Thanksgiving Wishes!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I am always thankful for so many who read my blog, and I think most of us have a lot to be thankful for - even when things seem to be going haywire in the world around us. It's nice to slow down once in a while and just count our blessings. I often think how fortunate I am to live where I do and have good friends and family close by who always have my back. I expect most people feel that the state where they live is special, but I have always felt that Vermont, even in this tumultuous national environment, has an independent and sensible mindset that, no matter what goes on in Washington, we will be ok. I don't always agree with our policy makers, but I still have confidence that working together, we will find a way. I used to have that feeling about our national government, but not so much anymore. It's as if our lawmakers never learned to play together or share when they were kids.

The weather today is quite mild with some ground fog and warmish temperatures. My thermometer is reading 37.6F right now. We had some rain last night into this morning and there are a few bare patches around my place. I was in St. Johnsbury yesterday and there is no snow - actually, Danville has much less than we do at Joe's Pond - and the sun actually came out for a bit as I was leaving the physical therapy building. I drove myself yesterday - first time driving my car since September 13, when I fell. My knee is doing very well and after a full hour of pretty strenuous (for me) exercise at PT, I was ready for lunch and a nap when I got home. I stopped at Marty's to put gas in my car and pick up a few groceries, so I had a roast beef sub for lunch. Something I always look forward to!

I missed Dotty Noyes's birthday celebration last week. They went to the View at Burke Mountain, and due to some confusion by the restaurant  about their reservation, the restaurant was actually closed because there was a convention of some sort going on elsewhere in the building, but they were served - the only people in the whole place, and taken care of like royalty. A totally good experience, and I'm sorry I missed it. They sent me a picture - that's Dotty in the green top, Diane Rossi, and Cyndy Rouleau. 

Now that Thanksgiving is here, we will all be gearing up for the next big holiday - Christmas. Middle son, Bob, has just had a new song published, a Christmas song. You can find it on his website, RickshaRadio.com  This is his first Christmas tune, and it will be interesting to see how it goes. I first heard it a few weeks ago on one of our "First Thursday" outings, and immediately liked it. I hope you do, too. 

I don't do a Christmas tree anymore, but usually have lights on my porch. I will probably do something like that again this year, but I will wait until after Thanksgiving for inspiration to move me to get something out there - or in my living room window. It's nice to have a bit of Christmas around, but the porch has had a coating of snow until this week, so I wasn't about to open the slider and go out there. I think our snow is here for the duration, even though today the warmer temperatures have melted a lot of it.

 This photo was taken on Nov. 25, 2007 from the lawn at our camp at the corner of Barre Ave. and W. Shore Road. It was typically gloomy - November is like that! Not much different from today. Yesterday when I went to St. J. I noticed that the first two ponds are frozen over, but the big pond still had plenty of open water except in the calmer coves. The pond is always dark and kind of menacing this time of year, but it will soon be all white with nothing but snow swirls dancing in the wind out there - until the fishermen come. Then we have an active community again until spring! 

If you are traveling for the holidays, be safe, stay happy, and enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving!