thanks giving

Lord God, I am so thankful.

(The Lord God reads my blog.)

Thankful for many hands and the resulting light work.

Thankful for a reason to mash three huge bowls full of potatoes.

For fresh.................FRESH!!................bay leaves in the turkey stuffing. (Thanks, Mom!)



Thankful for enough self-discipline to refrain from sampling every one of the eleven pies.

Little Pilgrim and his wife didn't have enough self discipline, and look what happened to their waistlines!

Thankful for the blessing of daughters who surprise me with a spotless kitchen when I've left it a pretty big mess.

Thankful for twenty-six Thanksgivings with the same man. Well, actually twenty-eight, if you count the two in Texas before we were married, where he cheerfully met and made conversation with my mother's entire family tree, and then penciled in all the generations and marriages and names of descendants on the back of a grocery sack, just to keep them all straight. Thankful for a grocery sack full of relations and for a man who thought it was fun to map them out.

And thankful that the page edges of his Bible are looking pretty worn.

Thankful to hear the power of God's word, sometimes from the pulpit;

sometimes across the table.

Thankful to worship with the same silver-haired people I've been worshipping with since our hair was dark.
Lord God, I am so thankful.

(The Lord God reads my heart.)

(The Lord God reads your heart, too.)

(He loves you so very much.)

Who Needs Caffeine?

I've been keeping a jug of water with some citrus slices in the fridge. Sometimes I set it out on the counter for a while, and then pour a glass for a little pick-me-up. Sometimes God has his own ways of making sure I'm alert.

I'm awake! I'm awake!

Surprise Again

Vic is at the lake, laying the trap.

Ruth is stepping into it.SURPRISE!

What have u done 2 my sister!?

"I need a beer."

Susie, a teetotaler, made this proclamation last night in my living room. I immediately texted her sister, back in Wisconsin. "What have u done 2 my sister!?" Debi texted back.

Taught her a new game. We like to play games. Rachel introduced us to BANG!, a Wild West card game in which, sometimes, a beer can save your life.

Susie was the sheriff, pitted against John and me, the outlaws.

The sheriff put the outlaws in jail, the sheriff had a huge arsenal of the best guns, the sheriff blasted away until the outlaws were both six feet under. Things were looking pretty good for the sheriff.

Until a sweaty renegade rode up in a cloud of dust and spoiled the sheriff's day.

If you don't mind ducking behind barrels to avoid hot lead; if you don't mind swaggering into a hypothetical saloon from time to time, try Bang! It's fun.

A bit earlier in the day, the girls played a different game.

Does Audrey have a clue?

No gatling guns or wild Indians here, just death by hanging or blow to the head with a candlestick. When the girls were little, the ultimate in game violence was rolling a Sick Princess across the lawn. Times have changed.