Black Friday seems to have been quite a success for businesses all over.  Personally, I cannot imagine wrestling through crowds like we saw in the news today.  Especially, I can't imagine "camping out" for hours in the cold waiting for a store to open.  I can imagine shopping on line, I guess, but instead of any of that we stayed at home and enjoyed looking at the snow outside.

We've had a busy week with something going on every day, and neither of us spent much time on our computers - therefore, we got a little behind.  Today was a good day to catch up on some of that.

We had our family Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening.  Woody enjoyed his friend, Tangeni, being here.  He hadn't seen her for a while, and she was excited to pet and brush him, and the two of them found a wonderful hiding place under the coffee table in the living room. With the holiday table cloth draped over it, nobody could see them - or so they thought.  It's a favorite place for Woody to curl up, and apparently Tangeni followed him under there and liked it, too.  There was a near catastrophe when they got tangled up in the table cloth and nearly brought a flower arrangement and several coasters and other items down on their heads, but Grandpa was quick to the rescue and averted a big disaster. 

Woody has also especially enjoyed watching the 30 or more wild turkeys on our lawn the past several days.  He got to feast on tiny bits of our turkey and ham at almost every meal, too.  We were glad the turkeys weren't around when the family was here - it might have been hard to explain to five-year-old animal lover Tangeni that we were sitting down to enjoy eating a relative on those handsome big birds.  Well, perhaps they aren't the most beautiful birds around, but still . . .


There are quite a few Joe's Pond folks around for the holiday.  We've seen walkers and runners on our road - people who are not ordinarily here this time of year.  I know it's a special treat for them to come to their cabins in Vermont for a family Thanksgiving.  It's only in recent years that this has happened.  Not too many years ago, almost nobody had a home on the pond that could be opened easily after freezing weather.  Everyone disconnected their water so it wouldn't freeze, closed the door in September or October and wouldn't return until May or later, when the water could be turned on with no danger of frozen pipes.  Now cottages are well insulated and are easily opened up for winter vacations.  It probably still takes a little time for the chill to wear off when the heat is first turned on, but then everyone is warm and cozy and able to enjoy.

Our snowy weather may turn to some rain and make for not so picturesque vacationing in the next few days.  I hope we don't lose all the snow - I think we have about six inches on the ground here.  There is significant rain in the forecast, and that could wash away most of our snow, but there's a chance we will get more snow than rain.  Either way, the roads could get a little slick again, so drivers need to be extra careful.  Be safe, and enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.