thanksgiving greetings

where ever you are, i hope good things for you and those with whom you are sharing the day.

i know, i know

there is a tolerance that people without children and or pets are called upon to exercise from time to time. i actually don't consider myself a "dog person" in the the most liberal use of that term - i simply have a dog - and so i really don't have reason to share charlie stories on a regular basis. tonight, my friends, is the exception that you've all been waiting for....
we actually had a good weekend with several privately amusing incidents that in another universe would be blog material. (aidan should collect royalties on the family use of actually). tim fixed a delicious shrimp and pasta dish for supper. dishes were done. tim was watching tv, i'm busy with a project back in my workroom and i hear this quiet "ilona, ilona, you have to come out here." this is what i found:

after a few minutes charlie came over and sat at my feet but he watched that movie for close to an hour.

so there you have it. thank you for your tolerant attention.

do you remember??

i was in north platte today for a mamogram and some christmas shopping - nothing needful or household related. it was actually a productive trip. on my way home i passed a semi loaded with christmas trees. remember the year grandpops brought home several that had fallen off a truck??!!

work day

again, did i think to take pictures - of tim on the roof?? the big piles of leaves and other garden debris?? how about the back of the jeep loaded for disposal?? we had a glorious day and decided to finish some outside work. we were both quite productive and it is good to have this off the list. and the nap that followed was all the better for our fresh air and exertion. i could open this later (i'm on the laptop) and add a few pictures of my flower gardens to show you all what i cleaned up today. we'll see. in the meantime i have laundry to finish, ironing do to, a project for aidan to work on and the new by pd james to finish.



so here you have our smallest and last leaf pile. for about 3 weeks in november, city crews prowl the streets with loaders and dumptrucks, picking up leaves that the good citizens of gothenburg have piled in the street in front of their houses. normally our linden tree doesn't drop until after the pickup has ended. this year it's already done. i hope that's not significant....these piles can easily grow to 5-6 feet high, and run the length of the block. we are not anal about leaves in our yard - there are always those last few (or the first of the season)left where they fell. some peolpe are. they chase every leaf. their lawns are immaculate. i have come to hate the whine of leaf blowers. in fairness, though, i will say that they allow older neighbors to stay busy outside at a time when age related situations might have otherwise forced them to hire their raking done. and at our house i'll further say that i rake. tim uses his leaf blower.
this picture was taken monday morning. charlie needed a half bath so we've been up and at 'em already this morning!!
ps - the pd james was a good read.

thanks, aidan

aidan gave me this turkey dish last year so i thought i'd show him that i have it out and am using and enjoying it!! thanks, sweetie!!

new 'fridge

this is an inside shot of the new 'fridge.
the door is deep enough to hold gallon jugs, all the baskets are adjustable.

the platform across the bottom is the only fixed shelf. everything else adjusts. the one shelf pulls out which is a nice option.

more ct history

this was taken at the florence griswold museum in old lyme. what a fun stop!! we needed more time to do this justice.
florence was an impoverished gentlewoman trying to hold the family home so she opened a boarding house. a thriving art colony was established there by a man taken with the hospitality and atmosphere of the place. a friendly rivalry between tonalists and impressionists resulted in a unique creative setting. these people painted on door panels and the walls of the dining room. incredible work. i loved it. florence held exhibits using the main hallway as her gallery and sold paintings right off the wall.

catching up

this has been a long/short week. we had such a good time with jacob and kate in connecticut - thanks for everything guys.

we had lovely weather in connecticut needing only a sweater for the most part. working around kate's schedule we visited fort griswold in new london, the site of a revolutionary war battle lead by benedict arnold against his former command.
we enjoyed dawdling with jacob, kate and some friends at a downtown coffee shop before they had to leave so jacob's band could play their set at a local club on friday night.

we also visited galilee. a working port on the narragansett bay.


wandered along the beach (one of our favorite ways to spend time)at scarbourough point state park. we saw this old stone building and had fun speculating about it's origin and purpose.


we left from lincoln on thursday morning, planning to return monday. tim had a meeting in des moines on tuesday so we each drove and upon arrival back in lincoln i went west and he headed east to spend the night at his mom's and then on to des moines the next day. by this time i'm working on a cold and even though i have garden club at my house the next day i took it pretty easy monday night. tuesday morning i'm up early to get my dessert made and do the last minute floor/bathroom cleaning that i needed to do to have things ready for company at 2:00. and i find that my refrigerator has died. or it will shortly. things were still cool and mostly frozen though the ice cube trays were full of water.
you would wonder just how many things can be going on any given day in our little town but that day as i tried to track down the appliance person (there are actually 2 appliance stores in gothenburg)i found that they were both scheduled to their eyeballs!! i finally talked them into bring a refrigerator to my garage and dealing with the actual switch the next day. i wrote the check and went home to mix my cream cheese layer. i also took the time to vote then rather than make a another run after the meeting ended. i figured that time would be better spent napping. tim made his meeting and got home. wednesday the appliance lady came and made the switch. thursday she came back to try to quiet the dinging noise that was driving tim crazy. it took her over an hour to shim, secure and settle the fan but it's done.
i worked and napped those couple days because the cold had fully blossomed by that time and i hoped to avoid getting realllllly sick. tim went to omaha thursday night/friday. saturday was pretty lowkey for both of us. tim has talked to jacob, leslie and iva. i've heard form naphtali and my mom. tim cleaned up all the leaves from the yard. today we brought hoses and flowerpots in. covered the window wells. laundry is caught up. we've actually started some christmas shopping. the week ahead holds plenty to keep us both busy.