Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Leavings
Well, Thanksgiving is over and all that is left is the "leavings". We had WAY too much food this year. My cousins who are excellent cooks were in town and created some wonderful dishes. My sister-in-law brought over her specialties and I made a few of my own. The problem is storage. My fridge was and still is so close to an avalanche. My husband and I need to start eating leftovers pronto.
Thanksgiving was so good. We had turkey with root vegetables. I personally had never eaten fennel before (that I know of) and I have declared it pretty tasty. We had a beautiful spinach souffle, roasted butternut squash, cranberries, Bourbon sweet potato casserole, devilled eggs and the list goes on.
After a whole day of prep it took us about 10 minutes to be full. We could only put a spoonful of each on the plate because we wanted to try a little of everything.
The cousins have now left and I am sitting in my bathrobe blogging and thinking about getting out my Christmas decorations. On to the next holiday.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Turkey Eve
Ohhhh, can you smell it? Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am always thankful for good food and good company. I have cousins coming to town to spend Thanksgiving with my husband and myself. My husbands brother and wife will be here also.
I'm supposed to have a half day at work and I need it to really be a half day as I have not finished cleaning the house. I also need to pick up a few more items (wine).
I'm ready for a few days of R&R.
Get ready because the holiday season is almost here!
P.S. Happy Birthday to my Wisconsin sister F. I hope your 45th year is monkey free.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Twilight - The Book
Saturday, November 22, 2008
You're Pitching
This week another member of the greatest generation passed away. He was my Uncle Frank. A most wonderful kind man with a great sense of humor a big heart and a bigger family. He is one of my Mothers older brothers.
Uncle Franks passing has brought back a flood of childhood memories for me, most of them having to do with the wonderfully huge extended family that I have back in my home town.
When my family has a funeral it basically turns into a wonderful wake. The wake hits with floods of relatives coming to our old haunt at the Polish Club where the family drinks and eats their sorrows away. (The Polish Club in itself deserves a blog of it's own.)
It is hard living across country and missing the gathering. You miss so much more than a farewell funeral. You miss the introduction of new family members by marriage or birth. You miss the comedy and the tragedy of a large family. You miss the food, you miss the sharing, you miss the hugs. You miss the people who know where you came from and get your sense of humor that sometimes only comes with genetics. You miss the love.
Well enough about me and what I miss... More about Uncle Frank and my Uncle Henry. They both were funny guys who always had a joke and a story. Our family was old world old school, Polish style. I remember things like my Uncle Henry making sausage in his basement. (Best sausage ever) Simple pleasures were the best like Sunday get- togethers at Uncle Franks or by the river. At these events mass quantities of beer were consumed by the Aunts and Uncles and the kids ran and ran until we dropped. Our parents would inevitably drive home with sleeping children, exhausted by the days events, in the back seat of the car.
My Uncle Henry was the eldest son and Uncle Frank was the next eldest son. I remember my Mom relaying a story about Uncle Henry telling a joke to Uncle Frank before he passed away and today it becomes appropriate and funny in the way my family thinks things are funny. Uncle Henry
Here is the joke: Two old men had been best friends for years, and they both live to their early 90's, when one of them suddenly falls deathly ill. His friend comes to visit him on his deathbed, and they're reminiscing about their long friendship, when the dying man's friend asks, "Listen, when you die, do me a favor. I want to know if there's baseball in heaven."
The dying man said, "We've been friends for years, this I'll do for you." And then he dies.
A couple days later, his surviving friend is sleeping when he hears his friend's voice. The voice says, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there's baseball in heaven."
"What's the bad news?"
"You're pitching on Wednesday."
As my older relatives pass away one by one and I become part of the "new" older generation I am consoled by the thought that these family members are reunited on the other side and that their legacy, by intention or not, are the children and the beautiful giant crazy family that they created. May they all rest in peace.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Happy Veterans Day
My Mom was small, under five feet tall. They had a hard time finding a coat in her size. Note that hers is a darker color than my Aunt.
They both enjoyed Army life and got to travel to parts of the world that they otherwise may have not been able to see at that time.
If it weren't for the Army my parents would not have met and I would not have been an Army brat with a love for travel.
God Bless our Veterans.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Honkey Love
When our cat Gary adopted us at the animal shelter we did not want him to be lonely. I went to PetsMart and bought him this cute white stuffed sheep. If you pressed on his body it would make a honking sound. We named the toy Honkey.
Note the rip in Honkey 1? Gary removed the honker.
Gary really took to Honkey. He liked him so much he even humped the poor thing. (All of the time). I figured that at the rate he was going I would need some spare Honkey's so I marched back to PetsMart and bought two more sheep and stored them in the closet for later.
Notice how flat the first two Honkeys are compared to his new Honkey.
We think that since Gary was older when we adopted him that he was not fixed until he was mature. We think this may be why he humps his toys. He normally does a little dance on Honkey first (notice the flatness on the dolls) and then he falls down and humps it. He evidently loves an audience too since he frequently dances with Honkey when we have company. (He's not shy). We have watched as he has walked into a room with Honkey in his teeth and then drop it down on the floor and put on a show for visitors.
I may have to go on a Honkey search soon as we are on our final Honkey (Honkey 3). I did find a larger version of Honkey (Honkey Kong) at TJ Maxx onde day but he has no interest in it. I think it's too big for his taste.
Honkey Kong - too intimidating.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Patriotic Small Town America
I liked this video so much I put it on both of my blogs. This one is dedicated to my sister Gitsy as I know she will cry when she sees it. Anything with kids and flags will get either of us emotional. We once broke down at the Liberty Bell together on a tour with some cub scouts. This video was taken in my new home town at the opening of our new public library. I thought it was wonderful.