But no matter the temperature -- it is definitely FALL:
And you can see what has fallen. Even though we removed a couple of the biggest offenders, we have plenty of multi-colored leaves to go around. Thankfully it is not nearly like the leaves we dealt with at our previous home -- 10-12 mature oaks, three very large liquid ambers and a variety of smaller trees.
Dino again waits patiently while I photograph -- and then sweep up the latest supply.
Dino's Week at GDB Training
Dino turned 14 months old this week and when we went to training we were hoping NOT to hear that he would be recalled soon. I received an email from the family raising one of Dino's litter mates (Darlo) up in Washington State and Darlo is being recalled on December 9th for advanced training. Another sibling (Desiree), also up in Washington State is being recalled in early January . . .
Above you can see many of the puppies in various exercises and poses including Dino exhausted in the bottom right. Gail & I are in our yellow rain jackets as it had been storming most of the day. BUT a bit of sunshine for us as well as we were told that Dino probably would not be recalled in December, though circumstances could change . . .
Two Newsworthy Items
Fortunately we have a break in the local disaster news in our country, enough so that a couple of other stories caught our interest:
The first article is a refreshing story about a woman and her prized automobile -- a 1930 Packard 740 roadster -- she bought it in the 1940s and fixed it up and has been driving it ever since. According to the article in www.ohio.com/news she has had her driver's license for 90 years (got it when she was 12).
She doesn't drive it everyday but she definitely still drives it on a regular basis AND even changes the oil herself . . . she's 32 years older than me, it's hard to imagine.
The second article -- entitled "Road to Progress" is also hard to imagine, but in a different sense. I would have thought that in a country like China, this is not something that would be allowed to happen. An entire freeway like road is all but finished but the above occupied home remains.
There might be some positives for the stubborn owner like, no raking of leaves, they would all be blown away by passing vehicles (if they had any trees . . .). Then there is the convenience of merging into traffic as soon as you left home. I have a hard time wondering what will come of this -- time will tell.
Our "Leftover" Dinner & activities
We always cook our own turkey even if going out for Thanksgiving. This year was no different. I have heard that many other families (like my Sister's) do the same thing. There is nothing quite like having turkey and all the trimmings for a few meals after the main event -- typically we only have a turkey once or twice a year.
Above are some of the "fixins" for a great four-day Holiday. It all centers around "the bird" and this year for a variety of reasons the bird was roasted in pieces. We cut up the turkey and cooked the dark meat separately from the white meat. As a matter of fact I removed the bones from the breast and rolled it with some ground pork and some stuffing and roasted that in the Ninja. All came out really tasty and was so easy to carve at the table . . .
The other activities included lots of football this year along with a piano recital from Gail and her ever-present needle-pointing work. It was and IS a great four days -- but tomorrow it is back to the grind . . . for some of us anyway.
Blackened Friday
In days years gone past I (not so much Gail) might have been tempted to venture out to the major retailing locations on "black" Friday -- but not this year, nor even last year. But we did have an absolutely great time in our local "downtown" events-filled afternoon. We walked to town along with Dino and joined the festivities while it was still sunny and returned home in the moonlight.
Above are some of the captured storefronts, walkways and "things" going on for the day. Besides the horse-drawn carriages there were musicians on the street, cheerleaders, all kinds of people and of course the tree lighting AND Santa.
It felt magical in a way that is hard to put into words. As the evening darkness came on and the interior lights shown more -- since we are a town of a "few" wine-tasting spots, the festive atmosphere grew as we walked around. Dino got tons of attention as he proudly wore his new holiday neckware.
Walking back home we spotted a huge tree with the moon rising just above it and we were accompanied by many other families coming into and leaving also . . .
Status of Genealogy Work
This week as I often do, I have spent most of my "family history" work on researching another family's tree. So I do not have much to report on for our tree. There is a benefit in working on someone else's tree besides the obvious appreciation, there is always the possibility that I'll discover other ways of researching and this week that is also true.
While looking for an old business that someone on the other tree used to own and operate I discovered a really fun and interesting site:
I found the photos to be "haunting" in a way. Probably all of us have seen these images whenever we travel to various cities and locales. I was just struck by the feeling that I got when I looked at and imagined what the businesses used to be like -- in their "hayday" so to speak . . .
You can check out the site as well: Abandoned Businesses and they have a huge variety of interesting displays as well.
That was a bit of our week -- we took a break from turkey and had our traditional "burger Saturday Night" last night -- tonight it is turkey again -- we love it!
Have a good week, see you in a few! Happy Cyber Monday and 30 shopping days remain . . .
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