Coffee and...for Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005

to all - bread cast upon the water.....


thank you friends, for all......

Greetings,

My goodness - 40 messages. I thought you'd all be preparing TG dinner all day. Not a holiday here and it's supposed to snow all day tomorrow. DH heads out to Finland if there isn't so much snow that it affects air travel and I have to go to the other side of town tomorrow to fetch grandtwins for Kindermusic. Takes me 35-40 minutes at the best of times to get to their house. Hope there aren't too many people out who are afraid to drive in snow. First big snow of the season can be pretty scary with all the people who haren't prepared and can't remember how to drive in it. (Me, I grew up in the western New York State snow belt and I LOVE driving in snow if I can have the road to myself). LOL

sarv - how did the pecan bars turn out?

mccool and m5 - if you have company that cares whether you've cleaned or not, you might as save some dirt for them to find.

The concert on Monday, was the Ottawa Symphony not the bells at the Embassy. That doesn't happen for a couple more weeks. OSO concert went well and was a big hit with the crowd. 2200 seat hall wasn't full, but it was a respectable audience.

I'm only half way down the thread and DH has arrived home and wants dinner. Better go find something to eat.

Ann

Winter Storm Warning here - can you believe it!!!! Glad I don't have to leave the house and I have all the food!!! DIL just came to pick up DGS and asked what she could bring. I told her nothing...I don't want to depend on her and she ususally is in a snit about making something - so I decided I would do it all and hopefully everyone will be in a good mood tomorrow!!

They are telling people up north of here NOT to leave their house tomorrow - I've not heard that warning in a long time. Expecting blizzard conditions up there. Just a ton of wind blowing the snow around here- said to expect some roads blown closed. They often go off the deep end here with weather warnings, so I am not getting my underware in a knot yet.

Bal - I agree with you, we should be thankful each and every day we are on this earth - for our family, friends, and our freedom and a special prayer for our troops not with us.

Apple pie is in the oven (crust was a bear to make....) now I remember why I don't volunteer to make pies!! Need to make the strawberry sauce for a salad and have everything else laid out for another early morning cooking spree. Some things you just can't do ahead!!

DH is making me dinner (chicken nuggets and boxed mac and cheese) but anything will taste good as long as I don't have to cook it!!

Take care all and know that I so value your cyber friendship...

suzieq, I love anything with pecans too. Maybe we can get a recipe for those pecan bars from Sarv?
I have decided I am not well enough to travel over to my DSIL's so spousal unit and I are gonna do a small turkey here. It is brining now.
I need to make some cornbread for the stuffing. I was going to buy a pecan pie but the stores are all sold out so I got a key lime pie.
things could be worse than being stuck at home with my best friend and eating lots of yummies with him.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Here it is , the day before Thanksgiving and I'm still way back on Sunday! Anyway, after two migraine days, I'm up and slowly catching up to the holiday. First, I want to thank all of you for your cheery words and Happy BD wishes. It made the day special. I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year and that is really a change. My youngest daughter is cooking for the first time. Lots of phone calls back and forth and I know she'll do fine. We get to meet her boyfriend's family for the first time. I don't know if they are nervous, but I am! I'm packing up dishes (you know boy's apts!), bringing a vegetable and odds and ends. A new chapter in our family history.

For those who don't know about San Andreas (the town): it is east of San Francisco (that's where the earthquake fault meanders through). We are in the foothills and we seldom have a tremor since we are on bedrock. The town motto is: "San Andreas - its not our fault!" Anyway, we travel to SF frequently since all of our family is in the Bay Area.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

spirit -"things could be worse"?!!!! sounds like the perfect day to me! Its all about thankfulness and love, and *that* is what you've got. Have fun. ( I love key lime pie!)

sarv - I do NOT do crusts! The pumpkin pie recipe that I make is called "impossible", made with bisquick (there's also one for apple pie, and maybe others). It is great! I've been using it for years, and people still eat it all up - I seldom have any left over.

good idea Ann - a treasure hunt for "bunnies! Around this cabin the big game for the little people is "count the clocks". DH works on old clocks, gets them running, and then I won't let him get rid of them. If all are wound and set, we have about 2 dozen that chirp, chime, clunk (needs fixing) or just makes a noise. Needless to say, for about five minutes on the hour, all conversation comes to a halt! Then along the way there are, among those clocks, at least 5 West Ministers which chime every quarter hour.

The reason for all these posts is cause so many of us are in the house cooking instead of out in the garden gardening! Come Spring we will slow down again ("slow" being a relative word here!)

Want to wish everyone on this thread an early happy Thanksgiving and hope you have a great holiday. We had our Thanksgiving with family last Saturday so tomorrow will be a more relaxed quiet kind of day for us. Have a great holiday weekend too!

cuckoo

No cooking for me tomorrow, we are going to join DS, DIL and her family, plus a few friends. I think we should be 15 at table. As we are taking the wine I was told not to take food as well so I won't!! I was going to take an English Trifle, but I'm told that DILs family wouldn't like it - I bet they would if I did a real one. Not the sort you get at childrens parties though.
DS always does the cooking, but not the clearing up so I suspect that will be my job, its usually where I end up. It saves having to watch "The Game" too.

Hope everyone has a great day with those they hold dear. Sending happy vibes to you all.
Carol
The English One

Hi everyone,

You've got me tearing up here as well. I've generally made friends at work or school since everyone there started out with something in common; however, since I've been self-employed for the past twenty years, this became difficult (to say the least!). Things were looking up a couple of years ago since we'd made friends with two couples (one through the craft fair circuit and one through my customer base at the store), but that didn't last very long. One of them turned out to be a "nice to your face, stab you in the back" sort of person and in the case of the other couple, DH and the male half unfortunately had a super testosterone face off. I'm still friends with both of them, but needless to say, this puts a damper on social gatherings, etc. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I value my cyber friends here all the more! Happy Thanksgiving to all, may it be very enjoyable where-ever and however you might celebrate it!

Whew! Three pies done, potato stuffing done. All I need to do now is to make the brine for the turkey, clean it, and get it into the brine for an overnight soak. We've never tried brining it before, but it seems that just about everyone agrees that brining = moist turkey, so we're trying it this year.

Thanks to all who gave me feedback about my website. Also, I remember that someone asked about sewing on deerskin ---- I'd never done it before either, but I have an antique treadle sewing machine and was sure that it would be up to the task. It was, but I found that I couldn't set the stitch length as long as I would have liked to and about 2/3 the way though my project, things came to a halt. It turned out that the leather had blunted the needle already and once I put a new one in, the machine quite happily churned on to the "finish line". I had bought a package of leather needles for hand sewing just in case, but haven't had to resort to them so far. If I find that I have the extra time (ha, ha, what a joke!) maybe I'll use them to add some porcupine quill decoration to the vest.

Well, it's time to go make up the brine and get all the prep that's possible done tonight. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Catchin up now.

m5 - I have an "other" fridge too - my screened porch. But some of the year it's the "other" FREEZER. With luck, it will function like that during the Christmas period before my "Epiphany" party. (A number of years ago, the light went on and it occurred to me that for someone running a food bank it made more sense to have my seasonal party AFTER Christmas and New Years.) This year it will most likely be Saturday cocktail hour time rather than the usual Sunday afternoon as I have a rehearsal on the Sunday afternoon and DH will be on a plane to Paris.

re cast iron pans, I do have a couple of my grandmother's frying pans around. Don't use them much but we have a small one which I bought while in grad school (it would fit over a popcorn popper element which was the only legal applicance we could have in the dorm). It gets used nearly daily.

Maria - so glad to hear that your heart is healing and that you will be able to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I'm getting hungry reading about all your TG food. Yum!

tgif - lots of clocks sounds interesting. I only have two. One old mantel clock, probably close to 1900 vintage and a 1930's vintage Whitney clock which to the best of my knowledge has never been repaired. Was my grandparents. The pic is one I found on the Internet somewhere, not my clock but it's the same. But there's no way I could keep just TWO clocks in the same room because the ticking would go in and out of phase. So one in the diing room (I don't have a fireplace) and one in the finished room in our basement.

bksmall - I have a really good friend in Stockton. Is your community along the route between Stockton and San Francisco?

I seem to have made my way to the end of the thread for now. Hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Ann

My husband and his father were great clock repair men, they could sit for hours fixing them, I suppose it was challenging. We had always a dozend clocks running and chiming. we gave a few of them to our children I think they each have two. Richard would always ask me when am I going to an auction buy some some clocks, please, lol Now I have five but only two are working that 's ok with me forget to wind them anyway, I do not hear the chimes anymore not because of hearing impairment but am so used to it. Samson jumped up when he first heard them, now just what was that, he said ,lol

Magoobu, my friends will be in my heart, but will not have anything to do with on my hips!!

Julie, your house smells wonderful.

Maria, give Samson a hug from me and Mr. B, and give him a taste of turkey for his celebration.

Babs, What is DMARDS & MTX? Smells good at your place too.

Haighr, better guard that cheese cake closely, I will be sneaking over during the night, as that is absolutely my favorite, all flavors.

Bal, as usual you add wisdom to this thread. Good thoughts, Happy TG to you and yours.

Darius, Cyber friends, whatever is mine is yours. Happy TG.

Viola Ann, Driving in the snow here is scary. There are plenty of people who have never mastered the art.

Woodspirit, you and DH small dinner sounds like a plan to me.

Sarv, with the weather situation, hope everyone gets there to eat, otherwise you will have to set it out on the counter on Friday, we will take care of it.

Bksmall, So a new tradition starts, Give over the reins, and let her go to it. Maybe this will be an annual event.

tgif, Laughed about counting clocks, do you do that instead of counting sheep? Do they keep you awake or do you just get used to it?:

Cuckoo, are you new here, did I welcome you, if not consider yourself properly welcomed, and Happy TG to you and yours.

Okus, if all I was asked to bring was wine, I sure could do that. Easy.

McCool, hope the turkeys turn out okay.

When I was out today, I bought Mr. B a doggie sweater, as he has short hair, and has already started shivering when he goes out. So I put it on him, and wanting him to associate that he wears it when he goes out, took him about 1/4 mile up the road to my mothers (this was by car) as he expects a ride every day. Well, he didn't know that he could walk, jump, do everything he normally does with the sweater on. He was so cute. When we got home, I put him out of the car, expecting him to romp and play like he always does, and he just sat down, and wouldn't move. So will have to do some "sweater training" to help him feel comfortable. Maybe tomorrow a walk, with sweater on, and him on a leash. Anybody else every had this problem? DH thinks that dogs in sweaters are sissies, and I should not treat him like that!! LOL. Do you think that I have injured his psyche?

Well, I am going to address some Christmas cards, for awhile as I am not the least bit sleepy. Will check in before bed.

101 Where are you?

little snow here not much but gets me in the holiday mood!!!!

Defoe, hugs for Mr. B. too and for you! Think I will break the rule for TG and give Samson some of my food, I usually never do.
Hope we won't get much snow tomorrow, we are suppose to be right on the line for snow or rain or both, do not like to drive in bad weather my eyes are not good enough, but my SIL will pick me up if it comes to that.
Thank you, Ann, it took a long time to be myself again that I have not been for a few years while taking care of DH

Hi everyone, welcome cuckoo.

I've been cleaning all day and this evening after dinner (leftover spaghetti) I made cornbread for the dressing and got the yams peeled, buttered and brown sugared. They are now resting in the spare referigerator until tomorrow. There are still things to do but I needed to sit down for a while. Our guests will be arriving soon, they have a trip that normally takes about 7 hours but with extra traffic and some thick fog along the way I don't think they will be here for another hour. They couldn't leave home until after noon since the girls had college classes this morning.

My grandparents had a very old grandfather clock that was taller than my grandpa. He wound it every Sunday morning and it was good for the whole week. The winding mechanism was chains with lead weights that had deep grooves worn into them. I think it chimed on the half hour and hour. The face had Roman numerals and the door to the winding mechanism was glass and I can remember watching the pendulum swing back and forth. It would be worth a small fortune today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I noticed nobody here calls it turkey day. That's good. We have a lot to be thankful for and it's good to have a day with a name that reminds us how blessed we are.

That sounds just like the grand father clock I have to wind every sunday Mary,that clock came over from Engand in the late 17 hundreds by an ancestor of my husband
To all of you, good night and have a great day tomorrow

End of day, pies are baked, nothing to now but wait to go to DGS tomorrow...he called tonight, and said he expects us to spend the whole day there, he even bought board games, and seems to be revved up for the big event! He is such a sweetheart, having had such a rough life with his ditzy mother I'm always amazed that he has turned out to be such a wonderful kid. My DS and DIL are coming along too, so it should be a fun day, they will have a late Thanksgiving with one of her sons on Sunday.

Thankful.....for the many good things in my life, and especially thankful that I have found a wonderful community of friends here in DG. May your day be wonderfully fulfilling, your travels safe, and your family and friends warm and loving.

Night Gracie.....

Welcome Cuckoo!

Hope everyone has their Thanksgiving Day preparations all finished and are about ready to settle down for well deserved rest.

Tomorrow's Daily is UP in the Parking Lot...
Here's a link if you need it!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/558556/

~julie~

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!

Goodnight, Gracie...

I'm baaaack!!! FINALLY! Holy crow, the fog was terrible going and coming, though I have to say, the trip home was quite the trip. I've driven in fog before, but this was a peasouper! I'm ever so glad to be back home and in one piece. I saw a 4-car pileup on I-5 just outside the Bellingham city limits and it was quite the mess.

Cuckoo, welcome to DG. I'm a fair newbie myself, but you'll never find more decent people than you will here. The Coffee and group is really quite something. An eclectic group with so many things to share and offer, I promise, you'll never be bored!

defoecat, you asked what are DMARD's and MTX? DMARD's are Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs and MTX is Methotrexate (an old chemo agent).

I forgot to mention in this morning's post, hubby called from Germany and said he was busy brine-ing the turkeys and getting them ready to deep fry in the morning. He said he had a blast passing out all the goodies the families back here sent to the folks based there. He also gave out some awards and was able to promote a couple of the fellas who had made the next rank, so he was able to *frock* them. I'm sure they were happy, and will be especially so when their raises show up on payday. Boy, do I remember those days!

Well, I'd best call this an early night. I have to get to bed so I can get up early and get the bird and the ham in the oven. I'm going to work early so I can take the chow in for the day crew and the night crew. I hope everyone has a wonderful day and enjoys themselves immensely. Take care, relax and remember to stay safe! Happy TD everyone!

Just a few last lines - I love chiming clocks and ours really makes it seem like home no matter where we are. I couldn't wait to hear it in our newest house. I just have to turn off the chimes when we have house guests!
ViolaAnn, our town is past Stockton up in the foothills so we do our special grocery shopping there. I'd love to hear your orchestra. We drive into SF for their symphony and opera because there isn't any classical music to speak of up here.

Have a great Turkey Day - leftovers are soooo good!

tgif, I was being facetious. Being at home with my spousal unit and best friend is great. He's been working on the greenhouse all day, too.
to make matters even better, my daughter-in-law was worried about us and called and said she had a huge amount of food but only 4 people so she was going to bring over Thanksgiving dinner. I hated to dissappoint her since our was already in the over, but she sure made my day. It's 5:15 and I'm still cooking but should be through soon.
Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone.

Woodspirit, Burpppppppppppppppp, we are done and waiting for it to settle. Then apple and pumpkin pie. Dishes are even done and put away thanks to my dh and dad! Have a great evening. Joy

me, too. Lots of leftovers and a little maalox, lol.