Thanksgiving Day This and That

Sitting home today, eating nachos and watching Dr. Who. It's an unpaid day off from my work place and Kim and I don't celebrate Thanksgiving today due to his work schedule. So, yeah, kind of a non-event kind of day.  (We have Sunday plans for a nice family dinner.)

I have been doing some reading, just fiction, but I enjoy it.
If you like mysteries I recommend this series by Gyles Brandreth.

 

Be smarter than I was though and read the series in order.  Duh.

On the other hand, I barely made it through this book.

Actually I didn't even make it through the entire book.  I gave up caring about the story about halfway into it.  If you're a Catholic you might find it interesting.  I did not.

I bought this;  intending to steam it into my morning lattes.

Not my best plan.  You know how it's really good though?  On ice, with Kahlua.  Yummy.

I've made these twice and highly recommend them.  Soooo good.

You'll need a decent sized food processor to make a batch, or you could halve it.

We're still working with Scarface, trying to acclimate him to our three cats.  Chelsea has become used to him being around.  She's also too deaf to notice when he growls at her.  A good thing, I guess.

 Felix, our smallest cat is also the bravest so far.

 Felix has been unwilling to give up his sleeping spots in the house.  He waltzes in the front door as if he owns the place.  Scarface still occasionally chases him but no one gets hurt.

Frankie on the other hand, is quite the "scaredy cat".

He is super vigilant around the house now.  But he's improving.

Jessie, cat number three, still requires carrying to enter the house.  But we're all working hard at it.  Scarface really hates being sprayed with the water bottle we keep handy.

And since it is a day for being thankful I want to mention that years ago my friend Carol gave me these lovely socks she hand knit for me.

Aren't they beautiful?  And I'm still wearing them occasionally.

She gave them to me before she taught me how to knit my own socks.  And until I finished my first pair I didn't appreciate nearly enough what a gift hand knit socks really are.  They're wonderful.  (They are also damn time consuming and require a ton of patience.)

Since then I've knit many a pair;  mostly for myself, and a very few for family members.

Right now I'm working on another pair;

I still use the socks Carol made for me as a length and height measurement, they're so perfect.

Here's hoping you find something to be thankful for today, even if it's a small thing.  And if anyone ever gifts you with hand knit socks, be grateful, very grateful.

For Veterans Day

My dad died May 25, 1989.

My Dad, where to start? I loved my dad for his strength, even though he was an alcoholic. I loved him for his wisdom, even though he barely graduated from high school. I loved him for his love of life, and I understood his sorrow towards life.

He grew up in Baker City, Oregon. His mother had probably already died from the flu by the time this picture was taken. Dad's the boy in the middle.





He met my mom in Chicago. They married after Dad came home after WWII.




Dad spent three long years as a POW in Japan. While he was in captivity in the Philippines, his only brother died with him. Their father died before dad returned to the states.





My dad, Neil (on left), with his best friend, Jack. I'm in the middle.



The house we lived in for 16 years of my life.



My dad with one of his monkeys. Yeah, we had monkeys. And no, it wasn't fun.



At my first wedding.



And involved in his favorite activity, something he enjoyed along with my ex.




Dad was a difficult person to love. Alcoholics, as many people know, are quite the challenge. He was often a complete asshole. But I never, ever, doubted his love for me. I can't say the same of my mother.
I miss dad's directness. He never beat around the bush, that's for sure. And he taught me to at least try to be my own person no matter what people may think.
Dad was the one who picked me up at school if I had cramps, and I could actually talk to him without embarrassment on such subjects. He was the one who wondered what was wrong if, as an adult, I wasn't having sex with my current boyfriend. But he also shamed me by making loud, drunken, sexist remarks in public.

I remember Dad puttering around in his garden after he retired. He loved growing vegetables. For a time he kept a rooster in his backyard; the damn thing would run me out when I would come over to gather lilac blooms. At some point Dad killed the thing, ate it, and used the feathers to tie fishing flies. Typical dad. I still miss him, but when he died, I spent that night on the couch where he fell from his heart attack/stroke, whatever, and I remember that I finally, as a 34 year old married mother, I finally felt safe in the home I grew up in.

Long time no see

I've recently considered abandoning this blog.  Sometimes it seems as if I have nothing new to say.  Life goes on.  The seasons change.  Blah blah blah.

I think part of my problem is I feel like we're in a holding pattern until we retire.  I'm really looking forward to the changes we have planned when that happens.  In the meantime I need to get on with life.

We seem to have become some sort of abandoned animal refuge.
Remember this from last year?

I'm so happy we managed to adopt out six of the seven kittens to good homes.  (We kept number seven, Frankie, the one with the blue collar.)  It's odd to look back on that time and remember how crazy we felt caring for 12 cats/kittens.  Yes,  TWELVE;  both mothers, their brother, their seven kittens and our two cats.

Perhaps remembering that experience will help us survive this guy.

Yes, Scarface is back.  Probably for good.  He has come to live with us for various reasons.  Our hope is to have him adjust to our three cats.
He has aged, and mellowed, quite a bit.
A much younger Scarface sans the white hair:

I'm optimistic about our chances of having him adjust to our cats because he previously fell in love with a kitten we had back in the day.

On to another topic;  I donated a small amount to one of those Kickstarter ideas and now I get to follow her adventures on her blog.  Looks like it's going to be quite entertaining.  Check it out at Saratops.

There is nothing and also so much going on with me right now. 

For some stupid reason I can't explain, working on these videos of our sweet dog has made me appreciate her all the more.  She is around 13 years old now.  (We adopted her as an adult so we're not sure of her age.)