Thanksgiving, 2012

Our Thanksgiving visitors were so welcome!  I didn't think to take pictures until the morning they were leaving!  However, Wendy took many pictures of our day, and you can find out all about our Thanksgiving on her Facebook page.  (This was her first Thanksgiving.)  Bethany has her warmest hat on  - ready to brave the cold.  We really enjoyed Thanksgiving this year - everyone pitched in and helped, and we have much to be thankful for.  For now, it's back to Laramie for Seth and Wendy, and back to the windblown plains of Rexburg for Bethany.  We are thankful for all of our grandchildren - they are very special.

Thanksgivng Flowers

Our children know that we love flowers in the house - it seems like they take turns sending flowers without consulting each other.  These special autumn flowers from Julie and Mike came in time for us to enjoy them before the special day, along with our Thanksgiving company (Seth, Wendy, and Bethany).  May everyone in the family have an enjoyable Thanksgiving - we give thanks for all of our children and their families.

Thanksgiving

I can't believe that it is truly Thanksgiving time!  We've had the first snows, which have mostly melted on the flat, but there is still some frosting on the mountains.  This is a good time.  Seth, Wendy, and Bethany are here, and we will enjoy the weekend.  Wendy is going to make her first American pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but we're fudging, and using some pre-prepared pie crusts and the pumpkin pie mix in the can.  A slow introduction should be successful.  We are counting our blessings, since my pacemaker is working better now, and everything all around is brighter.

The Last Holdout!

The picture at the top of my blog was taken earlier in the summer, when this begonia plant was blooming profusely, giving us beautiful blossoms to welcome visitors with.  The frost has blighted every other plant in the yard, but this plant, hiding in the corner by the front door continues to deliver.  We've never had another plant last so long in this place.  As you can see by the top picture, all the flower beds have been prepared for winter, including planing tulip and hyacinth bulbs, by the three families who live in our cul-de-sac.  Thank goodness for such sharing and caring people.  We have seen much goodness and sharing in the last months!

Halloween - Is it Over?

Halloween is never one of my favorite holidays, but this year was a little different.  We live next door to a wonderful family, mom, dad, two boys, and a little girl.  The boys come to visit on occasion, carrying on almost adult conversations.  This year, their garden yielded some large pumpkins - the largest being the oldest boy's Jack-o-lantern, the next in size going to the next son, and then came our surprise - they came to our house, excitedly bearing this Jack-o-lantern, complete with flickering light inside that could be turned off and on.  We felt honored, and after the traditional Trunk or Treat in our neighborhood, they came to see us to show off the costumes.  Halloween can be fun.
I do need to explain my own frustrations with Halloween.  My children always wanted costumes, and, since extra money was nonexistant,  weren't very amenable to my suggestions of either going as a ghost (old sheets with holes cut in appropriate places), or a hobo, which definitely hit a brick wall as a suggestion.  Candy was expensive, and not as conveniently packaged as our choices today.  One Halloween that we did enjoy was one when we lived in the old family home in the early 70's.  Our neighbors invited the children over for doughnuts and cider - that was much easier and healthier than the town trick or treating that they did later.  Besides my own children eating too much candy, I also remember when I was teaching in the primary grades (1, 2), when we literally had to scrape children off of the ceiling because of the candy high.  I never planned on doing too much at school if the day after Halloween came on a school day.
     Halloween never got much attention when we were children.  Some boys would go around trying to tip over outhouses, but since our FHA special had a concrete base, it was too daunting.  My first year of teaching school in Riverton gave me the experience of having to organize a Halloween party at school (yes, we did lots of school parties in those days), and then having the second graders join in the school's parade in full costume downtown on a sunny, golden afternoon.  There are advantages to being in a retirement mode!  Our only role now is answering the doorbell with a bowl full of Snickers.  Little kids early, older kids later, and we're done!  The Jack o-lantern is preserved in my picture files, and life goes on.