Latest bunch, yellow maple and giving thanks

- My latest bunch of grocery store flowers.  So much beauty for only $5.99.  I pulled those outer leaves from the last bouquet and it made it prettier, I think. 

- The yellow maple (not sure what it is actually called) at the group mailboxes at the condos.  So beautiful and perfectly bare this morning due to all the rain the last couple of days.  I'm so glad I snapped it when I could.

- A friend from church sent this Thanksgiving card.  I like that the turkey is wearing a pilgrim hat.  :)  I always enjoy Thanksgiving, a day we set aside in the United States to give thanks for what we have.  I am thankful for the family I am heading to visit, for having Friday off, too, and thankful for your friendship!

Have a wonderful holiday if you celebrate it.  And have a wonderful rest of the week, friends outside the US.  I will post next Monday, since I often have trouble getting my internet service when down at the farm.  Have a great next few days!

Saturday morning, loving that cookie and customer service

On an overcast, very cloudy, routine-trip-to-the-hardware-store kind of Saturday, it was lovely to see that someone loves someone else enough to write, "I LOVE YOU!" on their truck.  Click to enlarge.

- The hardware store is in a makeshift storefront space in a strip shopping center across the street from its stand-alone location (in that clearing between the trees beyond the truck).  It burned to the ground at the end of December last year and had been known as the largest Ace Hardware store in the country.  The owners of the store have taken care of employees and it is wonderful to see them all working in this new temporary location, while they contemplate rebuilding.

- At the grocery store nearby (Publix), a smiling worker in the bakery area gives a cookie to an earnest looking little boy, who is shopping with his father.  He trails around behind his father, eating it slowly, savoring every bite.

- Another smiling worker, this time in the produce department, observes me frowning at the cilantro.  It doesn't smell like cilantro to me, I tell her.  She scurries to the back to see if there's any more.  There isn't.  I buy it anyway and wave off her apologies.  It's lovely to see people who care about customers.

Kicking it off, Thanksgiving and looking forward

- I'm going to my first holiday gathering of the season tonight, so it seems appropriate to post a holiday photo this morning to kick it off.  :)  The sleigh is in front of the antique store in Lilburn, Georgia, near the park where I walk.

- My sisters and I tried to remember the words to the Over the River and through the Woods song once - a song we associate with Thanksgiving.  This is all we remembered, so we sang this first verse a couple of times and ended with "Hey!":

Over the river and through the woods

To Grandmother's house we go,

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh

Through the white and drifted snow...

The rest of the lyrics can be found here (I just looked it up.)  Turns out a woman named Lydia Maria Child wrote this in 1844, based on memories of visiting her Grandmother's house, which still stands near the Mystic River in Medford, Massachusetts.  It has been restored by Tufts University.

- All three sisters (two of them grandmothers), who live in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Atlanta, Georgia and the rolling "red hills" farmland of northern Florida, will be together this year for Thanksgiving.  The Florida sister called me last evening about the menu and later texted me, thanking me for "talking her off the ledge."  She is nervous about being in charge of the dinner, but I reminded her that we all like to cook, so we'll make it fun and remember that the most important thing is being together.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

The goat, once in a lifetime and pretty in pink

- When friend Janice and I sipped coffee beside some shelves of wine at a coffee / wine shop last weekend, I was inspired to snap a photo of this South African wine "La Capra", because of its whimsical label, depicting a goat carrying a tower of things on its back:  three wine barrels, a globe, a violin, a farm worker, a fork, and a big wedge of cheese with three musical performers dancing on top.  (Click to enlarge.)  According to their website, all these things are available at the vineyard / farm where the wine is produced (and there's an annual music festival there every year, too.)  Delightful and I'll bet that's a fun place to work.

- Being the first one to be seated for lunch at a cantina near work and while waiting for a client to join me, witnessing two of the restaurant workers taking a moment to dance to The Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" that was playing in the background.

- One of the dancers turns out to be our waiter and we admire her pink necklace, which consists of a miniature framed portrait of Molly Ringwald, circa 1986.

Lovingly created, sunset sharing and pending visit

- A slightly fuzzy photo, but the detail on this dollhouse is just too beautiful not to share.  From the children's book seller at a holiday open house on Saturday.  The book seller made it.  He mentioned that another dollhouse he had made for a granddaughter had been sold at a yard sale, so wanted to make sure this one went to a home who would keep it.  It's beautiful and lovingly created.  And I was so touched by this story that I bought one of his old books, "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew."

- A niece always photographs and shares the glorious sunsets over the farmland around where she lives and works.  One of her friends commented on facebook, "I was admiring the beautiful sunset and thought to myself, 'I bet ALM is taking a picture of this right now.' I know you too well.  :)"

- Hearing that Santa Claus is Coming to Town on the Muzak at Macy's the weekend of 11/9 and that It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas on the Muzak at the aforementioned open house.  The music is chipping away at me and so I am beginning to be more accepting of Santa's pending visit.  :)

Vintage bouquet, overlooking and warming up a little

- This bouquet was called a "vintage" bouquet - not sure why.  I love purple and blue together, so I was hooked.

- Beautiful fall color on these trees overlooking the empty parking lot of my church.  I was there for a quick meeting with just one other person, and while I waited, had this beauty to keep me company.

- Temperatures in the 40s this morning and not 20s and 30s.  :)

It's been a long week, but it's FRIDAY!!!!  Could I be more excited?  I don't think so.  :)  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that good things happen to you.

Homeward bound, cold snap and dessert

Click to enlarge

- 14th Street in midtown Atlanta on a temperature dropping Tuesday night - after volunteer work.  The buildings up ahead are so sparklingly beautiful that I just had to try the photo.  Not bad for a phone pic and I didn't crop out my car hood, because it tells part of the story.

- It's 28 degrees here this morning.  The guard at the building in which I volunteer and I talk about how neither of us mind cold weather really and don't enjoy hot weather at all.

- Shortbread cookies, half dipped in chocolate, for dessert after I got home.  Yummmmm.

Lining the streets, seeing the world and remembrance

- The tiny village of Lilburn, Georgia has lined the main street with memorials honoring veterans from the area for Veterans Day.  It was amazing to see them lining the street all the way to the highway that leads into the park in which I walk on weekend mornings.  I am grateful for their service to our country.

- This is the ship my dad served on during World War II (114) - a mine sweeper.  A scary thought.  And I always wonder what it was like for an 18-year-old who had never really traveled anywhere to be suddenly cast into these troubled waters.

 - He never really had much to say about his military service.  My brother-in-law served two tours of duty in Vietnam, too, and never has much to say about it either.  I don't think the silence is from trauma particularly, just a sense that this is what one did.

The poppies in the last photo are in remembrance of my beloved daddy, who I miss very much.  Inspired by Hilary's wonderful post, "Poppies on Remembrance Day..." which can be read here.

Belated view, growing up and bright star

- View from my aunt and uncle's back porch in Franklin, North Carolina - taken in October when I was up there for the folk school festival.  I had no photo for today and this one seemed like a beautiful choice.

- Running into a former coworker from 2005-08 at the grocery store and finding that her little daughters are in 7th and 9th grades now.  Amazing how that happens.

- Walking into my church for my circle meeting with the busiest woman I know (she really is.)  She points out an especially bright star in the sky and wonders if it is a planet.  I wouldn't have noticed it and was grateful for the quiet moment with a friend looking up at the sky in the crisp, cold night.

I hope amazing things are in store for you this weekend, my friends!

On being an Adult, writing for pleasure and why I do it

- Stepping into an absent coworker's cubicle to answer the phone and seeing her daughter's "Top Ten list to be an Adult!" posted.  Click to enlarge if you need to - it's all true stuff.  This is a lovely, polite little girl who wrote this - it will be wonderful to see her grow up.

- From The New York Times Book Review this week, a review of "SMARTER THAN YOU THINK How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better" by Clive Thompson.  From Amazon.com: it is about "How technology boosts our cognitive abilities - making us smarter, more productive, and more creative than ever before.  It's undeniable: technology is changing the way we think.  But is it for the better?  Amid a chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson votes yes."  Click on the red review button above to read the review in the NYT.

- But here's my favorite part, that sums the review up at the end - click to enlarge:

I was struck by this passage, because he's right - I probably wouldn't write for pleasure if it wasn't for my blog.  Very interesting reading.  I always list Blogging as a hobby, but it really brings a lot to my life and of course, the fact that I have so many good friends in you all is a bonus!

Beautiful day, proposal and more chatting time

- A quick trip on Friday night to see my sister and brother-in-law with two of my friends.  On Saturday, they wanted to see Thomasville, Georgia, with it's bustling downtown area.  Sister and I were sitting on a bench waiting for them outside this kitchen shop here.  A beautiful day.

- Scarecrow competitions must be the big thing this year.  This one was on his knee proposing marriage to anyone who walked by.  Click to enlarge.

- All three of these photos were taken while my sis and I sat on sidewalk benches waiting for the browsing friends (we both tend to breeze through shops and move on - it's all good, either way.)  It gave us more chatting time and she never questioned why I pulled my camera out for random photos.  None of these three photos were altered at all - the beautiful sunlight tells the story of the day.

So long October, trick and like an old friend

- So proud of my workout calendar that I am posting it for all to see.  I give myself one of those teacher "good job" type stickers for the days I have a three mile walk or work out to an exercise video indoors.  As you can see, I waffle most on Monday and Friday, but I made it a couple of times on those days.  :)

- Funniest Halloween Day experience:  a printing client said she gives an onion or a potato to teenagers who come to her door for treats who are not wearing a costume.

- A beloved old knit night shirt resurrects itself from the back of a drawer.  I had completely forgotten about it and wore it last night.  It feels like an old friend.

It's November!  Time to start on a new calendar and I just did my workout, so I get a sticker.  My boss says she can always tell when I work out before work, because I'm so energetic and chatty.  :)  I hope you all have a marvelous weekend!