Thanksgiving Dinner with all the family

Our Thanksgiving this year was with family in Chicago, and what a Thanksgiving meal it was! The Turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and pie were prepared by Jenna and Mark and Naomi and me at Mark and Jenna's house. Everything else was brought pot luck by the rest of the family. And it was some feast of American and Philippino food. I can't even begin to name all the dishes, but you can see from the pictures below that it was nothing short of spectacular.
Whole Tilapia fish below














































Maria led us in 'Grace' with her mom and dad and proud grandma looking on.
















Then it was time for us all to dig in and enjoy!
















And, finally, play and rest after the big meal.

Michigan Ave., Chicago

MICHIGAN AVENUE, CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 2008

Art Institute,
Ancient Aztec, Inca, and Maya
Ceramic faces peering from America's hidden past
As real as you and me.

Grant Park,
Architect Gehry, new twists given
Thoughts of Barack
Finally agreed
Like you and me
















Walls of glass bricks
Faces illuminated from inside
Reflections on pools in between





















Mirrored Bean
You and me, all of us, a world
Reflected, refracted, bending, dizzying






















Portraits of reflections of us taking pictures
Digital reality piled on itself
Swirling, spiraling, sweeps of
bits and bytes

Shaken to the edge of all that was real
I shatter down to the ground
My pieces fall
onto you

Embattered by emotion
Comforted by the
Ease of your warm touch.

Tovah and Masie Mouse House

So, Tovah plays with the Masie book/dollhouse that she got from Aunt Micah! She is literally spending hours engrossed with it. We are visiting Tovah for a couple of days this weekend just before we take a big trip to Chicago to spend time with Maria! Tovah is definitely a morning person. This morning she came into our bedroom and we told stories for about a half hour with persistent requests for more, more!

Change you can believe in

Who says we can't change? Here I am in my pajamas and bathrobe. Naomi has been trying to get me to expand my wardrobe categories for over 30 years. Finally, I have succumbed. Although with the recession/depression and us being retired, I'm not sure the timing is really very good. In the past, I slept in my BVDs and got dressed in my day clothes when I woke up rather than sleep in pjs and dress in a bathrobe when I awoke. This cost less and made for less clutter in my closet. Oh, My! Who knows why I'm now changing. Maybe because I am more playful in my retirement and have more time to lounge around in the morning and, and,....

Dreary November Day

It is a cold misty bitter pale gray November day. I'm sitting in my dining area looking out at Moose Mountain. It is hunting season and right now I'd just as soon be in here looking out there with my mind wandering over hunts of years ago.

November

Cold gray granite hills
Tan, brown, and shades of green are
muted by chill shrouds of mist.
Ridges, rills, mountain tops remain

but faint hints in the array.

Hot blood pumps feet to mountain crests

Gun cocked!

Testosterone spiked, ears pricked.

Rutting deer, the prey.

Explore, ascend, kill, breed.

Life clear, no ambiguity here.

But, November is to decay.

Time to give way.

Youth triumphs season.

Old November men fade to gray.

New Electric Lights Over the Kitchen Island

And so it has come to this! I'm actually installing new light fixtures over the kitchen island. I'm only hoping that I don't burn the house down or destroy all our electrical service. This is a first for me. But, so far, it seems kind of easy, despite wrong sized screws to hold the plate over the wiring box - or whatever it is called. And, despite tormentingly sketchy instructions from the Chinese manufacturers, the thing seems to be working. Except that tomorrow I have to buy the proper length screws to hold the cover plate. I'll include a picture of the finished product when it is all done. Sanity was facilitated by Naomi's great help and by Midori's beautiful violin playing on the stereo.


Finished job!
Here is the promised photo of the finished project. Yes, those are two loaves of fresh baked bread. Potato bread! And this time I did wear an apron.