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family / food / memories / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
26
Nov 15

Happy Thanksgiving

I am torn about Thanksgiving. The holidays are usually pretty challenging to start with. So many people to see. So many places you have to get to. I have it in my mind that I need to treat everyone equally in terms of time. And the logistics are such that you simply just can’t see everyone you need to, full stop. And never far off in your mind are those you can’t see anymore. I am torn about Thanksgiving.

We had lunch at a north Alabama state park with one side of my family. The food is good. The company is pleasant and there are enough other people around doing the same thing that it keeps the room lively. Plus you can get seconds and no one notices. Also, you don’t have to do the dishes. We’ve done this the last few years now. I understand why we do it. I can’t raise an objection to it. It is not my favorite thing.

But there are nice views at Joe Wheeler State Park.

Anytime you can be near the water something fun could happen. Even when the water level is down and you can walk out into what should be the shallow parts. There could be boats or fish or people could push you in. But not this time of year.

There are piers to nowhere when the water is low. This makes sense, but it makes more sense during boating season.

And, of course, there are the rays of the sun dancing in the movement of the water. That’s always a captivating experience.

About three hours later, because that’s what you want to do after a big Thanksgiving lunch is have a ridiculously early Thanksgiving dinner, there was another meal with more of my family.

I have been promoted to the chief ham slicer there. This is a big responsibility and I must now mentally prepare myself for it every year now. Mostly I think no one else wants to do it and they figure I will take it seriously. I do take it seriously. Even if this meal comes too soon after the last. Even if you can’t see everyone, or even all of the people you’d hope too, even when your thoughts are full of those people you can’t see. Even when you have nice views, and a tasty ham, this is Thanksgiving. I am torn about Thanksgiving.

family / overwriting / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
25
Nov 15

That looks different, and it looks the same

Ya know, you can wake up in one place and then you set out for another place. And then it is time to go to sleep again so you wake up in the second place and you look outside and the sky is a different blue. Or that could be your imagination. The air feels different, and that’s probably not your imagination. And the earth beneath your feet feels different. You know that’s not your imagination.

And the sky, when it is blue, is always this shade of blue here. And the air always feels just like this, without fail, this time of year. And the soil that you played in here is darker than what you’ve ever worked in everywhere else, rich and thick and full of mole holes and the clover is thick and rich and cool to the touch.

That’s when you realize you’re not in the first place, but the second place, which might always feel like a second place, but is of course really the real first place. And it might be the holidays and just a short visit, but you know you’re home.

photo / Tuesday / windshield time — Comments Off
24
Nov 15

Heading out, etc.

Autumn in the backyard. ‘Tis the season, etc.

With that comes either a cold or allergies or who knows what. So I’m on some nice throat lozenges and other things. That’s no big deal, it happens, etc. The lozenges have … motivational messages.

And you know what? I’m going to do it. I’m going to get back in there. I’m going to go for it. I suppose that the it in that sentence might be my “can do” muscle. Maybe it is my et cetera muscle.

And a scene from the road.

About five hours on the road, going from home to home. That’s a lot of miles, a lot of lane changes. More windshield time, etc.

Auburn / football / friends / memories / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off
23
Nov 15

Stuff from the weekend

There was a football game, and a flyover:

I took this picture:

And that’ll be the last of it, one way or the other. It is a sad thing in its own way, which I didn’t expect.

Also I snuck up on Allie and took this picture:

And she was completely oblivious when I took this one:

So I discovered yesterday that the cat likes graham crackers. Of course she likes graham crackers.

Finally, I ran in a fundraiser 10K yesterday. The Yankee did the 5K and I did the last half with the uncle of a friend of ours who was in town. He heard about this run and thought, “Hey, I’m retired, let’s impulsively run a 10K in jeans!” And he did. I want to be like him one day.

I finished second in my age group. I got an ornament and a gift card.

Friday / photo / windshield time — Comments Off
20
Nov 15

Enter the weekend

The drive home. So tired. So happy. So melancholy.

I think it is something about the sunset being behind you. But I am a sucker for that mirror shot. I had a site design like that in the early days and so each time I see it I smile. And, when it can be done safely, I try to get a picture of it.

The key is in the timing, and I think that’s where the melancholy comes in.

Chinese for dinner. Tonight’s fortunes:

Shouldn’t there be a Fortune Cookie Accountability Institute, or something? When you get those promising ones, it really makes sense, doesn’t it?

Have a great weekend.