It Happened again...

...for the 7th year in a row.

The Lions were upended on Thanksgiving Day; depressing.

Happily our celebration is not centered on the meaningless world of sports, and we enjoyed sharing some of God's bounty with beloved family members.

I get the cornucopia, pilgrims and native americans, but had to ask Karen, "why the escapees from santa's sleigh?"   "it's deer season," she replied. 

the butterball turkey breast was dee-lish

as were the 'taters, corn and green bean casserole

all of which paired nicely with gravy and rolls

stuffing myself with stuffing is an annual tradition

gotta have cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving; the cole slaw and olives were a bonus

Counting "his 'n hers", Karen fed 10 of us altogether; and yes I did help as much as I could without gumming up the works, but she definitely deserves the credit for our delicious meal.

We gave thanks to God in heaven for the food before us, the family beside us and the love between us, then enjoyed a hearty repast.

No sooner had we stored Thanksgiving away for another year than we began ushering in Christmas 2023...

gotta love mid century modern aluminum Christmas trees

nativity scene on the mantel

an Aldi special

pretty good movie, too

Christmas wreath and curtain lights

the sacro-secular debate rages on

It's a start, anyway, with more to come I'm sure.

How much more is still up for grabs, considering it all has to be taken down and put away in a month.

But even with all that barge totin' and bale liftin' I still found time to cover the last of my greens...

Buddy checking out the tarp covered green

...and swat a few wiffle golf balls in my backyard.

Just in time, too...

...'cause it's snowing today.

And hey, where the Lions failed, the Michigan Wolverines succeeded...

...vanquishing those evil buckeyes from Ohio.

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

You know what this means...

...so let's get to it:

I'm sorry, the irony is too much...once touted for their brazen disregard for societal convention, now sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons...puh-leeze...

a little snowfall outside Larry's deer blind now

november sunset from our courtyard

window aluminum Christmas tree from outside

               making their escape on Thanksgiving morning

As you help yourself to Thanksgiving leftovers, a reminder from God's Word...

later, mcm fans...

Sweet Sixteen...

...and regularly kissed...Happy Anniversary to us.

Here's what Karen posted on fakebook...

I'm a blessed man.

Didn't expect much from today's outing on the links...

...been suffering with a hot tooth that was finally yanked on Thursday.

A limited diet and multiple nights of fever dreams left me feeling weak and unfocused so I scaled back the tools of my ignorance to just a mid iron, mashie and niblick.

Also switched out my more expensive Goodman balls for Callaway supersofts, so if I lost any it wouldn't be quite as painful.

End result?

Meh...about what I expected.

Had some chances along the way, but I could feel I was off...listless, out of sync and just sort of going through the motions.

Managed a par and a couple of bogies, but the rest of the round would have been frustrating if I'd actually cared, which to be honest, I did not.

Probably shoulda stood in bed this morning, but the days when I can swing my hickories are rapidly slipping away.

So I dragged my sorry carcass out of bed and done dooded the dirty deed.

Lord willing, I'll tee it up again next week and hope for better.

‘Tis the season for cognitive dissonance...

...when I get to enjoy a warm fire on a cold morning...truly one of life's sublime delights.

And why is that cognitive dissonance?

Because there is little I enjoy less  than a cold morning.

Contradictory though they may be, both statements are true in my world, so this week as the temps dipped into the low 50's I got all 3 of our fireplaces up and running.

Welcome, Fall.

And what do we expect to happen in the fall?

You guessed it...the battle of the retail seasons...it's late September and stores have both their Halloween and  Christmas displays out now.

Are you ready for Ho-Ho-Ho?

How about No No No!

I'm not, anyway.

Heavy sigh...

Sights from here and there...

that's electrifyin'

another view from the lake courtesy of Larry

and one of the sunset from our courtyard courtesy of Karen

did I use this one already?  I like the blue-jay-in-mid-flight look

it’s another great day to be him

It has taken an enormous amount of self-control to avoid wasting blog space on the constant catastrophe that is Joe Biden and his band of misanthropic miscreants.

I may not spare you in the future.

Today however I'm choosing to eschew belaboring the obvious about these criminally incompetent fools and instead will simply quote Proverbs 1:32

Let us pray God will honor His Word.

later, mcm fans...

Happy...

 

...Y'all!  The big day for 2020...has come and gone and like almost everything else this year, it was a little different...

ready for the big crowd...

...a little smaller...

...of two guests.

...but still a time to pause and give thanks to God in heaven for His manifold blessings....like family...

grandson Isaac and #1 son Micah

daughter Sarah and her boyfriend Alex were welcome late additions to our festivities

...food...

some of the feast Karen prepared

...and of course, football...

not sure watching the Lions lose again actually qualifies as a blessing

In spite of this year's many challenges, I hope you were still able to gather with ones you love and give thanks.

Did you know cigar aficionados are natural born heros?

That's 74 year old Richard Wilbanks of Florida.  He was walking with his puppy who wandered too close to the water when a baby 'gator decided to snatch "Gunner" for lunch.

As the now viral video shows...

man-saves-pet-dog-from-alligator

...Wilbanks jumped into the pond, ducked his head underwater to find the thieving gator then proceeded to pry open the gator's jaws, freeing his mostly unharmed puppy.

And he did all of that while smoking his cigar.

I enjoy a good cigar as much as anyone, but that takes it to a whole 'nuther level.

I've heard people downplay his heroism with dumb remarks like "c'mon, it was just a little alligator!"

My question for them is simple: where do baby alligators come from?  You think mama gator...

...wasn't somewhere close by?

It might not have been the smartest thing Mr. W ever did, but it was clearly one of the bravest.

And there's no doubt Gunner appreciated the gesture.

As one cigar lover to another I say "Well played, Richard!"

But speaking of cigar lovers, here's a word to the wise, boys...DO NOT deal with these guys:

They're great at taking your money and I freely admit most of the time your cigars will arrive on time and in good condition.

But woe! woe! woe! to you if your order does not arrive and you fall into their Pit Of Despair, euphemistically referred to on their website as "customer service".

Les bouffons in the CS department have elevated the art of indifference to dizzying heights, and if incompetence was a penny, they'd all be billionaires.

A recent order of mine made its way via the USPS to Philadelphia on November 2nd, which date you may recall was the day before the greatest political theft in United States history occurred.

My only guess as to the fate of my cigars is they were loaded onto a truck full of Trump ballots and so immediately directed to the nearest landfill.

After many fruitless attempts to communicate with the corpses that populate CI's customer non-service department I have finally given up and conclude it would be easier to re-grow my right ring finger...

...than it would be to get a response from these clowns.

Check their rating with the Better Business Bureau...

...then buy your cigars somewhere - anywhere - else.

You've been warned.

No secret Karen and I are mid century modern fans, and every year I put up at least one of my authentic mid-1960's aluminum trees...

...but this year it's mighty tempting to stray a wee bit from "mcm" to just "m"...

...as in "modern".

That's the "Wall Tree" from the Modern Christmas Tree company, and as you can tell it's half a tree you hang on a flat surface like a wall...or a window?

I'm pretty positive this 6' tall objet d'art would look magnificent against one of our floor to ceiling windows along the back patio.

It's clever, elegant and minimalist, but at the moment I haven't quite convinced myself it's worth the hefty price tag.

And in reality by the time I'm done waffling it will most likely be sold out for this year.

That's one way to make a decision.

Managed to cry my way through what used to be one of my favorite movies...

...yep that's Hoosiers, the 1986 hit about tiny Hickory High in Indiana - enrollment 64 - back in 1951 that played its way to an unlikely state championship in March of 1952 against a mega school - enrollment 2800.

It's loosely based on the true story of little Milan high school doing just that in 1954, back when Indiana's state tournament was not divided into classes based on school size.

It's not a tearjerker by any means, but Hoosiers was a big deal to my clan when one of my sons was playing ball for a small school that fought its way to the state championship game in two sports...basketball...

...and football...

Too complicated to go into here, and a whole lotta water has gone over that dam since those halcyon days, but memories from back then are still as poignant as ever.

Before we toss you and the leftover turkey out the door, let's take a stroll through the "sights around town" department, shall we?

one of our sputnik light fixtures for all the mcm fans out there

remember, no politics at Thanksgiving

big media, big government, big tech

best part of Thanksgiving?  leftovers...

sunrise up north at Larry's cottage...lucky stiff

first real snow of the season

It's finally official:  both All Hallows E'en and Thanksgiving are rapidly receding in the rear view mirror and we're now careening recklessly...

...toward Feliz Navidad...

...a mere 4 weeks ahead.

Hold onto your hats ladies and gents, it will be here in an eyeblink.

later, mcm fans...