Twists & Turns

Hmmm.....

Every once in a while life throws you a curve ball.

Long story short, we've been thrown such a ball. Tomorrow my hubs, GB, will undergo surgery to ~fix~ two of the vertebrae in his upper spine. It's pretty critical he has this done as if he doesn't, he'll end up in a wheel chair sooner than later for the rest of his life. It's a surgery that's really quite common, but when it's happening to you/your family, it's quite unique and quite scary. To say the least, I've been preoccupied of late and have spent minimal time here or anywhere else. And it looks like that's going to continue for the foreseeable future.

I know we'll be in the thoughts and prayers of those who know us, and that's appreciated more than we could ever tell you. Thank you, thank you! I'll get back to visiting all my favorite haunts as soon as I can. Until then, know you're never far from my longing to visit you/talk to you!

~~~

xoabb
~

Photo: July 2009, in the garden of our VA Blogfest landlords,
Mathews County, VA

Sunday Serenity: Traditions Old & New

Our family is all about tradition. Whether it be Sunday family dinner, the annual it must be the perfect Christmas tree hunt (hubby does that one), ~favorite meal~ birthday dinners, fish fries, Bears football games of which the outcome is never pretty, gin games, etc. etc. etc., our traditions mean everything to all of us, and I'm certain most will live on through this generation and all of our generations to come. That said, it's truly not easy establishing a new family tradition that you just know is going to last a lifetime or two or three.

Well now! I'm astonished and very pleased to report that this past Thanksgiving another lifelong family tradition was firmly born; one I really do believe will continue for many years to come:

About 30 minutes before we were all to sit down for our yearly feast, Remy (the hubs & my eldest daughter) announced that she had something she wanted us all to participate in. She told us she'd cut out leaf shapes and wanted each of us to write down one thing we were thankful for. We were then to take the leaf and place it written side down on one of the plates and then be sure we didn't sit where our leaf was. Rem said we could write whatever we wanted, happy, funny, deep thought, goofy - whatever we wanted. Well, just about all of us laughed at this silly idea but being the ~good sports~ we are, played along.
We all sat down to our first course of lasagna - yup, another lovely family tradition (from the Varco side) that's taken place every single year I've known my husband, 32 Thanksgivings so far - and Rem announced that each of us was to read the leaf note at their plate. It was simply magical. There were fun moments, solemn moments, laugh-out-loud moments, thankful moments and, as we discovered as the leaf notes were being read...themed moments - it became obvious there had been ~talk between folks~ before they wrote their thankful one thing down... a Heather thing seemed to be going on... (In all honesty, I feel I must report my dad had to have read my mother's leaf before he wrote his own, see below.)

And every single one of the 30 or so gathered around our Thanksgiving tables agreed this tradition-in-the-making was one that would have to be repeated each Thanksgiving for all the years to come, whether we originals were all together again or were celebrating at different tables with other family and friends.

~~~

xoabb

Thank you Remy!
What a sweet & wonderful tradition/memory you've created!

~

The Notes, in no particular order:

I am thankful for:

The Blue Hornet {a car}, Sunday Fundays, Love & Family

Thankful for the 3 H's: Health, Happines & Hard-ons

That I have lived long enough to enjoy my family & George's Bloody Marys

Gin @ 5 (mom)

Mary + Gin @ 5:30 + Ann & George for giving us this extended family (dad)

Dolfin cheerlearders

I am thankful for "beer pong" and "flip the cup"

Thankful for "pink" & Heather

For being here today w/my whole family!

My kids ~ and Heather

The Thanksgiving keg ~ & Heather

I'm thankful for my family

I am thankful for the love of family and friends

I am thankful for my mom and dad

My dad breaking the vegan code ~ and Heather

I'm thankful for all the great people I'm spending Thanksgiving with

I'm thankful the Murray girls are doing all the dishes

For my healthy & loving & happy children & 4 being well endowed

I'm thankful for Heather

I'm thankful the itching has stopped

I'm thankful for...my mom's facebook status ~ (& Heather)

-3 turkeys -good company -free drinks -for the Giants winning today (hopefully) -3 turkeys -Yankees winning -that & I am done with this

I am thankful for...Good food ~ & Heather

God's Blessing

Spending time with family

I'm thankful for family

Good health & family

I'm thankful for the gatherings we do each Thanksgiving. And wine

I am thankful for my family and friends

Having the day off!

My best friend Mikey & beautiful daughter

Thankful for life

Last, but certainly not least:I am thankful for my dad's seductive ways, for if he was not such a *imp,
I probably wouldn't be here with all you beautiful people today!

A Chorus Line

Never have I seen a bunch of seagulls, (who all happen to look like they're the same kind), lined up so perfectly? It's "A Chorus Line" of seagulls with an ~Autumnal New England Sky~ in the background, just above our Long Island Sound. Just short of perfection!

~

"And now, ladies and gentlemen,
For your listening pleasure,
The solo performance of the night..."
(first gull on lower right - duh??)

"Kiss today goodbye,
The sweetness and the sorrow.
Wish me luck, the same to youuuuuuuu.
But I can't regret
What I did for love, what I did fooorrrrrr looooove."

(gull above was photographically captured holding
the note on that last musical syllable - looooooove.)
~just sayin'~
~~~

xoabb
expect anything!

~

Sky Watch Friday
Do join us!

Nap-time with Stella-Dog

Eldest Daughter gets in some snuggle time with Stella-Dog...

A dog's life just isn't that easy! (sigh)

~~~

xoabb

expect snuggly things!

Yum!

Mussels Sailor-Style

That's it.

Just yum!

~~~

xoabb

expect the recipe if you request it!

;-)

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

"December 7, 1941"

"A date which will live in Infamy...No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory."

Sending a heart-felt THANK YOU to each and
every United States of America veteran.
Your service is greatly appreciated and
certainly not ever taken for granted.
Thank you.

~~~

on another note...

I'm being spammed each and every day on one particular post. I see that there are blogspot.com posters that enable comment blocking just for certain posts. I have no clue how to do that, so for the time being, I'm going to enable word verification. Hate to do it, but am quite tired of the spam. Been happening for far too too long.

~~~

xoabb
blessings to all!

Sunday Serenity

Generation Continuation
L to R: son, daughter, mom, dad, daughter

~~~

xoabb
how lucky am I??

Homeward Bound

Boat is put to bed

Bird still winging his way home

Hugs when he gets there?

~~~

xoabb

expect anything!

Sky Watch Friday!

Do Join Us!

Gathering 'round the Kitchen Table...

My good friend Kacey of Wine on the Keyboard holds a themed photo contest each month on her blog. For November the theme was, quite appropriately, "I'm thankful for...". The only rule was it couldn't be a person or a pet. Here's my entry:

I'm forever thankful for our kitchen table and all the people that have gathered around it over these many years. We've shared Thanksgiving, Sunday Family Dinners, good times, card games and many many other wonderful moments.

~~~

xoabb

it's all good!

Autumn Migration

Geese migrating across
the autumn sky on their way...
to the parking lot

(That's where they ultimately landed.)

(Doesn't make for very good haiku...sigh.)

~~~

xoabb
signing off now to go practice her haiku writing skills

~

12/01 @ 8:02pm update: Well well well! There have been a few developments here concerning this particular haiku I tried to pen. Daughter dearest (AKA Formerly Affianced - don't ask, it's a once-sad story, and now she's happy and just needs to change the name of her blog - and actually post on it!...oh dear...TMI!). pointed out the first line of the above haiku contained 6, not 5, but 6 syllables. Perhaps, this is the greatest haiku sin I have ever committed (let's not discuss the quality content of the three lines, please). She suggested losing the a in across. Hmm...I like that better than replacing ~migrating~ with ~flying~ or ~winging~. Consider it done! Then, my friend, Flea, penned a haiku in the right rhythm that was just wonderful:

Geese flying across
The golden wheat near water
Safe in parking lot

So very nice, Ms. Flea! Thank you!

~~~

Live & Learn!