YE MERRY OL' THANKSGIVING
It's true time foreshortens as you get older. I swear last year's holidays feel so close in time! Here we are, 2004, adieu (hey, I am projecting forward quickly): And so much to be thankful for. Yesterday, feeling myself teetering on the holiday cheer precipice, I splurged and bought two music CDs--Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head," and U-2's "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." Right now I am listening to the Coldplay compilation for the first time. Solid! Groovy! Rad! Tubular! Am ashamed that I don't know this generation's appropriate complimentary adjective. Awesome--that'll do. As for U-2, there's "Vertigo" and one or two other cuts that I really like, but the rest of the CD is, shall we say, wee too much Bono?
I have made a new acquaintance with a second cousin who took it upon herself to reach out to us while here with her husband visiting his Mom. Heather is a weaver and lives in Colorado. She and spouse Craig are both retired from NASA--part of the first down-sizing of the '80s. Her Mom Gerri and my Mom were cousins, but did I remember that? Noooooo....Eh, disconnect, big-time! She told us all about our relatives in Denmark whom they have visited several times. I feel my cells stretching as I learn more about distant family.
Thank You, Multiverse, Cosmic flux, God!

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
Yesterday Don and I went to see "After the Sunset" with Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek. (And Woody Harrelson, whom I've never really cared for.) Brosnan and Hayek play jewel thieves in early retirement but (surprise!) presented with a huge temptation when the breathtaking "Napoleon Diamond"--incredibly secured--arrives at the shore of their tropical island paradise. There's of course more to it than that and it was a fairly entertaining movie. And if I come back next life looking like Salma, I certainly won't mind reincarnating on this misery laden planet one more time.
And today I drove to the Inland Empire and saw my lovely daughter-in-law and my two exquisitely gorgeous grandsons! (See below.) Mom and me and the two kids drove to Rancho Cucamonga to yet another mall, this one called "Victoria Gardens"--open air, new, great stores, but since Julie forgot to bring the stroller, we didn't get out there--just drove through-- but instead went to an Italian restaurant. Gus threw pizza all over the floor and Roy ate macaroni and cheese and I had something called a Tuscan lunch (delicious!) with a glass of Chianti. ( <--is that spelled correctly?) Anyway, we had such fun and my grandbabes are so fine. Eric, the dear boy, had to prepare for a court case. It was great to see him. My beautiful, hard-working, and --hey, I'll just say it--brilliant son! Anyway....the kids are . . .

BANANA CREAM PIE!
I bought a bag of Splenda granular and now my diabetic spouse can enjoy just about anything that would normally require regular sugar. That includes banana cream pie, and I've just had a special request by him to make one for dessert tonight. Hey, that's fine, cuz it's indistinguishable from the real thing, with real sugar! And fairly simple to make. After all -- he's making the pot roast. We each have our specialties. Other than almost finishing up the next issue and wondering if anything special will be happening this month, nothing else is going on. So this post is all I can manage. Oh, wait -- one thing. I'm having an ongoing discussion with a friend of ours in Las Vegas about the political thing. He's an apparent leftie with bad feelings about the war in Iraq. Our e-mail conversations are making me think. Can't ask for more than that.

OVER, THANK GOD--AND GOD BLESS AMERICA

I happily copied this photo from another blog site, and really like it. Not because I necessarily feel affection toward the Republican party, but because I like elephants. I think they are one of the most mystically beautiful and gently spiritual creatures on Earth. If I were enormously wealthy, I'd have a pet elephant. Buckwheat is a terrific substitute!
I've never been a big flag-waver, but 9/11 changed me. Here it was on the other side of the continent, but mass media brought that terrible event right into our homes, our normally laid back and nonchalant West Coast homes, and I, for one, will never forget it.
But enough about that. It's Friday! This is my favorite day, the end of a tremulous week and the beginning of what I hear will be a rainy weekend. I plan to bake bread, can you believe?? Though I guess I'll have to go find a baking thermometer, because I seem to have a tendency to destroy the yeast with water I think is lukewarm, but turns out to be fatally scalding to those sensitive little fungi. From fungi to elephants -- life is a fascinating myriad of earthly creatures (and, methinks, those from outside our planet. That thought has sustained a small but growing publication for nearly 20 years.)

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

I figure a few more jack-o-lanterns, even past their 2004 era, might help in quelling the evil spirits that seem to be infusing this particular Presidential election. I frankly can't stand the tension of not knowing whether we'll have Bush (I consider that the safe and honorable choice--but I'm neither red nor blue. Call me Purple--independent) or Kerry, that less than honorable vet and political opportunist. In all fairness, all politicians are opportunists; they have to be. He's just a little more transparent than most. However, this whole nasty shebang'll be over at about 3-5 p.m. today, EST. Or is it PST? Then it's off trying to get all of us Americans on the same page about terrorism and the nature of patriotism.
We went to the boat yesterday and I put up our little American flag. Boats and flags, they have a warmth that even the California in November sunshine can't compete with. Don't ask me to explain that.
Nancy started a blog (and I forgot the address). She's a greatly entertaining and creative writer and I've been urging her to get back into it. Go, Nance!