§ Housekeeping...

I don't do much on the lines of decorating our home for Thanksgiving. At least not like I do for Christmas and Halloween. The theme is more or less Autumn instead of the holiday. But, it comes out as I put October's stuff away for the season. The mantle is not 'heavy' with much. A pumpkin, a gnome [new], a turkey [new], candles and just a short string of lights. The soft sculpture turkey is kinda unique. Its neck actually expands to the length you want. Like this...

The gnome is Autumn colors and he's riding an old fashioned, 3 wheeled, bike...

The large, centered coffee table in the living room has only two things worthy of "Thanksgiving"...that is a Native American Brave and his bride! That's it for the living room.

A small display on the dining room table and a few scarecrows made of resin decorate the the rest of the house...

The scarecrow I crocheted years ago. He sits this year...on a bale of straw with some acrylic table scatter [acorns and pumpkins with autumn leaves] and my porcelain autumn candle holders. I do have a pair of turkey salt and pepper shakers, but can't find them. Got tired of looking for them and gave up! lol

§ It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas...

Once again this year, we decided to not put up the large 7 foot Christmas tree and decorate it since our kitty is still too curious and can be destructive. We brought out the artificial fiber optic tree. It's only 4 feet tall, small, and easy-peasy to put up...just set it in its base and plug it in!! It morphs into shades of green, red, blue, yellow, white, and purple. Pretty, but just not traditional [which I'd prefer]. On the plus side, no danger of CATastrophes, and then again, hours spent with decorating a 'real', life-sized tree or tearing down the very same after the holiday is over. (See note below)*

For now, I share these....

Top left to bottom

The small Santa Quilt I made last year and the Santa afghan that is several years old that was crocheted by me...now, it has become a bit 'sacred' to us.  This was our late Tahoe [cat]'s FAVORITE snoozing blanket.  No one could use it, 'cause she was on it the minute I unpacked it for Christmas, and left only to eat and use litter box...then, back on it  - day and night!!  I also purchased another quilt panel and quilt batting.  It's of the nativity.  I just never got around to buying other patch work quilt blocks [because of the covid 19 scare and shopping restrictions] to frame it...besides, I couldn't make up my mind even browsing the internet.  So, the panel sits, waiting for me to work on it.  Maybe soon.  Of course it will not be finished until 2021.  That's okay.

The last two are 'new' and 'old'.  The new [on the left] is a small Santa Fairy.  It just had to come home to sit at my table.  So far he's perched on the couch in the living room.  I'm sure he'll be moved eventually.  And last, on the right, is a piece we've had in our home for the holidays since Tucson, AZ.  It's large [about 3 feet in length] with a metal sleigh and Santa - his bag is filled with toys of mini-size.  [oh, and on the snowy ledge behind the sleigh...a gnome.  More of those comin' up too.]

*I'm working on convincing myself to put up the big tree! I miss it.

§ The Big Eat....

For Thanksgiving, I don't do too much interior decorating. It's mostly cooking and baking involved...pies, dressing, salads, condiment dishes, turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potaoes with marshmallow, yams, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, etc. This year, with the virus, there will be just the two of us, but that is not gonna stop me from celebrating the holiday. It'll just be toned down a bit. No big bird roasting [a small one]. No three pies for company [just one pumpkin pie]. No cooking fresh cranberries and making a waldorf salad, plus a jellied sauce [it'll be ocean spray, canned]. I will, however, make dressing from scratch. Neither of us likes sage nor do we care for cornbread dressing, so I will dry out the bread and go for it. And the one day we splurge and have all kinds of potato dishes, I will make greasy, unhealthy, gravy! One day a year...gotta have gravy on my mashed potatoes. Playing it safe because of this pandemic I went to the store and bought everything I need for it all. Just in case there is a shortage of things later on this month, I will have it stock-piled.

After packing away October's decorations, I brought out the few Autumn/Thanksgiving trinkets and polished wood, dusted furniture and mantle...I even ran the duster over all the walls in the house to rid of the tiny webs [shhhhh, don't repeat that in front of Bud, he has the illusion I keep a clean house], windexed all the glass table tops of the end tables, etc. It's nothing compared to what I put out for Halloween and Christmas, but we now know what season it is....

I have a collection of mini scarecrows, but decided to not bring them out. Only the one I crocheted years ago seen at the end of the following series of images...

§ More Covid & Current Events HumorThis and That...

...and what do pigeons do to statues? They have a point!! Actually, so does the teacher.
not my two images, courtesy of the internet

...Can we uninstall 2020 and reinstall? Seems my [and yours too?] version has  a virus!!!

...They told me a mask and gloves were all you need to wear to the grocery store. They lied. All the other shoppers were wearing clothes.

...Sometimes I wonder if all this happening is because I never did forward the message a while ago to 10 other people!!

Lastly: I figured I could 'kill two birds with one stone" with this gesture. One, to keep my hands off my face, and two, to beat the heat here in South Texas. One cone in each hand works for me!

And what's this new thing the Governor is asking us to do during this 2nd time around? Ummmm, wasn't that we were to stay home? Enlarge this image to see the inbound traffic here in Corpus. This explains the huge uptick in Covid numbers!!




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What's on your phone's homepage wallpaper



.my afghan/crochet update:



Outside our patio door:

§ I Can Dream of the Old Days...Life Was Beautiful Then...

Do you like ballet? Do you enjoy musicals? Perhaps you enjoy movies that are a bit different than the action figure come-to-life genre that is so popular these days. It was too hot to go out, so I finished my household chores and sat down and watched a movie that I had seen in the theater a few months back, which came out on DVD recently. I love the story CATS which is based on T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, with the songs in the Broadway musical consisting of Eliot's verse set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This version is enjoyable, tho it didn't do well at the box office, at first [when I saw it at the theater] I was kinda disappointed. Then, afterward, when I got home, the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.   Ballet is more of an 'acquired taste' I guess. I like ballet and even opera if I can understand what's going on... The animated costumes for one. How the art-costume direction got worked on is beyond me, but oh my goodness, to see the cats ears twitching as they sing or talk...their tails moving in such an animated fashion is incredible.   Not to mention their hair-like whiskers. The setting, the songs of course, the celebrities with the likes of Taylor Swift, Ian McKellan, Judi Dench, and Jennifer Hudson. I enjoyed it immensely the 2nd time. And, I will keep this in our repertoire of movies to be watched over and over. And naturally, I cried when the song Memory is sang. It happens every time...I get so emotional when I hear that song.  I couldn't help but grab my phone on the table next to me and snap some photos.  Yes, I know the movie is copyrighted, but like I said, I couldn't help myself...

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I broke down and went shopping. I made a special trip to Hobby Lobby for more yarn. While watching CATS, I crocheted six more pansies for my afghan. You see, I wanted more 'warm colors' in my afghan and most yarns I have are cool colors like blues, purples, and greens.  I had made a special trip and while I was waiting the social distance of 6 feet, I saw this cutie and grabbed him off Hobby Lobby's shelf.  I'm a sucker for stuffed animals. I named him Llary the Llama [yes, why not....two "Ls".]  Bud just shakes his head and asks "Where y'gonna put that one?"

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Then, I was hungry, and even ventured a bit further against my common sense when I was done with my early Sunday morning walk.  Driving home...I stopped at Denny's and ordered two breakfasts for our brunch. The Ultimate Omelet with hash browns and toast. It was delicious, but would have been better if we coulda dined in. I just can't get myself to do that yet. But, I'm gettin' antsy.  As the lyrics to the song, Memory/Memories...If I could go back to May 2019 when life was beautiful then...I could go out to eat.  As Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz, says to the Scarecrow:  "I think I'll miss you  most of all".  The "you" in my case is restaurants.

© CATS images, tho from my cellphone, the movie itself is property of Universal Studios.  No infringement intended.

§ Crochet Pastime & Funny Mask...

I just started a couple days ago on the project, so it's gonna be a slow, tedious, undertaking. The one I made for my mother years ago had only one colored pansy, but I thought to break the monotony, I would make 'em all different until I run out of color combinations, then....repeat as needed.  I also will be using up scraps of yarn saved from other projects beside what I purchased the other day.    I'd have to check the instructions, but I know there are at least 100 pansies to make before it's complete.   That should keep my idle hands busy during this stay at home order.  As of this typing my county in Texas has 83 known cases of the virus...no deaths tho.  That's a pretty low number considering the population of the area.   By the way I did a google search first and, YES, there are green pansies.

Speaking of crocheting. Irene [my daughter] texted me a photo of herself in her new mask. The 'inside' of the mask has a backing of crochet also, to place a filter between the front and back, replaceable filters. Of course with her pig fetish, this is a perfect "fit".