Well, we had our first party of the season last night. I host a quilting bee, and to celebrate the Season, we had a soup supper. Each of the ladies brought something to share, and I made Minestrone soup and Cheddar Chowder. One of our more adventurous cooks made a wonderful salad with baked herbed goat cheese from a recent Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Another made a cream cheese frosted pumpkin cake for dessert.
It was a wonderful meal, mostly because we had the luxury of sitting and chatting with friends.

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I’m in love with Horatio Hornblower.
Or…it could be that I’m in love with Ioan Gruffudd.
We’ve watched the Horatio Hornblower series that has been running on A&E (Arts and Entertainment). What a pleasure it’s been to see these books brought to life. We’re watching “Loyalty” tonight. It’s been amazing to see Gruffudd mature over the life of the series, as he goes from a seaman to a captain.
In this segment, he has been given command of his own ship. All the familiar charachters are around him, plus a few new ones, and it’s like meeting an old friend. The other night I was watching a special on Trio about mini-series. They were listing the top ten, and I missed the top three. If this wasn’t in the top three, it SHOULD have been!
I think I’m going to take Horatio to bed with me tonight and let him run through my dreams…

Did you know that the wedding industry is a $120 BILLION industry? If it was a company it would be number six on the Fortune 500 list.
We’ve recently gone through two weddings in our family, and a third is coming up next year. I know that girls are being groomed to think of their wedding as their day of limelight, and I think that we do them a disservice.
Young couples are paying what amounts to the down payment for a house, or the cost of an upscale new car for two days of celebration. Despite the fact that they both may work, they saddle themselves with unreasonable debt that some never escape.

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Dear Husband has discovered a channel on TV that is presenting a variety of mini-series. It’s called “Trio.” Perhaps you’re familiar with it.

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In the next entry…..please disregard the first paragraph. I swear, occasionally I could be the poster child for the ad that says “This is what your brain is like on drugs.”
What I wanted to harp about was the inequality of Social Security vs the Federal employee retirement benefits. For all I know, their medical benefits are better, too. Although the first part of the post is odd, I hope you read the part that is collapsed. That at least makes a little more sense.
Just chalk up my confusion to blogging too late at night, on autopilot, after a LONG day. I’d delete it, but I figure it’s a learning tool for all you young uns who need to know what happens to your mind as you age….
It’s either that, or I’ll just have to admit I’m a ditz, and stick to writing about herbal things.

I’ve found an advice column that I really enjoy. “Ask Amy” appears in the Chicago Tribune. Amy Dickinson writes a daily column in a fresh way. She clearly has a sense of humor, which she uses liberally, but she is usually spot on with her suggestions.
Saturday, November 22, she responded to a question about wedding ettiquette. I’m not sure if I agree with her or not. A woman who has married a man with grown children wrote for help. His daughter and his wife do not get along. He is paying for half the wedding, but his daughter has made it clear that his wife is NOT invited. Daddy told his daughter that she is wrong, and that she should be civil and include his wife. The daughter refuses.

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About four years ago I signed my mother up for a senior exercise class. She was going to make a trip to England to see the Chelsea Flower show, so I thought it would be a good idea to get her in shape. Since I have to take her to class, I decided to ask if I could attend too.
Last year we had a switch in teachers, and our new teacher brings a lot of Asian philosophy to her exercises. We start with stretching and we work from head to toe. She picks the pace up for cardio work, and throws in a little Tai Bo, and then we do fifteen minutes that is a mix of balance, resistance and weight training.

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Are you ready for Thanksgiving?

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I’m delighted to announce that my oldest sister’s youngest son is now a dad! I have 13 nieces and nephews. As a group they have now made me a GREAT aunt seventeen times! And there’s one more headed our way in May. I can hardly wait to meet the newest member of our family! I guess you could say we have a lot to be thankful for.

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The cat is sitting at my elbow. The dog is across the room, snoring, and Dear Husband is watching the Nova on the Earth’s magnetic field. It’s been a long day, and I’m thinking about bed.
I was going to sleep in this morning. I wanted to get up at 6:30, but Defer arfed me up at 5:40. I figured I might as well get up and get going. Mother was hosting a group of ladies who were making fleece hats for cancer patients, and I had a dental appointment at 1:15. My niece and her boys joined us for dinner, and DH had a hair cut at 6:00. It was a busy day.
I began with a few loads of laundry, and while that was perking, I cleaned the kitchen. We readied the table, and I boiled a pot of multi-colored rotini. As it cooled, I put dishes away and started chopping veggies.
I cut up red pepper, broccoli, julienned carrots and pepperoni, and added it to the pasta. I threw in some cherry tomatoes and poured part of a bottle of Paul Newman’s Light Italian dressing over it. A quick toss, and it went back into the fridge to chill.
Then I cut up veggies for minnestrone and put that on to cook. I had cartons of red raspberries and blueberries, so I rinsed and mixed them and put them in a crystal dish. Last, I sliced some banana nut bread.
My mother had planned to make tomato soup with roasted red pepper for her guests. She also made oatmeal cookies. I thought she might appreciate the pasta and fruit to round out the meal. I set a pot of Iced tea to perc and went to get dressed for the day.
My periodontist is happy with my new crown, so my visit was a good one. I don’t have to see them for another six months.
My niece and her boys joined us, and we chatted about everyone’s week. I added mozerella to the pasta. I think the boys were underwhelmed by the soup, but were too well mannered to say anything. Besides, garlic bread, pasta, fruit and cookies seemed to fill in the chinks.
All in all….it was a typical day. Not the kind of thing you hope to read about here, but a slice of my life. I need to get a different life (sigh).