Book Club

Our selection was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It was the first time I think I actually read the Charles Dickens version. I believe prior readings had been story book versions to the kids. I was the host, I love hosting. I made galette. It was my own concoction with cranberry jam, apples & dried cranberries on the top. Very fallish. Keeping up with my tradition. I gave everyone a book mark. They are quite lame compared to last year.

Next year I'll be hosting two times. We have seven members and we meet nine times. It's way past my two time turn.

I'm thankful that Amie has a friend from home that lives close to her.

She has beautiful sister,
and loving parents.

Excited that in less than a month the sign will say "Welcome Home Maggie!"

One of our family recipes passed down.

Our 20.5 pound turkey.

Mick got on the Internet this morning & figured out the proper way to carve a turkey.

The Thanksgiving table.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful Eric came home to share the day with us and we will miss Amie terribly.

Very lame place cards. I don't have my craft crew this year. : (

Thanksgiving

My favorite day of the year. What is better than a day of family, friends, food & football? I also love the tradition of the day. Family recipes passed down from generation to generation, there is no pressure of gifts like the next holiday we will be celebrating nor the hustle & bustle. I hope you will take time to remember all the wonderful Thanksgivings of the past & all that are to come. May you be very thankful for all your blessings.

Welcome to the Pavilion

Brittany was home & I was lucky enough to spend a Friday afternoon with her, then the evening with her parents. After a pizza & wing dinner we went to watch Robbie skate.

I guess they knew I was coming. I hadn't been into the pavilion since Amie was in high school. After spending 8 years at this rink with Eric it was an emotional home coming for me, I got a little teary eyed. When the boys skated onto the ice from the locker room I had all I could do to not start crying. Oh, boy!

Robbie's team won in over time!

A players' father has a Kangaroo. Isn't it the cutest thing? She sat & watched the entire game. I'm not sure if you want a mascot that's cute thou!

Syracuse University Football

Reluctantly, we went to the SU football game on Saturday. After the game I saw last weekend I was not excited about what we may witness this week. It felt like we even started out with a bad omen, we followed the Rutgers band into the stadium.

Tailgating prior to the game all the talk was about the basketball team beating North Carolina the night before.

As soon as we entered the dome, we saw Amy & Sean. He looked so cute in his SU gear. Sean is a huge sprots fan and was so happy to be at the game.
We then turned the corner & ran into Ellie's grandmother. She has season tickets for football & basketball & never misses a game. Just look at her, 82 years old!!!
We had great seats at the 40 yard line and very few rows up from the field.

The devil at quarterback.

The quarterback that will take over next year.

We witnessed 3 quarterback sacks in a row by the SU defense, never saw that before. I didn't miss the significance of fourth & 44. The final score!
We left the house at 8:30am & returned at 9:30pm. It was a wonderful day.

Hunters Return

The hunters returned from Canada last Friday. Eric spent 70 hours in a tree stand. Yes, he kept track. Below is all the wildlife he saw. I treated them to homemade waffles with blueberry sauce that I made from the blueberries we picked in August. I didn't have any but, breakfast sure looked good.
I did get some work out of Eric. He trimmed down all the perennial gardens. I'm not sure if it's the correct thing to do. Mick's cut everything down the last 3 years & every spring all plants come back. Also, the yard looks so much better in the winter.
Tomorrow Mick & I are going to the last - thank goodness last - home game for the SU football team. At least we have tailgaiting to look forward to. The game not so much. Sunday I'll start the Thanksgiving preparations! I can't wait. Hope you have a great weekend.

I'm back! I took an unexpected blogging break and my time off was great. Thanks to everyone who inquired about what happened to their GEL-Oh.

I went to visit Mom for two days last week with the idea of taking photos of all the beautiful fall & Thanksgiving displays in her home. Part of my blogging break was due to issues I had with my camera. I always take photos using manual settings & I played around with so many settings I couldn't get any decent photos. I think over the weekend I figured out my problems. So over the next several days you will be seeing some bad photos.

Frost on the mums.

Wordless Wednesday

Veterans Day

Take time today to remember all that have served

& all that are currently serving.

Fall Leaves

Amie was missing the beautiful fall leaves of the north country. So, I sent her a felt leaf garland. She will hang the leaves on her bedroom window. Any excuse for me to get my felt fix.
I actually have another idea. I'm going to be sending her some snow next month.

Packing Up

My station wagon left for Canada on Saturday morning, FILLED with hunting equipment.
A quick review to make sure they had everything they needed to get their Canadian licenses and the documentation to transport guns into Canada.

I didn't ask what would be necessary to bring deer back with them. I hope it won't involve putting an animal on the roof of my car.

It's beginning to look a lot like...........

This is what greeted me when I left for work yesterday morning.

Deer Photography

When I went to MI Eric asked me to go out early one morning, sit in the woods & take photographs of deer. Apparently hunting is huge in MI. The last thing I like to do is get out of bed early and I do not own any blaze orange. Although, I do own an orange wool sweater I wear for SU games.

I did come across the above deer at the side of a road. I guess this town has a large deer population?? Inside the house we rented was a deer theme floor lamp. I really do like the lamp.

So, even thou I did not get out of bed early to get deer photos in MI, I did find some. Tonight Eric will be coming home for a one night stay on his way to Canada for a week long hunting trip. Eric, I will get out of bed early tomorrow to help you get off.

Drying Herbs

I doubled the size of my herb garden this year. Love how much better food tastes when fresh herbs are used. I also decided to dry some of the herbs. I got on the Internet & got the how-to. I did a small amount at first. When Carrie visited I used the sage that I dried for the stuffing. I could tell the difference. So, this year we will be having my very own sage in my grandmothers stuffing recipe. I probably shouldn't have said that since I can think of two of my family members that will think changing the dressing is a bad idea.

Per the how-to, hang the herbs in a dry, cool, dark place.

I use Amie's closet!

Wordless Wednesday

Start Saving

Thanksgiving is only 23 days away, my favorite day of the year!!! If you plan on making Pumpkin Bread, start saving your cans. Mine are all ready.

I think I'll be baking this weekend.

Geneseo Hockey

Went to see Geneseo Ice Knights play on Saturday night. Last year was the first time in the six years I've followed Geneseo did I see them lose to Potsdam. Thankfully, it was not a repeat this year. All those boys lined up on the ice & I didn't know a single one. I did know the three men standing on the bench thou. I had a nice talk with Chris, the assistant coach, after the game. He played with Eric. He is getting married to a girl from the US and is in the process of applying for permanent residency.Hopefully the Ice Knights will have a good season!