If you're so inclined, come see what I'm huffing about.
yes, it was a happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving morning we woke up to snow.
Our dear little Phoebe bravely faces another Michigan winter. But this time she has a new birdbath at her back.Bishop acted like she didn't remember what snow was. You can see Don, Mike and little Kaeley going for a walk, getting needed fresh air after being cooped up in the house.
I wish I could bring the hydrangea inside for chandeliers above the big table. I think the candles would make them sparkle.
It felt good to get outside into the air that smells like sunlight refrigerated in earth.
To see our kids at home together for a few days warmed my heart. 
Indoors, Grandma is the cuddler of choice for little Kaeley.
Games, games and more games are what my husband's family loves at holidays. Peter brought "Guitar Hero" which was a challenge and a hit. You thought playing a real guitar was hard? Try playing this video game. The expert gives tips to his dad and sister.
"Cranium" is more my speed, with word and picture challenges.
I had to draw something to make my all women team guess more quickly than the men's team. This drawing is a "place." Can you guess what/where? We won this round. Wish I'd taken a pic of the men's drawing so you could see why.
Of course Thanksgiving is not all fun and games for the people doing the preparations. For all that good food, there is work, work, work. But when we do it together, it is fun.
Lesley cleaned and polished all the silver, bless her. We have a collection passed down from my mom's and my dad's families. I love using old things that my grandparents and aunt used. Imagine, those big serving spoons in my Grandma Olive's hands! Oh I love thinking about that.
I made pies, apple and pumpkin (remember, with Don's home grown organic pumpkins).
And I arranged flowers.
Don and I did the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy and I don't know what else. And the dozen other people in our home contributed to the meal in their own ways, and they cleaned up with energy and joy.
It's all about the meal, you might think. All the days of preparation, the hours of cleaning up.
But the meal is only a symbol. Our fingers mixing the ingredients. Our hands moving the furniture around to make room for the big table. Our hands laying the white tablecloth as clean and fresh as the snow outside. The perfect tiny flowers bordering the table on the good china. The polished silver, the flowers like jewels, the white candles lighting our familiar faces more softly than usual. Why do we do this?
We do it because we love each other, because we're thankful for each other, and we don't want to forget that our closest family and friends deserve special attention and the best we can offer.
Happy Thanksgiving
It didn't occur to me until after I was taking some still life shots in the living room (too cold and yucky outside to go out with the camera, without enough interesting payoff) that they were appropriate for Thanksgiving week.
Above, turkey feathers found on the farm, with a backdrop of a Navajo rug my great grandfather Arthur and great grandmother Carrie picked up on one of their mountain hikes out West, all sitting on a 200-year-old chair that belonged through the years to my mom's family. It made me so happy to realize the significant juxtaposition of an Indian rug and turkey feathers. I love that Thanksgiving started with a feast where immigrants and their helpers, the new land's native inhabitants, broke food together that they had worked together to raise. This human reliance on the kindness of strangers touches me, and I love remembering it.
Below, Don's grandparents Marshie and Guy behind the Thanksgiving cactus. Guy was one of 10 boys. These two were strong people. I met Guy, but not Marshie. Don says of his grandpa that he was a "brusque teddy bear." Guy was 6'4", and you can see Marshie was right up there too, at 5'11".
Wednesday we will welcome our children, and some of Don's family, for a few days of feasting, gratitude, family stories and laughing, and just treasuring each other. All too soon, all we have left are feathers, travel souvenirs and photographs.
I'm thankful this week, as always, but still, I'm huffing . . .
digitalis
It's November in Michigan. These photos were taken this week.When I was a little girl, we often had our first snow by Halloween, and our first real snow storm by Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is next week, the 22nd. Today it's 60°F (15°C). But it could still snow next week.
Last year Don planted an English garden, with a few digitalis plants. We also call them "foxgloves" in the U.S. They kind of look like gloves, don't you think?
Medicines from digitalis are called "Digitalin," used for cardiac help to control the heart rate for patients in artrial fibrillation.
But if you eat it, it is toxic and will cause vomiting and diarrhea. Believe it or not, some people do eat it to keep their weight down.
* * * *
just so you know
I'm starting a new blog. Yes, me.
SYNCHRONIZING is my primary blog. Flying is my photoblog.
The new one is titled "HUFFING."
huffing
v. huffed, huff·ing, huffs 1. To puff; blow. 2. To make noisy threats; bluster. 3. To react indignantly; take offense.
It's a place for me to huff and puff once in a while. Yes, that Bono post got me wishing I had a regular room for that kind of discussion. I hope you'll visit and huff with me.
See what I'm huffing about today . . .
SYNCHRONIZING is my primary blog. Flying is my photoblog.
The new one is titled "HUFFING."
huffing
v. huffed, huff·ing, huffs 1. To puff; blow. 2. To make noisy threats; bluster. 3. To react indignantly; take offense.
It's a place for me to huff and puff once in a while. Yes, that Bono post got me wishing I had a regular room for that kind of discussion. I hope you'll visit and huff with me.
See what I'm huffing about today . . .
en-(COURAGE)-ment
Because I need courage to face our world, maybe you do too. I've been losing heart lately. And I'm a LEO! I need to be more lion-hearted.
So I'm choosing to lay aside skepticism and cynicism for a minute and take (COURAGE) from Paul Hewson, aka Bono, and his partner Bobby Shriver. It's been a year since they launched the (PRODUCT)RED campaign. They targeted HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Africa, through the Global Fund.
Companies GAP, American Express, Converse, Apple and others send 50% of the profit for these target (RED) products to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which uses 100% to fight disease and poverty in Africa. All customers have to do is choose products that are supporting the campaign, such as a red iPod, a (red) Motorola cell phone, a (red) t-shirt from GAP, a (red) American Express card (only in the UK, darn), cool (red) Converse sneakers, etc. Please go here to see the full list of products promoting health in Africa.
I got me a (RED) GAP t-shirt, the (2 WEEKS) one. Gap's contribution to the Global Fund from the sale of each (2 WEEKS) t-shirt is equivalent to the average cost of 2 weeks of antiretroviral medicine in Africa, which, along with appropriate nutrition and care, enables people living with HIV to lead healthy, normal lives. That gives them COURAGE, which is (WAY) more important than giving me COURAGE. But giving them COURAGE also gives me COURAGE.
So I'm choosing to lay aside skepticism and cynicism for a minute and take (COURAGE) from Paul Hewson, aka Bono, and his partner Bobby Shriver. It's been a year since they launched the (PRODUCT)RED campaign. They targeted HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Africa, through the Global Fund.
Companies GAP, American Express, Converse, Apple and others send 50% of the profit for these target (RED) products to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which uses 100% to fight disease and poverty in Africa. All customers have to do is choose products that are supporting the campaign, such as a red iPod, a (red) Motorola cell phone, a (red) t-shirt from GAP, a (red) American Express card (only in the UK, darn), cool (red) Converse sneakers, etc. Please go here to see the full list of products promoting health in Africa.
In the year since the (RED) campaign was launched:
* $47 million donated to the campaign
* 1 million new people are now receiving daily treatment for HIV/AIDS; 1400 new people a day are getting meds
* 2 million new people are now being treated for tuberculosis
* 20 million new people are now being treated for malaria
Sure, these companies are making a profit. But when companies make a profit, it makes campaigns like this sustainable. Let's be smart, people.
Hey, Bono's Irish, but he knows how to market this campaign in the U.S. He says, America needs to "redescribe" itself in the world.
That's the kind of marketing I like. Let's be gullible and believe we can make a difference. Look at the difference these two men have made.
Click on THE (RED) MANIFESTO below to read it:
Be en-(COURAGE)-ed. Don't give up. Please never give up.
