THANKSGIVING BLESSINGS

Rain, rain, go away! I would rather have sun on Thanksgiving Day!

Yes, it is raining here once again. Sigh. But not freezing rain! Smile!

When Thanksgiving rolls around I find myself thinking of years ago when we were all much younger. (And our children were children and our grandchildren had not yet come to life.) Dad and I both wanted our own mother's Thanksgiving dinner, so we went to Patch's at noon, and Winspear's at 3:00. Talk about gluttons!But it was wonderful to have all our family close by so that we could enjoy being together. You all really were lucky to have so many cousins on both sides of the family to play with. And you had wonderful grandparents that loved you as well.

What really comes to mind for me, is standing at the sink in Grandma Patch's kitchen and looking out the window at the driveway, wondering when the rest of the family would arrive while snow flakes peacefully fluttering to the ground. She commented that the snow in Minnesota often seems to arrive right around Thanksgiving. I don't know why that little scene is so memorable to me. It is odd, the little things that stick in our minds.

So here it is, Thanksgiving again, and all thoughts turn to home and family. It has been many years since our family was all together for Thanksgiving. The past couple of years Dad and I have spent the day alone. This year we found out that my cousin Mark's son Daniel lives three hours away in Manassas, Virginia, so we have invited him and his wife and 18 month old daughter to join us. Dad will be happy, he will have a little blond girl on his knee again!
Dinner will be the same, of course, with all the old standbys, as mentioned in my other blog. We got all the chestnuts cleaned for the chestnut dressing! It took years for your dad to decide that he liked it, so now we have to include that as our specialty!

As usual, you will each be having your own celebration in a different location, and in a different state!
Jennie will be driving with Cousin Laura to the Armbruster home in South Carolina.
Matt and Anna Marie will be having her family over to their new home as they now have their oven working.
Polly and Chris will have a full house with their family and more! Plus, Becky and Travis are driving up and bringing friends from Buffalo.
Renn and Keira...I don't know for sure, but I assume they will be with her family somewhere, and most likely at Renn's house.
Grampa Jim will be at Linda's, I am sure, as all her kids are there this year.

Amidst all the food and fun, I hope you will have some Thanksgiving memories of your own to savor. And always bear in mind how much we love you all and we are so thankful to have such great kids and grandkids!

LIFE'S A BEACH

It has been raining here for the past three days, and the first came with 60 MPH winds. We really took a beating. They schools were closed, as was Dad's work. Streets were flooded, including ours. Today I decided to see what the beach looked like. I walked out the boardwalk where there are usually stairs. But look! The stairs have been washed away! The tides have been really high and damaging.

The skies are still gray and the rain keeps coming.

Can you see the Pier Cafe down the way? The pier has sections washed out. Notice how far the water is up. I am sure the sea took back lots of sand with this storm. It also washed boats out that were pulled up by the sand dunes. The neighborhood watch e-mail indicated that several kayaks had washed down the shore and could be retrieved at McDonalds.



The tide is still coming in here. See the people down the beach with kites!


Our house and yard are more than drenched. the yard is so waterlogged that there is water pooling. It is better today and in these pictures than it was yesterday when it was several inches deep.

Here is the side yard, still immersed. The driveway is one big pool of water as well. We can't reach our mailbox, it has a lake around it. Dad goes out in big rubber boots to retrieve the mail.

The first night of the storm we lost power for several hours just after dinner. We watched movies on Dad's laptop that Becky loaded on last summer. Thanks Becky!

Today I finally left the house for the first time in over a week. It was so nasty the past few days I didn't want to go anywhere. Today I went to Sam's Club and the grocery store, then Dad and I went out for Mexican food. The Mexican food here never lives up to my expectations. You think I would learn.

You think I would cook! Hahaha!