Happy Thanksgiving! Yeah I know I am late!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and gave many thanks for all the gifts and good things in their lives. I had a great day. We went to friends house and we cooked up a storm. I had a ball getting back in touch with the cook inside me again. I have not had much opportunity to cook lately. We of course had to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. So that meant Turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and tons of gravy. Pumpkin pie and whipped topping for dessert is required in Thanksgiving cooking 101. It was a busy day in the kitchen but a day of good conversation and a chance to meet up with family that we had not seen in a great while.

One beautiful Turkey just out of the oven!!

All the extra fixin's get their turn in the oven!

Jim watched television most of the afternoon because there were football games to see. That made his day complete especially since the friends had a 55 inch LCD television. It was huge! What more could he ask for, football and a dream television. It dominated the room and the picture was great. He was in heaven because he is such a television addict that the thoughts of having such a huge TV is the stuff of which dreams are made. I was wondering if we would ever be able to pry him away at the end of the day but we were finally successful. Now I am sure I will hear the wonders of that experience for days to come. We have been considering upgrading our television because of the digital transition in February and our television is old enough in this day of rapidly advancing electronics to be considered a prehistoric dinosaour.

Jim with visions of 55 inch televisions in his head!

Randy with our hostess Charlotte

It was a great day and it will remain in my memory as one of the great holidays of my life. I am thankful for good friends and family and chances to spend time with them. I am thankful for the food on the table, the roof over our head and the beautiful day that God gave us.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May the spirit of giving thanks stay with you throughout the year.

Happy Birthday Stacy!

Today is my sister Stacy's birthday! She turns the half century mark today! Since she lives in Colorado we do not see each other much but family is still family. I sent her a birthday card with best wishes for her to have a wonderful day and a wonderful year. It has occurred to me that I do not have any recent pictures of Stacy. I will have to remedy that situation and post one here when I get a chance. Until then my best wishes will have to do. Happy Birthday Stacy.

It's snowing - UGH!

I know that I live in the unofficial snow capitol of Pennsylvania but really does the snow have to start in late October, early November. Why can't it wait until Christmas, give us the fabled White Christmas that everyone says that they want and then go away till mid-January sometime. By then I am adjusted to the fact that it is winter and snow is to be expected. I mean if you look at the calendar it is still technically fall. I think we are being cheated out of one of the best seasons in the calendar year.

This past Sunday evening through Monday we had about nine inches fall where I live. Snowfall throughout the county ranged from just a couple of inches up to a foot. At times there was thunder and lightening flashing across the sky. That is a strange phenomenon during a snow storm to hear the rumble of thunder and then the snow lights up with a glare of light. Since I usually only associate thunder and lightening with a summer storm it was sort of surreal.

This is a picture of my car with all the snow that had fallen by early Monday morning.

The one thing that I love about a heavy snow fall when there is minimal wind the snow tends to lay on the branches of the trees like white fluffy frosting. The stark white of the snow against the blacks, browns and grays of the tree branches is truly beautiful. So of course I had to take a picture or two!


Shortly after I took the above photo the snow started falling in a steady downpour almost like white rain. It obscured the view to across the street so that it appeared that you were looking through a fog. In the pictures I took you can't really tell that it is snow that is causing the foggy sensation but you can get a sense of the decreased visual acuity.


We have had a couple of days break where we have had no additional snowfall. I think that some of the snow actually had started to melt. That is of course until today when it started snowing again. Today we are having more of the light, large fluffy kind of snowflakes. I haven't heard anything about approximate accumulation amounts yet, I do not want to get depressed. I did dig out the camera and attempt some pictures of the snowflakes coming down.


As you can see the trees have lost their frosted appearance over the past couple of days. Also some of the trees have not even had a chance to lose all of their fall finery due to the early arrival of snow.
Kai and Rommel like the snow and they were outside playing while I was taking pictures. At one point when the snow was coming down a little heavy, Rommel was slowly being covered in a blanket of white and did not look too happy about the prospect of staying out in the snow much longer.


I think that the best way to spend the winter months is to hibernate like bears do. You go to sleep in the fall and when you wake up it is spring! What could be better than that! I don't have that option so I am going to make the best I can out of a bad situation and take pictures and try to enjoy myself. Since I have a bunch of sour lemons I might as well make lemonade! Only one month till winter officially begins and then just three more months until the official start of spring. I am already marking my calendar.