stress since my daughter in New Orleans.  She is fine, but still doesn't have power since Hurricane Zeta knocked it out two days ago.  Lucky for my peace of mind, I sent her a solar weather radio/flashlight/phone charger that arrived just two days before the storm, but it is still a rough go for her without air conditioning or refrigeration.  I hope our world leaders begin to take a more serious approach to climate change before our coasts are destroyed entirely.

So life goes on.  I am keeping busy, trying to keep my nerves at bay as we get ready to disrupt my sleep schedule with the time change and as we await the election.  We  have a Biden sign on our lawn for the first time ever, and it is not the same sign as many (many) of our neighbors have.  Jack says we are leaving it up, whatever the result; it makes me nervous to realize how little I trust my unknown neighbors or their intentions.  After all, I live in a state where ordinary (very ordinary) people organized a militia, showed up fully armed at the capital, and planned to kidnap our governor.  And so I bake, and sew, and watch romantic comedies, and wait for my children to call.  And when the election is over, I will need to start wrapping my mind around the idea that, before the month is over, my grandson will be 16 and I will be 71.  Good grief.  All in all,  I have a very lucky life; I would like to think we will built a future where other people can be very lucky, too.

Third Quarter

It is the last week in October.  In a normal year, I would be buying candy and we would be getting ready for the trick or treaters to come to our door next weekend.  Jack loves seeing the kids, and he always ask them if they have a trick for him, perhaps a joke or a song or a dance to share.  The little ones act shy and he reassures them that they can think about it and bring us their 'trick' on Halloween next year.  Everyone gets candy, of course, no matter how they respond.  But the older ones often surprise me by being excited to have a willing audience, and we have heard jokes and songs, been treated to dances and even a trumpet solo.  This year, of course, we are not encouraging visitors because of the pandemic, and since our front porch is still broken up, it is just as well.  Jack and I have both called the local contractors several times, and so far no one has given us so much as an estimate, so the future of our repair is looking bleak.

We had a rude surprise early this morning when I went to wash my hands and discovered that we had no water.  It was early enough that I really wanted to go back to bed, but instead ran around the house checking all the faucets and making sure we had electricity.  Finally I called the water department and learned that there was a water main break around the corner.  With no shower and no workable bathrooms I found that I also had no hint of a good mood, so my plans to go out and do errands ended right there.  Instead, I sewed some masks and spent more than my usual too-much-time on my computer.  But I did reflect on how lucky we are to have and expect clean, running water when so much of the world has no such expectation.   It bothered me that I couldn't properly wash my hands for over eight hours; what must it by like to live where hand washing is a rare luxury.

Speaking of luxuries, I bought a small table this week from an artists' website, Society6, where Emily Rainsford Ryan, a bloggy friend and Irish artist, has posted her paintings.  The art is available on all sorts of items, from tote bags to masks to furniture, and I chose a little table that will be used for our coffee in the screen room when it gets warm again.  Until then, we will use it in the living room, where we seem to have a constant need for a moveable surface for our laptops.  It is just the touch of whimsey my soul needed this week.

The weather has again been damp and cold.  Birds are crowding the feeders, an endless line of them, constantly in motion.  Blue jays land in numbers on the deck to eat the bits of acorn that the squirrels drop from the trees.  I am mindful that a robin died from the cold last year, sitting on her nest of eggs.  The nature center said that she may have frozen but, just as likely, may simply have not taken in sufficient calories during the day to make it through the cold night.  So now that temperatures are most often in the 30's we are keeping the feeders filled.  The squirrels are in a tizzy, twitching their tails at one another, and coming up to our window to seemingly shake their little fists at us.  One of the errands that had to get done this week was a trip to the feed store so that we can stock up on corn and other grains and seed for our greedy little friends.  Winter is certainly coming.  In  preparation, I had both of our fireplaces checked and cleaned; the gas fireplace looks so much more cheerful now that it has been given some proper attention.  The previous owners neglected it badly and it has taken until now to find someone who was able to come and bring it back up to a good condition.  I was already spending a lot of time in front of the fire, on these chilly days I  settle in front of the fire with coffee and my laptop and sometimes wonder whether I will ever get up.

My musings often seem to take a dark turn these days, maybe they always did.  I was trying to imagine what 'normal life' would be like once the pandemic is under control by way of a vaccine or otherwise.  My Old Normal involved picking up my grandchildren from school a time or two each week, and then spending a little time at their house with them. often merely as a backdrop while they did homework, and sometimes making them dinner. I sometimes drove them to their lessons, and sometimes took them to dinner.   But Joseph, my oldest, starts drivers' training next week, and the pandemic is far from over.  That means that my window of time where they need me for transportation and, therefore, where I am able to move seamlessly into small areas of their lives, is almost closed.  My son sent me a photo of Joseph this week, to show me the new coat he bought.  All I saw in the picture was that he is suddenly more man than boy.  They are growing older and getting even more busy, and while I am delighted about that, I am also sad about the time with them that I have lost.

Still Staying Home

My sweet granddaughter was in a play this week and, both when the kids auditioned and when the first notices were sent out,  it was billed as an outdoor performance.  I bought tickets for the second night and was very excited at the prospect.  I miss seeing my family.  So much.  A day or so before the play, the drama teacher changed it to an indoor venue.  I understood the decision, no one in their right mind plans outdoor activities here this time of year because the weather is always unpredictable and sure enough, it rained like crazy the day of the first performance and even our high temperatures are on the cold side.  My daughter in law attended the first night's performance and reported back to me.  They sold only 100 tickets in the 700-capacity hall, and people were told to wear masks but, typically, many of them removed them as soon as they took their seats.   No one from the venue reminded people to put the masks back on.  The seating areas were marked to provide distance, but some people were seated less than 6 feet from other patrons.  Her conclusion was that it was a moderately good attempt but still risky; my son advised that I stay home and opined that it had been well intended but poor judgement on the part of the school to hold a public performance at this point in the pandemic.  I struggled with the information all day, but ended up staying home.  I keep telling people we need to follow the science and concluded that I needed to listen to my own preaching, especially at a time when our infection rates are escalating.  I figured that it would be better to remain healthy for future events in the kids' lives than to risk my health over one small event.   But seeing so little of my family makes me sad, and missing even one small play makes me sadder.

I made and sent off another small star quilt to be quilted, this one measured 50 inches square.  I forgot to take a photo after I added the final border, which is blue.  

They are so quick and easy to make but really, I need to stop making little quilts for no reason, I suppose.  When I went through my stash looking for border material, I was horrified to find yards (and yards) of fabric, much of it still in shipping packages, that I had totally forgotten I have.  I could make dozens more small quilts and still not run out of options.   So maybe I should go ahead and make them and then next year give one to everyone I know!   I do have a couple other super simple patterns I am thinking about making this week.  I also sent out a string quilt to be quilted, a ridiculous expenditure to quilt so simple a project, but I did it anyway and am sure I will be happy enough for it when it comes back to me.  None of my quilts are expected back before Christmas, so I am especially happy I got the Grands' quilts back -- they are both wrapped and tagged and waiting to be given, while I continue to work on getting over my disappointment about the wrong colors on their backs. I keep reminding myself that I should never spend (well over) five minutes of worry on something that won't matter in five years, but I am evidently not good at letting go.

We are seeing deer regularly out back as the leaves fall and the view opens up.  As you can see from the photo below, they blend in so well that we hardly notice them until they start moving.   Do you see this one?  He is just behind the fallen tree in the middle of the photo, on the right side of the center.

My daughter, my youngest child, turned 41 this week.  Yikes.   All things considered, she is doing well; this is the first birthday either of us can remember in her adult life when she was (she says and I hope and believe) sober.

So I am thankful for that.  I am also thankful for the many woodpeckers visiting our suet feeders this week, for the wandering deer, and for the cute and cozy socks my husband has been making for me to ward off the morning chill.

To paraphrase what Jack says to virtually everyone he meets, including the kid at the fast food burger place, tell me your size and he'll make you a pair of socks!   It is one of his favorite relaxation activities; the more he has on his mind, the more socks he makes.

It is chilly today and I am being domestic while Jack works outside, taking temporary control over the ever-falling leaves.  I made Snickerdoodle pancakes for breakfast, and have a hamburger veggie soup simmering for dinner, along with a cast iron cheesy pizza.  Comfort food for a lovely autumn day.