We finally sang 'Happy Birthday' to our guy

Work and Thanksgiving preparations got in the way Wednesday of having a birthday cake for Cameron. But we had the cake for dessert yesterday, instead of the pumpkin pie. 
I hope he had a good birthday! We're happy to have him home for a few days.


I go to radiation this morning after a day off yesterday. Then I'm heading out to do a story on the beautiful Osborne Homestead Museum in Derby, Ct.
Each year local garden clubs decorate the house for the holiday season. This year's theme is cinema, and a friend who is in a garden club told me that her group used The Grinch theme to decorate the childhood bedroom and bathroom, with a sleigh set up in the bathtub. 

Looking forward to the creativity!

I'm thankful for a lot on this Thanksgiving Day

Money makes the world go around, or at least the song from 'Cabaret' would have us believe that.

Call me crazy, but I prefer instead to believe love makes the world go 'round. Yup. Who's with me?

In the past four days I have gotten a lot of love: every day was another surprise. 

Hmm...I wonder what today will bring?

Over the weekend a cousin (who is a regular reader of my blog but doesn't comment) e-mailed me to tell me he had ordered two magazine subscriptions for me.

He was hoping I didn't already subscribe. Of course I don't! 

Who can afford magazines? Although a certain unnamed man in this house gets a couple that deal with cars. It's his therapy.

On Monday an artist friend gave me five Christmas ornaments he had made three years ago. They still have the price tags on them. ;-) 

My favorite is a lump that is black on one side to resemble coal with the word naughty painted on it and the other side is painted to look like a gold nugget, and it says nice.

On Tuesday a woman I've met through my job gave me a ceramic guardian angel to hang on the wall to watch over me.

And yesterday as I was leaving radiation one of the technicians wished me a Happy Thanksgiving and handed me a homemade apple pie. It's delicious! What a nice surprise!

And after that I covered a story and tried to interview four-year-olds. When I was ready to leave two of the girls asked their teacher if they could give hugs. So they hugged me around my knees. It was adorable.

'Tis better to give than receive but I must say being the recipient this week hasn't been bad at all! 

Yesterday was our Cameron's 21st birthday. We didn't sing Happy Birthday or have his cake, so we'll do that today after dinner, if we can stuff anything more into our stuffed selves. He understood I was busy with work and other things.

I do have a lot for which I'm thankful. I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Bizzy days

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to radiation we go ...

It starts today and will continue for the next seven weeks. 

Life has been a bit busy lately...we got home at 10 p.m. yesterday from Ralph's co-worker's wedding and this morning I'm fixin' to head to my first radiation treatment.

Here's Ralph enjoying himself at the wedding. I had a tough time getting a good photo ~ I blame it on the soft lighting. This was the best one I captured.

Before we went to the wedding we visited our docent daughter working at an open house at the David Humphreys House. 

The annual open house features samples of Thanksgiving fare - turkey, cranberry sauce, cornbread, squash pie and more - prepared over an open hearth in the historic house. 

Here's a link to a post I wrote about the event three years ago! I would have guessed I had written it last year. Time sure does fly.  

Allegra surprised us yesterday when she told us she had made the tasty pumpkin soup.

My favorite is the squash pie. Our friend Christine who always makes the squash pies says she follows a pumpkin pie recipe and simply substitutes butternut squash, because it's sweeter than the pumpkin.

Yum!

That's about it from here. Off to get ready to be radiated.  

Ruby Tuesday ~ holiday time is here

Here are Kid Two (left) and Kid One posing for their Aunt Brenda on Thanksgiving Day.

We give thanks every day that we have such great kids.

And below are two views of the formal dining room at the Osborne Homestead Museum in Derby, Ct., which is decked out for the Christmas season. I did a story about the beautiful home, which is decorated every year by local garden clubs. You can read it here.

To see many photos featuring the color red, visit Mary T at Work of the Poet.

Who's the turkey here?

I usually don't have any issues with turkey storage, but Saturday night after we had our belated Thanksgiving dinner I seem to have had problems. I couldn't fit the giant ceramic turkey platter in the refrigerator, so I found this mixing bowl.

And to think this bird weighed less than 11 pounds. I can't imagine dealing with one twice that size! How do people do it?

(Ralph didn't marry me for my domestic skills, as you can plainly see.)

Gobble, gobble

We missed out on the tantalizing smells of turkey roasting in the oven yesterday. Our blog friend, Empress Bee, wrote about those cooking smells here. I agree with her that they're awesome.

We spent Thanksgiving at Ralph's sister Michele's house and had a wonderful time. Lots of family stopped in and everyone seemed happy and healthy.

She gave us the decimated turkey frame, which I am boiling right now for future soup-making.

Yay!

Tomorrow a good friend will bring over a complete turkey dinner and the six of us will enjoy another Thanksgiving at home. Double yay! Good thing we all like turkey. The cats may even get a few shards of it tomorrow. If' they're good.

I am going to work today; no Black Friday running around for me. Unless it's on the Internet.

Happy day after Turkey Day!

A day to count our blessings ...

Tuesday night I attended an interfaith Thanksgiving service at a Roman Catholic Church in our town to support our pastor, who was one of the clergy participating in it.

It was a wonderful service and I decided to write a story about it, since clergy members hope to make it a Thanksgiving tradition. I hadn't planned to do so, but it worked out.

This is my story published in today's New Haven Register:

"ANSONIA — Tuesday was a time for Valley residents to celebrate their blessings as local clergy took part in an Interfaith Service of Thanksgiving. Nearly 200 people attended the event at Church of the Assumption.

The participating clergy hailed from several faith traditions: Roman Catholic; Congregational; Episcopal; Jewish; and Buddhist.

The Rev. Robert F. Condron, pastor, Church of the Assumption, welcomed worshippers to the evening service. The Rev. Ed Stueckle, pastor, Second Congregational Church, Derby, read aloud President Obama’s Thanksgiving proclamation.

One of the participants, the Rev. Donna G. Ives, pastor, First Congregational Church in Derby, said a colleague commented before the service that “this is history in the making.” Ives said clergy members “were all amazed with the turnout.”

The Rev. Marcia Eveland, pastor of First Congregational Church in Ansonia, said clergy members plan to make the service an annual Thanksgiving tradition.

She credited the Rev. Amy Welin, pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in Ansonia, with much of the planning. “It all got going after she (Welin) spoke with Father George (Burnett from Church of the Assumption) this past Good Friday. Father George committed to hosting the Thanksgiving service at that time,” she said.

Eveland employed her puppet ministry as she called the children in the congregation down to the front of the sanctuary. She and “Booregard,” her longtime puppet “friend,” entertained them as she talked about religious pilgrims.

People brought offerings of non-perishable food donations for the Valley Food Bank.

Worshippers sang “We Gather Together,” “Come Ye Thankful People,” “God Bless America” and “Now Thank We All Our God.” Cantor Joshua Konigsberg of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Woodbridge sang several prayers in Hebrew.

In addition to Condron, Stueckle, Ives, Eveland, Welin, and Konigsberg, participants included Maj. Theresa Burkholder from The Salvation Army in Ansonia; the Venerable Thick Minh Duc from the Phuoc Long Buddhist Temple, Ansonia, and Jack Brady, deacon, Church of the Assumption.

Sponsors of the service were: Christ Episcopal Church, Ansonia; Church of the Assumption, Ansonia; Congregation B’nai Jacob, Woodbridge; First

Congregational Church, Ansonia; First Congregational Church, Derby; First United Methodist Church, Ansonia; Holy Rosary Church, Ansonia; Phuoc Long Buddhist Temple, Ansonia; St. Joseph Church, Ansonia; St. Mary’s Church, Derby; The Salvation Army, Ansonia; Second Congregational Church, Derby; Three Saints Russian Orthodox Church, Ansonia."

* * *

Need is greater than ever this year

I've written several stories recently about non-profit organizations working to make a difference in the lives of many less fortunate families for Thanksgiving.

Organizers of food drives and distributions all say the same thing: the need is greater than ever this year.

It may be too late to brighten a family's Thanksgiving, but I suggest that you consider giving a bit more than you normally would give to a local food pantry or toy drive this Christmas.

It will help those who have fallen on hard times, and it will make you feel good in the process.

(Getting down off my soap box now.)

I guess the holiday is over

The cats had fun clawing at the paper Thanksgiving tablecloth when it was on the table.

When I took it off the table this morning I didn't have the heart to throw it away. I thought there was still some fun left it in it.
And there was. For Rigby anyway.

Crinkle, crinkle.

Ruby Tuesday * Gobble, gobble

Ruby Tuesday is here again. This turkey made out of Legos and his Pilgrim companion will make up the table centerpiece for us on Thanksgiving. I may add a jar candle to the decor. We're kinda fancy around here, I know. Woo hoo!

The Pilgrim girl had a Pilgrim boyfriend, but he lost his head, literally. I haven't gotten around to gluing it back onto his shoulders.

Here's Mr. Lego Turkey next to the Christmas cactus, which is out of focus, I realize. That's because in this post we're focusing on Thanksgiving. Hahahahaha!

Ralph told me to say that.
Actually the turkey is rather out of focus too, now that I take a second look.
So I have a bit of red to offer for Ruby Tuesday. Mostly what I want to say is Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends. Have a great holiday!

To see lots of Ruby Tuesday entries, visit Mary T, The Teach, at Work of the Poet.

Some turkey giggles and gobbles

Getting into the Thanksgiving spirit early...

If the Pilgrims were alive today, what would they be most famous for?
Their age.

What kind of music did the Pilgrims like?
Plymouth Rock.

Should you have your whole family for Thanksgiving dinner?
No, you should just have the turkey.

What sound does a turkey's phone make?
Wing Wing.

When does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?
In the dictionary.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

I was just visiting Vinny Bond, and he was talking about the minutia he sometimes puts on his blog.

Well I'd hazard a guess that I have him beat on the minutia stuff with this post.

Hope you liked the silly riddles you just read. I had an icky day and I needed something to cheer me up, so I am posting this now instead of next week.

Here's a special one I just found for our music expert, Vinny Bond:

Why was the turkey the drummer in the band?


Now think ... you'll get it ...














Because he had the drumsticks!


Tomorrow I shall be serious again.