Right Now . . . November 2015

30/30

Oh, November.  You've been a busy month.  And especially here, right at the end . . .

 

Here's what's happening for me . . . Right Now.

Watching . . . Oh, my.  Nothing, actually.  (Although I did see Suffragette earlier this month with my book group.  Very good; highly recommended.)

Reading . . . In my ears: Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro). In words: Village Diary (Miss Read) (for my book group; an easy December pick) (although I can't imagine what we'll discuss, exactly). 

Knitting . . . I recently finished a special knit, which I will share sometime soon.  Now that it's finished, I've picked up this ongoing sweater again.  (No Christmas knitting for me this year!)

Listening to . . . Adele.  Of course.  Just like Everyone Else in the World.   (And this version of her Hello is my current favorite - for fun.)

 

Planning . . . How to simplify my Christmas.  (Also, maybe . . . a Solstice party.)  (We'll see.)

Needing to . . . Make a couple of deliveries for a volunteer event later this week.  (Easy peasy; I just don't want to forget.)

Drinking . . . Wine. (Because how else???)

Itching to . . . Just sit.  And do nothing. (Because that hasn't happened in a while.) 

Dreading . . . Nothing, really.  (I think I'm numb.)

Wondering . . . If there is anybody who doesn't have Adele's Hello playing constantly in their head???  (Because, my God.  It's on an endless loop in my brain.)

Delighted by . . . A long weekend with a full house!  It was so wonderful to have both kids and their "significants" and my parents with us.  (Lots of laughing.)  (Good times.)

Organizing . . . Myself.  (Or . . . trying.)

Celebrating . . . The successful conclusion of NaBloPoMo.  (Thanks for playing along.)

How about YOU? What's happening for you . . . right now?

 

 

Sundays are for Poetry

29/30

So Much Happiness

for Michael

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.
With sadness, there is something to rub against,
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.
It doesn't need you to hold it down.
It doesn't need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,
and disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise and dust
cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches,
and love even the floor which needs to be swept,
the soiled linens and scratched records. . .

Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch.  You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known.

                    --- Naomi Shihab Nye
                          included in {Risking Everything} 110 Poems of Love and Revelation

Sunny Day

28/30

Okay.  So I'm lying.

Today is not sunny.  

But.

I'm making it so!

Because we are celebrating Brian and Lauren's wedding today.

And it is SUNNY in my heart.

 

Headline News - Special Thanksgiving Edition

27/30

Yesterday was a Very Good Day.  But today . . . we are tired.  Let's break it down into headlines.

Woman Orders 20-pound Organic, Free-Range, Vegetable-Fed, Antibiotic-Free Turkey by Mistake:  Faints at Cash Register

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Family Declares BEST TURKEY EVER!

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Family Matriarch Doubles Mashed Potato Recipe: Quick Thinking Has Her Mixing Them in a Punch Bowl

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Family Dogs Pull Back-to-Back Security Shifts:  Turkey Safe for Another Year

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Gingerbread House Decorating Proceeds As Scheduled:  No Cave-ins or Breakdowns Reported

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Family Declares Black-Friday-Free Day:  No Shopping Planned

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Hope you all enjoyed a relaxing holiday (or just great regular day, if you don't live in the US!) -- without any unexpected headlines.

All Present and Accounted For

26/30

Turkey Patrol - Special Ops Unit . . . reporting for duty.

Carry on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Countdown

25/30

I am in full-on prep mode.

The clock is ticking.

(I love it!)

Giving Thanks

24/30

It's that time of year . . . when we focus, especially, on things we're thankful for.  

Now, I'm always thankful for the things you'd imagine I'd be thankful for . . . 

Family.

Love.

Health.

Home.

But . . . today Carole asks us . . . what are we thankful for RIGHT NOW.

So.

Here are the things I'm thankful for - stream-of-consciousness-style . . . right now:

1. That the snow happened last weekend.  Not this weekend.  (Because I want my kids and my parents to be able to travel to my house safely and without weather-hassles this Thanksgiving.)
2. That I've already done my Thanksgiving shopping.  (Except for the turkey.  I'm hoping Tom will pick that up on his way home today.)
3. That I enjoy the right to vote.  (Yeah.  I saw Suffragette this weekend.)  (Go see it.)  (You'll thank a Suffragette.)
4. That my kids love me and turn to me for support.  (Even though they're grown and on their own.)
5. That I do not have to take the GRE again.  Ever.  In my whole life.  (Because I did that once and it was miserable.)
6. Wine sales.  (Because stocking up is a good thing.)
7. Music . . . 
8. and Humor.  (And especially when they intersect, like . . . here.)
9. My dogs . . . having them, playing with them, hanging out with them.
10. Plenty.  Because no matter how you slice it, that's what I've got.

How about YOU?  What are you thankful for . . . right now?

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Join the fun!  See what everyone else has to say today here.

 

Awesome! YUM! Fabulous!

23/30

Yesterday, I pulled out my Thanksgiving recipes and cookbooks so I could make my shopping list.  (The menu itself is easy.  It hasn't changed in over 20 years!)

I love the "history" there on the pages.

The drips.

The stains.

The fact that the book opens up RIGHT to the dressing page (even without the bookmark ribbon).

Which got me thinking.  I really USE some of my cookbooks.

I pack them with random bookmarks . . . 

so I can remember the recipes I really liked - or want to try.

Often, the binding just doesn't hold up to my use!

I also write notes on the pages . . .

To note our reactions.

Or to make notes for future attempts.

And to note changes if the recipe is to be salvaged.

I've even got Tom in the habit now!  (This is his turkey "procedural.")

Sometimes I even create a little mini-table of contents inside the front cover -- for my special favorites that might be hard to find quickly.

And sometimes . . . I discover (later) that I've created some "artwork" on the pages of my most used cookbooks.

I own a lot of cookbooks - and (thanks to my recent KonMari-ing), I find joy in all of them.

Some, though?  They're USED and LOVED a whole lot more than others!

Sundays are for Poetry

22/30

We stand shivering at the door,
terrified and panicked
that we have lost the key.
We waste lifetimes
in the waiting
because in the haze,
the painted fog
our fear,
we forget
to check the handle
and disover
it has never been locked
at all.

            --- Tyler Knott Gregson
                 chasers of the light: poems from the typewriter series

Look Up!

21/30

Sunset last night . . . 

Sky this morning . . . 

First snow of the season.

(Here we go.)