Whirling and Twirling....

Childhood...serenity realized.

~~~

xoabb

I want to be young just once more!

Thanksgiving Flowers

Hope you have lots to be thankful for.

I certainly do.

~~~

xoabb

I'm so very blessed!

Thanksgiving

~Flowers in the Half-Bath~

~~~

xoabb
Thankful. I am. And you?

Smokin'!

My mom and dad are here, we're having 30 for Thanksgiving dinner and I work until 12:45 today! Scatter-brained? Yes! Discombobulated? Definitely!

BUT!

I have a secret weapon that's called FAMILY! So there's LOADS of help for all the prep work/cooking/decoration/cleanup, etc. Jules (always my very secretest - that's a word, btw - weapon) desperately tried to have Turkey-day at her home, but all the ~children~ overruled. They all informed us - from the oldest at 30 to the youngest at 2 (ok it wasn't Little Miss Magic, it was that 8 year-old Connor-Man) - that tradition dictates Thanksgiving is always here while Christmas is always there! There being Jules and family's home.
Whatever! Just know getting to the big day is a lot of work, but once we're all seated around the table(s), we'll all count our many blessings and be very thankful we've all gathered together one more year.
That said, the time for bloggin' will be a rare event for the next week like anyone will really miss anything.
So, my friends, I want to wish every one of you a very blessed day full of wonderful moments that turn out to be future moments you give thanks for. Thanksgiving...the very best holiday...

May Thanksgiving day and the thoughts behind it be just wonderful for everyone!

~~~

xoabb
expecting thankful thoughts all around!

Above photo taken of our smoked turkey last Thanksgiving '08.
Click here to see it!

P. S. We always have 3 turkeys each Thanksgiving - a traditional roasted one, a deep fried one (though last year that didn't work out at all! Go here for a good giggle.), and a smoked one. This year, we're only doing two as our friend Tony is doing the smoking honors for us in his Big Green Egg! Just thrilled as , 1. It's one less thing to do, 2. I know it will be delicious & 3. "Houston we have a problem" won't repeat itself this year!

Autumnal Serenity

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

~ John Muir

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

Most trees around here have dropped their leaves, but we still have a few desperately clinging to their leaf-load (see above and here). And I must say, those left are still all kinds of beautiful shades! Such a strange autumn it's been this year. The trees all seemed to peak at different times, so instead of one big glorious autumn, we've had little bits of autumn glory here and there. Not bad...not at all bad...just different.

Fire on the Horizon

Glorious Sunset
Looking over the river
What could be better??

xoabb
expect anything!

Sky Watch Friday
Do join us!

Well, That's Just Delicious!

Part of our meal Wednesday evening...so VERY good!!

Pan Roasted Asparagus

1 bunch pencil thin asparagus,rinsed
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to coat skillet
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Over medium heat, saute garlic till just golden. Remove from pan and turn heat up a bit. When pan is just smoking, throw in wet asparagus and then immediately clamp on a pot lid! Shake pan vigorously and more than once until asparagus is toasty on all sides. Toss garlic back into pan, then add salt and pepper (always fresh ground!) to your taste. Serve hot or room temp - delicious both ways!

Um, the rest is up to you!

~~~

xoabb expect anything!

BlyHot TNG, Yup, The Next Generation!

BlyHot TNG

For many years my parents have grown a bunch of different pepper plants in their garden. At the end of each growing season, they've dehydrated and ground them (in the Cuisinart) to make their famous (at least to our inner circle) BumHot. (Depending on the growing conditions, some years are hotter than others.) We've been the grateful recipients of BumHot over the years and we're hoping for another supply this year, but this year we've harvested, dried (in my ancient Galloping Gourmet (!!) food dehydrator) and ground our very first supply! Of course, all our plants were from seeds the BumHot originators supplied, and though I'm sure our mix isn't the same as theirs, it's good!

I wanted to call our dried pepper mix BumHot Jr., but was overruled...surprise surprise!

So we're going to go with BlyHot TNG.

Ours was a tremendous sneeze and watery eyes producer while in the making, and it has a tremendously wonderful tingly hot flavor now that it's finished! Maybe we got it just about perfectly right!

xoabb

expect family traditions to continue!

Autumnal Ripples...

Ripples of beauty
Upon my Autumnal pond
Seasonal Splendor!
~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

Double Magic, Sundog Style!

Sun in the middle,
With sundogs* on either side
A sight rarely seen...
~~~
(And just beautiful)
(Thank you, Mother Nature!)

xoabb
expect the very unexpected!

P. S. To my young friend, Weather Boy, aka JBM (Nurse Nancy's son), that makes 4 sundog sightings for me in the last 6 weeks! ?

*The scientific name for sundog is parhelion (from ~beside the sun~). According to my very favorite source of information, Wikipedia.org, sundogs/parhelia are atmospheric phenomenon. (Click on the highlighted words for more information and incredible photos.) Oh, and it has something to do with ice crystals. I like anything that involves ice crystals!

Southward Bound w/a Side of Sundog

Air growing colder
Winter's just 'round the corner
Homeward bound we fly!

~~~

xoabb
expect snowbird behavior!

This began as a double sundog WHOOPEE, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT ACTUALLY OCCURED, A DOUBLE SUNDOG AND I GOT TO PHOTOGRAPH IT!! post. But I'm just too lazy to go to the trouble to post all the pics from flickr to here this evening. SO, if you want to see that double dog double down terrific sundog phenom, just scoot on over to my flickr page. And if you're too lazy to do that, pooh on you!

Oh, it's Friday the 13th...that must by why we don't care!

SkyWatch Friday!
Do join us!

Turkey in the Tree

My turkey's have finally returned to their tree home...
And I couldn't possibly be happier!
I've missed them so...

Another winter season begins.

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

Autumnal Ripples

Autumn leaves reflected in an autumn pond

~~~

xoabb

Abstracted Still Life, Pet Edition

It's a quiet moment for the Bly animals that own us. Clockwise from the very large dog, (that would be Stella on the right), is Trey-you lounging as only he knows how to do. Then, of course, just above Trey-you, is Baby...that would be Stella's nearly three year old stuffed baby bear that she loves dearly and completely.

So there! That's the picture of the Bly animals that own us completely and entirely! And that's a very good thing. As Martha has said more than once. Amen.

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

Looking out the Asylum Doors

Nurse Nancy and I work in an office suite in the middle of the school building which has not one window or door that opens to the outside. Usually this doesn't bother me, but in light of what went on last Friday, I do believe when I'm at work tomorrow the walls will feel like they're closing in. At least I can walk out into the hall and look out the door for a minute or two.

Just let me wallow for a minute.

I'll be in a better mood soon enough.

~~~

xoabb

And, yes, my glass is still half full! (Always!)

As Poor As A Church Mouse

"As Poor As A Church Mouse

"Walking around Brantingham, I noticed this grave with a mouse carving. Looked it up when I got back and found out it was carved by Robert 'Mousey' Thompson of Kilburn (near Helmsley, North Yorkshire, 1876-1919). Thompson's trademark was a carved mouse chosen because he reckoned that the rate of pay for carving church furniture made him as poor as a church mouse."

Thank you Trick75!
Such a wonderful photo!
(thanks mum bum for the heads up!)

~~~

xoabb
expect serenity!

Early Morning Light, then Darkness

snapped: 11/06/09

Well, it started off being a beautiful day.

Let's just say it went downhill from there. There was an incident at work yesterday that I personally think wasn't at all fair to the person it happened to. But in all honesty I don't know every side of this story. And as my very wise mither-dear has always told me: There are always three sides to every story: that side, this side, and somewhere in the middle, the true and right side.

I just hope some good comes out of this,

especially for that person...

whom I consider my friend.

Pooh! I hate sad days!

~~~

xoabb
expect anything - sadness too.

CT Coast Sunset

I was driving home from the grocery store on the 2nd and happened to glance toward the sunset. Must tell you, the day had been nice but nothing spectacular. I nearly wrecked the car when I caught a glimpse of the now gorgeous sunset sky!

So I had to chase that sunset out onto our local Saugatuck Shores. As I got to the parking lot, two old salts who had been clamming yelled: "Shoulda been here 3 minutes ago - that sunset was the most spectacular we've ever seen, and we've seen a lot of 'em!" That's me...always a day late and a dollar short. (sigh)

And though the above photo isn't as wonderful as it could have been 3 minutes earlier, I still think it's kinda sorta beautiful!

~~~

xoabb
expect me to be late sometimes!

Sky Watch Friday
Do join us!

News Story

In the backyard, 10/29/09.

Above has nuthin' to do with today's post, but I like it. So there!

Today I read a story about a young boxer who was down on his luck but ultimately worked (is still working?) his way to a better life for himself. Here is what he had to say:

"I could ask someone [to help] but then at the same time, how hard are you going to work for something if every time you get in trouble somebody catches you? I did something to put myself in this position, I have to [do something to] work my way out of it."

~

Words to live by.
For everyone.
Me included.

~~~

xoabb

(You'll find ~The Boxer's~ story here.)

Last Harvest...

We were supposed to have our Community Garden plots cleaned out and "put to bed for the winter" by the first day of November. Well, we missed that by one day, but yesterday, the deed was done! Remy, Kat and I worked hard and all was complete in about two hours. As you can see, our very last 2009 garden season CG Kate bag harvest consists of....peppers! What a shock!!! Rem and I have wondered often and long this growing season why we thought it necessary to plant so very very very many pepper plants. Those babies were prolific beyond belief! And the nasturtiums? Right there with the peppers! Isn't that last bouquet beautiful? (My dad sent the seeds for both the peppers and nasturtiums - very hardy Missourah seeds there!)

Our plot upon arrival yesterday.

The dead tomato and bean plants had been removed last weekend, but I couldn't bear to remove the peppers, eggplant or nasturtiums until the last moment - they were still so vigorous! There hasn't been a frost yet and I do wish we could have let everything be until a natural kill...

But we couldn't,
so it was time to put our CG plot to bed for the winter.

Our Community Garden received a grant for close to $100,000. Because of this, the wheel barrow you see above (filled with the last of our plant vegetation) plus the tool sheds and all the garden tools they're filled with (plus so much more), is available for free to all of us lucky enough to have ~won~ a plot in our community garden.

~Gardeners Extraordinaire~
Rem & Kat
(with our CG Kate Bag)
And our cleaned-up plot!
(Remember this and this?)
(It really has been a good first year!)
~
Half-way to a full-circle gardening year.

We're already dreaming of next Spring!

That, my friends, is a glimpse into My World for this Tuesday.
Hope you enjoyed it!

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

That's My World Tuesday
Do join us!
(This week Klaus, the creator of My World Tuesday is the guest host.)

That would be me she is hanging up on...

(Let's try this one more time (see post below this). First time I tried to post this, the comic strip didn't post!)

(Courtesy of Vic Lee's Pardon my Planet comic strip)

I burst out laughing when I read the above! It is so directed at me. Yes, I am a victim of ~Recorded Message Rage~. I think my friends would tell you I'm usually a fairly mild mannered gal, but get me on the phone with a non-human originating voice and the cussing invariably begins. Only thing worse is the RM where you have to speak your answers instead of punching in my case, usually the wrong a number. I must have a speech impediment because the reply I almost always get is "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you said. Will you please repeat your answer?" After the 3rd or 4th time hearing this, yup, the cussing begins.

Laughing at oneself...
It's good to do!

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

That would be me she is hanging up on....

OH NO! THERE'S JUST A BIG OLD BLANK SPOT!
WHAT WENT WRONG??
SEE POST DIRECTLY ABOVE.

(Courtesy of Vic Lee's Pardon my Planet comic strip)
(

I burst out laughing when I read the above! It is so directed at me. Yes, I am a victim of ~Recorded Message Rage~. I think my friends would tell you I'm usually a fairly mild mannered gal, but get me on the phone with a non-human originating voice and the cussing invariably begins. Only thing worse is the RM where you have to speak your answers instead of punching in my case, usually the wrong a number. I must have a speech impediment because the reply I almost always get is "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you said. Will you please repeat your answer?" After the 3rd or 4th time hearing this, yup, the cussing begins.

Laughing at oneself...
It's good to do!

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

Sunday Serenity

Don't confuse serenity with being lazy or careless, with putting off decisions or deferring the study of important matters.
Serenity always goes hand in hand with diligence, which is a virtue we need in order to consider and solve outstanding problems without delay.

~ Josemaria Escriva, The Forge

~~~

xoabb

expect anything!