I woke this morning (Monday) to hear a hard rain drumming on the skylights. If you’ve been reading my blog through the summer, you’ll know that my part of Illinois has been in deep drought. I’ve welcomed the rain each time it came, because it came so rarely.
I didn’t mind hearing the rain striking the glass. I’ve missed all the sounds that rain can bring. I rose early, and then snoozed after my first cup of tea. When we went to do the grocery shopping, the storm had passed for a bit, and we were treated to a day that reminded us of early spring.
I’ve been trying to beat back a cold. It seems to have settled into my eyes, and they ache and itch and weep, so I enjoyed the brief bit of warmth that came in the middle of the day.
Now the clouds have come back, and with it dropping temperatures. We may have snow by morning. They say that if you don’t like the weather in Chicago, wait ten minutes. That about describes our day.

I have been quietly accumulating pictures of things I have blogged about. Because I am not yet into the digital age, my pictures lag behind my thoughts and blogs, and occasionally I forget that I have things to share.
I have a very dear friend on-line who’s mother has taken up quilting. Quilting Mom lives in Scotland. I sent her a subscription to Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine for Christmas, knowing the magazine was most likely not available there. I wanted her to see the range of cottons available here, and to see some of the techniques American quilters use. I hoped it would encourage her to continue to take lessons.
It turns out the magazines have been a great hit. QM shares them with her classmates, and her quilting teacher and her daughter. I have it on good authority that each issue is well thumbed through. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was to be able to share them.
Quilting Mom enjoyed them so much, that she very quietly set about making two appliqu

I am NOT silly enough to be out in the mad crush of shoppers. I don’t find anything about the idea appealing. If I had my way, I wouldn’t go out at ALL today, but I have library books to return. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to go out and stand in line after line, with harried clerks trying to move shoppers through, with little or no staff on the floor to help answer questions, and not enough asphalt in the world to hold all the cars that need to park.
Do you get the idea that I’m not much of a shopper? You’d be right. My concession to the day will be to drag out some of the MILLION catalogs that have flooded in over the last two months, and browse for ideas for gifts.
I plan to have a relaxed day. I’ll ask DH to build us a nice little fire, and I’ll wrap up in a quilt, and have a mug of tea within reach. I’ll play CDs and blog and read and generally do nothing! There is NO sale so important that I would participate in that madhouse.
Now, if you were going to go out, rethink your position. It’s not worth your life to be out there! I bid you a sane day.

Dear Husband and I had our annual date last Sunday. In the midst of all the preparations for Thanksgiving, he took me off to see the newest Harry Potter movie. The break in the preparations was a relief, the one-on-one time with DH a joy, and the movie was well worth going to see.
I’ve read the Harry Potter series, so it came as no surprise that each movie would be a little darker than the one before it. The kids are maturing, and the story line is focusing on Valdemort’s attempts to kill off Harry Potter. The good witches are realizing their world is in peril; we won’t see them begin to fight back until the next movie.
I won’t do a recap of the story here. You can get that information at hundreds of sites, with more detail than I have time to share. Let me just say that I enjoyed it, despite the two-and-a-half hour length, and recommend it to all.
I think I heard that the first weekend ticket sales for this movie were $104,000,000! I’m betting that most of the people who saw the movie, enjoyed it, except for my niece, who was ticked that they couldn’t cram the entire book into 150 minutes! *G* Go see it.

I’ve been so busy the last couple of weeks that I haven’t had much time to blog. I’m sure that from the entries I did get to post that you think I was just cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, but I actually had the chance to get out and enjoy myself a bit.
Sunday, the thirteenth, a group of ladies from my exercises class and I went into Chicago to see “Wicked,” the story of Oz at the time of Dorothy, from the Wicked Witch’s point of view. The book was fascinating; the musical is wonderful!
The musical departs from the book on which it is based in a number of ways, but the story is similar. You see Elphaba entering the University of Shiz and meeting Galinda. It’s difficult to show that Elphaba is labeled “wicked” by others, because she is green, because she has contrary ideas, and simply because she is different, but the musical pulls it off.
There are several incredible songs. Pop-u-u-lar, and Flying High (Defying Gravity) keep running through my head, but I suspect that the final duet the women sing will become my favorite. “For Good” is the title. Glinda sings:
“I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those who help us most to grow
if we let them and we help them in return
Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true
But I know I’m who I am today because I knew you…
The last two lines of the song, sung by both Elphaba and Glinda are:
Because I knew you….
I’ve been changed for good.”
Although the lyrics imply that there is some question as to whether the changes are good, the audience has no doubt that each woman has benefited from knowing the other.
Music and lyrics for “Wicked” are by Stephen Schwartz. He has a deft hand with both. Glinda, in “Popular” tells Elphaba that she needs a little “personality dialysis.” I hope this musical gets credit for the weighty issues it tackles, and has a long run. This may be the story of Oz, but there are lessons here for all humanity.

…sitting back…..wiggling my toes….enjoying the first cup of tea in the day…..
Thanksgiving is over. We had a LOVELY day. About half of my family was present and it seems that everyone had a good time. There was the usual embarrassment of riches, the true “groaning table” that the PR firms show as the ideal Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to waves of help on dish duty there’s not an overwhelming amount of clean-up left to do. I have two loads of linens to run through the wash, and the last of the glasses and silverware, and a turkey roasting pan to wash. The floors need a good sweeping, and maybe a little wiping here and there, and we’re back to normal.
Collectively and individually we have a lot to be thankful for. I’m sure that message gets lost now and then in the living of life, but it was very obvious seeing the family gathered together. We have lovely, well-mannered children who are healthy. We have loving spouses, and we share concern for each other’s families. My brother-in-law is walking (unaided, no less) after his serious accident in July. My niece, who still hurts from her accident last week, is on the mend. My mother, who will be 89 in just a few days, was there to celebrate with us. We are blessed, so blessed, and I wish the same for all of you.

It almost feels like the night before Christmas tonight. When my family decides to celebrate Thanksgiving here I pull out all the stops. My house is cleaned, and the china is washed, seating is planned, and the menu drawn up. Today I was doing some last minute garden cleaning, before the threatened rain/snow arrives tonight. In the last two weeks we’ve had the carpets and windows cleaned and the roof re-shingled. (That was a joke, guys. We DID get the roof re-shingled, but not just because the family is coming to dinner…..chill out! *G*)
Today, I spent the day returning things to their rightful places. Quilt frame poles to the guest bedroom closet, the laundry basket to the bathroom, out of season wreaths and decorations to the basement…..you know the kind of day I’m talking about. We took the time to make a great salad for dinner, and watched the news, and then we finished the last of the organizational chores.
Tomorrow we start cooking for Thanksgiving. We’re doing the backbone of the menu, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and rolls, but there are a few other things I want to do, just for fun. I have a pesto/pignole/sun dried tomato/cream cheese spread I want to make, and an apple cranberry pie. I’d also like to try a Kentucky bourbon sweet potato recipe, and a to-die-for chocolate cookie with chunks of chocolate mint. I may be over ambitious. I usually am.
I’ll probably make things in the order listed, and if I don’t get to them all, it’s okay. I’ll do just as much as I can, and not regret that I couldn’t do it all, if that’s the way it falls.
Thursday, I’ll have lots of help. My oldest sister, her youngest daughter, and that daughter’s son will join Dear Husband and me to do the last of the preparation. We’ll set tables and peel potatoes, and resume relationships that have been put on hold for a bit.
So…..tonight feels rather like the night before Christmas, when all is ready, and waiting for the next day to dawn. I know that I’m a day off, but that may be a good sign. It’s given me a moment to sit down to blog, and enjoy the peace.
Should I not have the chance to get back to you before Thanksgiving, my family and I hope that you all have a wonderful day, and that your life is filled with blessings, both large and small.
Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to share a list of suggestions that came in an e-mail on stress management. They seem like a great collection of ways to deal with the burdens in your life. I hope that something here makes your holidays a little lighter.
* Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.
(EWWWWWWWWWW)
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
(Good advice. I hope I’m not the only one who needs it.)
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
(This hit just too close to home.)
* If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
(IF you can’t compliment a woman on her dress, tell her how pretty the buttons are!)
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it .
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others. (Hm……all of you who think I’m crazy to wash and iron the garage curtains just hush up.)
* Never buy a car you can’t push.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on. (NOW you tell me!)
* Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
* Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane. (Uh huh. I invariably choose the longest line in any store, too.)
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once. (Name one!)
* We could learn a lot from crayons…
Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box. (This one’s my favorite. *S*)
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Thank you, for the kind messages for my niece. She’s doing better than I expected She is able to move under her own steam, but she’s bruised, and battered. I was concerned that she would need assistance for the next week, but she seems to be able to do enough to care for herself.
She’s staying with us again tonight, and I think that’s about all I can get her to do without hog-tying her.
In a week or so, she should be over the worst of this and on the mend.
Thanks for the very kind messages, both for her, and for me.

Today I was casting around for blogging subjects. I’d pretty much decided what I wanted to say when I went to visit my sister’s blog, and discovered that she had beaten me to it.
October and early November were warm, and the colors in the trees quite spectacular despite the drought. We became lulled into the idea that winter would never come. WRONG!! It hit today with a vengeance! We had snow flying sideways. It was surprisingly cold, without enough warning. The humidity and the wind speed made the cold seem worse.
My mittens and gloves and mufflers and hats are all in a bin, waiting to be moved into the closet next to the door. Of course, I went out without them. Luckily, I wasn’t out in the cold too long.
Fall is still my favorite time of year. I miss the colors and scents. I miss the freedom of walking out the door without having to stop to add layer after layer to stay warm and dry. It’s much harder to slip into the car with all the extra clothes.
Whining? Yeah. It’s obligatory. Winter is here.