Yet Another Journal

Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans,
cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of.


 Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net

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» Thursday, November 27, 2014
Friends, Food, and Flummery

There are never enough hours in the day to do what I wish! I wanted to sweep and wash the kitchen and bathroom floors yesterday and never got to it. James had finally put all the plastic storage away, so I exchanged the step-shelves on the counter which holds veggie flakes, additional spices, etc. for a taller but narrower one. Everything can be seen now. I did get some books reviewed.

James got home early because work had slowed to a crawl. He had bought some accoutrements for his power chair (a storage pouch and a drink holder, and also a flag), so we put the first two on. (Will have to study on how to get the flag on; we don't want to fasten it on before he has the back of the chair adjusted.) Since we were already down in the garage, I suggested we fix the truck's passenger side mirror. It broke several weeks ago, and I had ordered a replacement from Amazon which came with all that we needed to install, including super-sticky adhesive. I removed it from the box, placed it up against the broken one, and noted with approval that it would fit perfectly.

And then I dropped the wretched thing. Unprintable comments follow.

I ordered a new one as soon as we got upstairs. How provoking!

This evening we watched several Thanksgiving specials, The History of Thanksgiving, A New England Thanksgiving, and another Food Network special about the history of the foods, and then, finally, my favorite of all, The Thanksgiving Treasure, the second of the Addie Mills specials in which an eleven-year-old Addie befriends a crotchety old farmer in order to emulate the Pilgrims befriending the Indians. She does have an ulterior motive—he owns a horse and Addie is crazy about horses—but learns to think of him as a friend. This is my copy that I recorded off the Disney Channel so long ago when Disney had decent programming, but I discovered that they have re-released the first Addie Mills story, The House Without A Christmas Tree on a double bill with a professional copy of The Thanksgiving Treasure! I still have many Amazon points, so I ordered it.

This morning I was up at eight o'clock to go after a newspaper. I was awed by its size. On Sunday we usually buy a double paper to get twice the coupons, and this behemoth was even bigger than the two of them. And the Constitution takes advantage of the desire for this paper: once upon a time the Thanksgiving paper was the same price as the daily paper. Several years ago they started charging Sunday paper prices, and today they charged a dollar more than that! Once I got home I walked Tucker and then settled in to watch the Macy's Parade and then the National Dog Show. During commercial breaks and Broadway spots I baked a chocolate peppermint loaf to take along, read the paper, and pulled out ads I was interested in. There's nothing we need, but I'd like to get season seven of Big Bang Theory and some flannel pajama bottoms for James. And I really want to look into getting a new phone. Today we were heading to Leigh Boros' house and the GPS gave me trouble, and then the phone rebooted at the crucial turn. Enough!

So the best part of the day came during Thanksgiving dinner with all our friends. We shared turkey and ham and pot roast, rice (James made Uncle Ben's wild rice and put toasted almonds in it; fabulous!) and corn casserole and stuffing, and sweet potatoes, cranberries and beets, with pumpkin and raspberry pies and the chocolate loaf (which was overdone on top but still tasted good) for dessert. We sat at the table and told pet stories about half the night while another contingent watched football, and we finally headed home about eight, full of good food and good fellowship.

Finished the night watching the last half hour of Airplane! and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

And finally, Counting-Our-Blessings on Thanksgiving Day:
Having Willow for nearly 16 years.
For Snowy who sings and speaks and enjoys his teevee and loved vacation.
For Tucker, who freed us from our Slough of Despond.
For a warm home on a cold day (and, conversely, for a cool home on a warm day months ago).
For family (from Georgia all the way up to Rhode Island, and everywhere in between and out west) and friends who have become family (too many to name here) and long-distance friends.
For Kaiser who gave James his chair without quarrel.
For work, which buys us the things we love.
For autumn days and books, and conventions and books, and places to go and things to see and winter afternoons...and did I mention books?
And so much for those who serve: the police, the firefighters, the EMTs, the highway patrol, the doctors, the nurses, the social workers, the soldiers, the sailors, the flyers, the guards, and the volunteers. You are truly blessings, each and every one.

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