Gobble... Gobble...

All pans and casserole dishes at the ready   ✔

Large Platter and carving set located ✔

Great Grandma’s little side fruit bowls washed and dried ✔

All ingredients for everything on the counters ✔

Turkey in fridge thawing ✔

Peanut Butter ice cream pie made and tightly covered in the freezer ✔

Stuffing ready put together and into muffin pans for “stuffin’” muffins ✔

Green bean casserole all set ✔

Grandma Betty’s fruit salad just needs whipped cream ✔

Cheesy/bacon casserole ready to pop into oven ✔

Mashed potatoes set to microwave ✔

Table set ✔

Note written to remember the cranberry sauce this year ✔

House about to smell wonderful ✔

Local family about to arrive ✔

Smile on my face – so much for which to be thankful ✔

 

What did I forget beside cornstarch for the gravy makings?

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Gobble… Gobble…

 

 

Short and Sweet...

More than one of my friends have mentioned, from time to time, that they wanted to text or call me, but then realized that it was too late in the day -- even though most normal people would just be getting their second wind. What can I say?  I go to bed early.  Usually up between 3 AM and 4 AM, I am ready for sleep by early evening. I am a morning person. Plus -- it's all about quiet, uncomplicated time. When I was in college I slept in two shifts just so I could have this quiet time. College dorms are not quiet places. I need quiet. I have always needed quiet.

Here's the thing. Time in the predawn hours is not only silent, it is remarkably peaceful. Uncomplicated. About the only sound I hear is the coffee maker and the clicking of the keyboard as I write. If it's cold, I start the fire in the fireplace behind me... so there are those sounds as well.  If I am lucky the occasional owl off in the distance lets me know that it, too, is awake. I like that owl and its haunting hoots. (I like to think that it winters in my little barn.) Anyway -- I can think.  I can watch the sun come up ... a reminder that each day is a new beginning.  Sometimes it is important to think about that.  I am thankful for the start of a new day.  Aren't we all?

The predawn hours are a healing lull before the world comes crashing in.  It is my time. I claim it. Plus - I couldn't sleep in if you paid me... so there is that.  I am who I am. What can I say? I have a suspicion that I am not alone in this. Someone told me once that you need less sleep as you get older.  Not sure that age has anything to do with sleep.  I just know that peaceful silence is a blessing for sure... at any age.

Gun totin' nana....

 

Not a fan of change really… or of trying new foods or even of tasting a teeny bit of things that look icky – like escargot.  I am not a fan of scary things either. It is therefore surprising to me that I recently purchased a Smith and Wesson 380 handgun. Now – I think that handguns are both a big change for me and… very scary. Yes, you read that right – my home is now protected by Smith and Wesson (and so am I).  I need to get a sign for my door that says that.  Some will find that amusing; others perhaps not so much. Don’t care. I am okay with it.

Anyway... the gun, which is, at yet, unnamed, sat around in the box for several weeks while I waited for my gun safety classes to begin.  I took it out once to allow someone else to use it for target practice in order to compare it to a 9mm -- and once to show it to a good friend.  Hesitant to touch it myself, I began to wonder if I were beginning to lose my mind or worse – that I was already too far gone. A handgun? Really?  I mean – those of you who actually know me in the "outside of the blog world" - can you even picture me owning a gun, let alone learning how to shoot or… actually using it?  Well, imagine for a moment, as I have, that you are protecting those you love.  Would you use a gun if you had one handy and knew how to handle it properly?  I am thinking that you would… or that you might.  Plus, I am just ornery enough to use it to protect myself. I notice that I get better at ornery as time goes on. And… I know just where I plan to aim to stop an intruder -- if it comes to that. My son advised me on this and I have given it serious thought.  It's always good to think ahead ... to have a plan.

So – this is what happened. My son gave me some idea of the things that a gun owner should have - and so – off I went to shop for gun related items having no idea whatsoever what I was doing.  Apparently, I was so engrossed in reading the labels on everything that I became an annoyance to another customer… a nice man… yet … a man with limited patience.  I had no idea he was there behind me… until he did the polite “ahem” thing.  He looked at me from behind his mask and asked nicely if he could just pick out everything I would need. He asked me what kind of gun I had and then took everything I had in my hands and put it back on the shelves. It took him about a minute to find everything I needed - explaining each item to me as he went.  I thought him to be very nice until he told me not to be embarrassment to my grandson when we took the handgun safety class together.  I didn’t like him so much after that. But I digress....   My son also sent me a cool shooting supply bag in which to store everything and gave me advice on ammunition, etc.  We plan to shoot together when he is home for the holidays.  It will be a bonding experience.

So – time passed and I found myself standing at a shooting range in between my son-in-law and grandson.  It felt like I was in standing between two strong guardians. I like that feeling and once again wished that my son didn’t live so far away, so he could have been there too.  He, too, is so fun and ... patient ... as well.  Anyway – the instructor has no limit to his kindness and patience with a gun toting Nana, and I learned a lot of important things. (The other men at the range  -- standing as far away as possible from me -- were total gentlemen -- although I think I may have heard some muffled signs of amusement - nothing even close to snickering though -- which was kind.) Nevertheless -- I am looking forward to more lessons.  By the way – I shot better than my grandson who may be an excellent shot on the Trap Team, but is new to handguns.   12 of the 16 bullets I shot actually hit my target and the one time I shot using a fancy pistol with one of those red dot things, I actually hit the bullseye center – all of this without my glasses.  Yep… I figure I am on my way, partner…. Must also mention that a dear friend of mine happened to call me this week (always so good to hear her voice) and when I told her about my gun and that I was writing about it – she totally took it in stride and said that she, too, has seriously considered "packin’ heat". That would make two white haired ladies one would not want to underestimate. That is just one thing that I love that about her. She has always been a feisty one.  I love feisty - at any age.  

By the way – if you plan to stop over after dark or in the middle of the night... text first just to be on the safe side.  Also, by the way, both my son-in-law and grandson said that I definitely had not embarrassed them.  Nice. Very nice.

Must be that time of year...

 

Here we are in the first week of November.  We will be turning back the clocks in just a couple of days.  Here we go again….  For those of us in snow country, we enter these days with a bit of annual trepidation.  It doesn’t help this year that the two Farmers' Almanacs offer different predictions about how hard the winter will be. But – hearty stock – we do take pride in surviving the winds of autumn followed by the snow and ice fest to come. We talk about it a lot. Our weather becomes a part of who we are in these parts. We go into a sort of survival mode and are proud of it. I also like to remember winters of years past as well.  The winters seem lighter somehow -- or maybe I am just taller.  No, actually – that cannot be it. I am getting shorter. Relate to that?

Anyway – come the end of October or the beginning of November each year, being the creature of habit that I am, I start thinking about preparing an Agenda for the upcoming year. My preference? At-a-Glance monthly.  With this particular type of Agenda, I am able see an entire month of things I want to remember – like upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  I have used a monthly agenda for years.  My Grandkids call it nana's brain.  I love that.  They are, in fact, closer to the truth than they may realize.

So – as is my tradition - I sat down at the dining room table on a dreary, rainy October day and began to mark my At-a-Glance 2022 monthly calendar with all “my” important dates.  I use green for birthdays and anniversaries.  I sometimes put the age of the person in parenthesis following their name as the years tend to get away from me. My grandson was in one of those what I call nippy nappies on my counter yesterday and today he bends down to give me a hug. Back to the point -- I use red ink to indicate when taxes are due, and other dates that I need to remember to keep me out of prison. You know that kind of date.  Heaven knows we have made enough tax deadlines and scheduled enough car inspections over the years to know their importance. I fill in the rest of the important stuff as I go along day by day. At the end of the month, I look back in wonder at how many things I actually accomplished...or not.

As I worked on this project moving from the cluttered and detailed 2021 to the blank slate of 2022, it was  fun to read what all went on last year… a lot of one-year anniversaries of damncovid highlights.  Just think we are approaching year three now.  Good grief. Anyway – I have a tendency to stuff important papers and to stick post-it notes on my Agenda and guess what I found?   I found two post-its with messages that I want to share with you. 

The first is an excerpt that I apparently found in a Mindful magazine at some point.  I vaguely remember the article – it was about what the writer described as mindful self-compassion rather than self-judgement.  The quotation I obviously wanted to remember?  “Learn to be kind to your imperfect self.”  I think this one works on a couple of different levels. Right?

I didn’t write down the source of the words on the second post-it.  Drat that.  I tried to Google it, but all I came up with was a Buddhist 12 step program and a similar sentiment on a T-shirt. Now Buddhists are known for their mindfulness so maybe it came from the same article as the first post-it.  Wish I knew where to give credit. Anyway -- these words take it a step further:

        Be kind to yourself. Be Present. Face it.

        One breath.

        One thought.

        One choice at a time.

I love the message on both of these post-it notes.  I see why I jotted them down. The thing is, as I move forward on my journey this time around, I like, more and more, to sit with things for a while.  You know what I mean? To think deeply about, to mull…. I figure I will get there eventually.  If not – I have enjoyed the process. And -- isn’t “mull” a fun word?  It sort of lingers in your throat when you say it out loud – it sounds like what it means... and it is a soft and gentle sound. I think we need more soft and gentle these days.  I have been giving that notion quite a bit of thought lately.