Happy Thanksgiving!

L took some shots of the table decorations for our Thanksgiving dinner today. Misty, I think our theme was "pumpkins."

We were expecting 24 to 25 people. As it turned out, we had seventeen--a family of five had illness in the ranks, one person had been a question mark from the start, and two others did something else. See J & C, you folks could have fit right in here.

Overlook the motley collection of chairs. We gathered them up from all over the house and eight from B's parents. We'll have to work on acquiring more of the Costco (white folding) chairs.

We're going to have the G family here on Saturday with the same decorations. We're expecting nineteen.

Teeth

Mom's losing teeth. About a week and a half ago, she had a lower front tooth break off when she was eating a cookie. We don't even have the final cap on that and she had a crown fall out today. You know, teeth are taken for granted until you lose them.

Some people buy gold. I'll just hang on to my mother's gold caps she's losing and thereby hedge up against some financial crash.

The case of the dancing dog . . . .

"And for my next number, I will do an interpretive dance!"

What a great visual image!

OK, so I didn't take this picture but I thought it was great--I love heart shapes and I love the color red!

Today has been a good day.

• The antibiotics are WORKING and I'm getting over my crud. That is very good news because I need to get cracking on Thanksgiving dinner prep.
• I took my mother to her hair appointment and then she and I visited my aunt G and her daughter GL.
• I was able to rest a little today and not feel manic about all I have to do.
• I'm so close to finishing a Christmas project I've worked on for several months. Yea!
• We watched J play basketball tonight. He played well and he made a basket!
• I'm looking forward to a YW activity tomorrow. C's sister M is a professional caterer and M will be teaching us "How to throw a holiday party!" We've invited the stake YW presidency (that is how confident I am that this will be wonderful).
• We had rootbeer floats as our FHE treats (I'm not much on having treats for FHE so this is out of the ordinary!).
• It was our wedding anniversary today. I'm not sure where the years have gone.

The ghosts of happy times past. . . .

I went to my parents' house today to see if there were some Thanksgiving decorations I could borrow to decorate the tables at my house when we have the B family here for Thanksgiving--there will be twenty-three or twenty-five of us. I was all alone in the house with the ghosts of happy times past.

As I looked through all Mom's things that might be useful to borrow for the party (extra salt and pepper shakers, candles, decorations, etc.), I kept flashing back to times past when the house was happy and vibrant, full of people and love, and my parents were still themselves and living there. It was like I could hear the echo of all the happy family gatherings echoing in the silence of the house. It was very poignant. It is often difficult for me to go in the house but it was particularly emotional for me today.

My mother in her prime was such a great hostess and always made people feel so welcome that we often had a house full of visitors. For meals like Thanksgiving, I was always the assistant--setting the table, making a centerpiece, making sure there were salt and pepper shakers and butter on the table, and details like that. And all the "things" that I was looking through were so "my mother" that I was just transported back into the past to a time when she "owned" them. And yet, the "life" is out of all of them. They're just things. Just lifeless things. The hand that chose them, cared for them and used them is absent now and the life has gone out of them and the life has gone out of the house.

The clock is ticking . . .

It is already November 20th, if you can believe it, and Christmas is a little over a month away--YIKES--and Thanksgiving is just one week away. Additionally, this year, because Thanksgiving falls c...l...e...a...r at the end of November, Christmas is three weeks from Thanksgiving instead of four. So when you think to yourself, "Hey, it was just Thanksgiving and now it's Christmas--it seems like we lost a week," you'll be right. Happy Holidays.

Borrowing a photo from another blog

I loved this shot of L and friends at Lichfield's pond. Don't they look lovely? This photo was taken by N's sister TB and I borrowed this from her blog. (Is this considered second-hand sharing? Recycling? Borrowing? High-grading? Blog-napping? Kind, educational, advisory comments welcome.)

Arizona Strip Rock Art

This is an example of rock art on the Arizona Strip. L took this picture when we went to see the art during Spring Break last year. Many of the pictographs are in wonderful condition and I hope they stay that way for years to come.

Things kind of out of focus

This is about how I feel today--pretty fuzzy and out of focus--because I think I might be getting sick. Drats.

Can there be too many aprons? No, clearly not.

Here is another apron I made and it is just the right size for L. (I cropped this photo but it somehow didn't save as cropped. I'll need more practice.) This is the apron pattern from the company "Stitch Thru Time"--the same pattern I used for the Christmas apron that I posted a picture of about a month ago. I LOVE the fabric and I even have some left over. I'll need to make an apron for me, but from a different pattern since this fabric wasn't wide enough to make this pattern full sized.

The cutest dog ever . . .

Here is a recent picture of our dear dog "R"--we're all initials on this blog, so why not the dog? She's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the subgroup she's in is Blenheim. What a loving dog!

Water going uphill

This is a picture B liked from an email "forward" so he saved it. As usual, I was looking for a picture I already had on my computer that would capture my particular mood as I post to this blog tonight. Right now, my YW calling and all the untamed bits of that coupled with all I don't know about the calling, as well as the loose ends of my life, the looming holidays and all the things I will need and want to do during those holidays, make me feel like this uphill waterfall. I'm trying to get as much done as I possibly can in all areas before the holidays just descend on me and take over my life. O-[--<

Two families on the front porch

The house was built about 1915 or started about then. I would guess this picture was taken circa 1917, although the baby (inset) wasn't born for two more years. Inset: A. Back row: O, H, T, R, W. and R. Front: (starting with white dress) L, C, D. (My L said, "Do they have to be initials? They're nearly all dead?!" Well, yes, they all need to be initials here. However, they were all extremely talented and resourseful people--titans--I don't think people are made like that anymore.)

Here's another family on the house's front porch: E, P, EC, J & O. My guess is we'd only recently moved into the house when the photo was taken, so about 1969 or 1970. For parents with white hair (and young children), don't E & O look young?! Like my mother always said, "The only difference between a good picture and a bad picture is about ten years," or in this case, forty.

Whirling in my cup

This picture is indicative of my current feelings about my new calling as YW president--I'm in the cup whirling around and I haven't fallen out yet. However, even if I were to fall out, the cup would still keep whirling along. The youth program just moves along and it is my job to try to keep up, all the while trying to figure out what-in-the-world I'm supposed to do. So I'll keep whirling along.

Even earlier photograph of house

This is even an earlier photograph of the house than the one I posted a few posts ago. Look how new and crisp it looks, although there is not much planting around it and not even a side walk. Weren't we all newer and crisper than we are now?! I don't know who is sitting on the porch.

I've been looking online for a good Thanksgiving centerpiece craft idea for the third Tuesday of November so I'm in a Thanksgiving mood. This picture was drawn by T years ago and goes with the theme of my current search.

Last night on Channel 5 News, it talked about "posting at your own peril." It has given me pause.

Today is the day that I have to submit the application for having Mom's house recognized by the county as an historical house. Of course, although I've worked on this off and on for several months, here I am at crunch time trying to finish up.

A new chapter

I particularly like this artwork done by J for his birthday invitation a few years ago.

I was sustained as YW president yesterday. Now I need to figure out how things work and what to do. I was pleased to get all six people I asked for and pleased with that group of sisters. However, I think we're the only fully staffed auxillary in the ward so I feel guilty. The ward is strapped for people to take callings. Most active women have more than one calling.