It Has Been a Whole Year...

...Since I had one of these...

NO! Not this....

You Turkey!

Yes, it has been a year since Thanksgiving,

but this in NOT what I've missed stuffing myself with!

..actually, my favorite part of Thanksgiving is cold turkey sandwiches..

just before bed! ...and again for breakfast!

So you all have a great Thanksgiving,

enjoy stuffing yourselves with all those wonderful goodies..

BUT.....

I'm already stuffed!

And delightfully so!

On a favorite of mine that I haven't had for a whole year!

THIS NOW...

IS TO DIE FOR!

...and I ate the WHOLE thing!!

Actually...

TWO!

Beats a Turkey feast anyday!

(and this is the truth...sort of, it's actually been 13 months!)



Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the U.S.

For those who aren't? Have a wonderful Thursday!

Me? Oh... I'll cook the whole shebang as I find humor in watching
everyone make themselves miserably full...and sleepy~
while I nibble on the olives & veggies!

I never said I was normal!

"I Can Be Anyone…

….I Want To Be!"

That is what I was told when I was 18 years old...by my parents!

I was the gypsy of the family, with the desire to be different, to experience new places, new things the world had to offer! Every time Dad came home telling us about some foreign place he could take a job…..mentally, my bags were packed and I was ready to go come nightfall.

My dreams would carry me into the unknown places I would get to discover.

I would be as energized about the possibilities, as I was as a young child on Christmas eve!

I always made plans! Envisioned the adventure in grandiose ways!

Dad would always turn the jobs down.
My gypsy days were only to remain in my visions, my heart.

It was the spring of my senior year and Mom and Dad were making hasty preparations to move to Italy with my younger sister.

My Dad had finally accepted a job transfer, overseas! They would leave in July!
Upon receiving birth certificates for everyone in the family, as there was no point in getting only the three necessary ones for those who were moving, Mom felt that we should all have ours, for our own files.
Mine came, with a shock to my parents, with a strange excitement for me!
On the line where the given birth name is supposed to be printed, this line said:
“Baby Girl" Strong

They had forgotten to name me!

For 18 years, I was known as (what y’all know me as..)“WOW”.
My school records, doctor records and my Baptism certificate all claimed me as “WOW”.

My family, my friends, and heck, even myself…knew me as “WOW”.

Could it be that in my parents excitement to get me home from the hospital, it was an oversight?
Or…
Was it a subconscious knowledge they had, that I was going to be different than the other siblings, and that with a certain passage of time, the opportunity would be presented to them with a proper name for me?
(I am,after all, the only one of us four with dark brown hair, the shortest, the smallest feet, and the only lefty…..JUST like my Mom!)
Or…
Did they know somehow, that with my arrival...in such an untimely manner, I would bring to them~ the most obstinate, most independent child of all? I would present them with a behavior pattern that would try their hearts, keep them on their toes? Maybe they thought, they would let the clocks tick by…until the day came for them to set me ‘free’ and tell me…

“I can be anyone…
….I want to be!”

You see, so many years ago…on what I call my official Thanksgiving Day…
I blessed my parents, and the world, with my presence! (or maybe that should say 'cursed"..??)
I rudely & abruptly interrupted their traditional Thanksgiving gathering…
Mom did not get to enjoy all of her labor intense, delicate and artful preparations for the Turkey feast of the day! (And they even ran out of gas on their way to the hospital!)

Around 4:47 pm, that Thanksgiving Day (way back when)…I introduced myself ~in a defiant way…

A trait I’ve carried around proudly throughout my travels in life!

Leave it to me to begin what was to become years of stubborn, autonomous chaos!

I have been Thankful everyday of my life...that on that Thanksgiving Day so many years ago, I was blessed with my given life!

My folks? Blessed that day?.....I know they love me!

Yes...I kept the same name that I had bestowed on me for 18 years...I couldn't come up with anything better! Besides..."WOW" was Me!

Because today is my Thanksgiving Day...and I noticed, my 100th post (wow!) ...to all my new friends, my wonderful new family, whether by name, by lurker, by anonymous…
I hear by send you the warmest hug and thank you for sharing in my life!

One Step Forward...

...Two Steps backward.

I've succeeded in reaching my goal!

I reached "40" again...

and here is where I choose to remain!
Don't I look like it?

"C" is For COLD...

...and I am NOT fond of that!

COLD is blowing in with a vengeance and

I'm desperately missing summer today!

"C" also is for Christmas. I love the reason for Christmastime,

but it has never been a favorite holiday of mine.

Money and family seems to always be beyond our reaches.

(quite possibly...our fault, for our chosen lifestyle, do you think?)

...BUT...

Over at Wise Herbs, I participated in a sort of voluntary meme.

So I asked for a letter and she gave me the letter "C".

I am supposed to list 10 things I LOVE that begin with the letter assigned.

Guess what my first LOVE is??

*
*
*
*

If You got this wrong...shame on you!

1) Cowboy-the love of my life! He completes my life, my heart, my soul! We have been to hell and back, many times...but our love is deeper and stronger than with each passing day!
2) Coffee-Black! Real Black! The heavenly scent of it brewing makes me welcome each morning with a renewed thankfulness for my life, a new zest to carry on with whatever comes my way!
3) Chocolate- (Sage, you cheated here!) Rich smooth melting chocolate, languishing on my palette…divine!
4) Chrysanthemums- these beauties carry with them, the last reminders & pleasures of summer into the chill of Autumn; they are my “birth” flower
5) Compost- the enrichment of this gives off a scent of the healthiest soil and Ohhh…I love picking it up by the handfuls, my nose catching the aroma as it filters through my fingers. Mmm
6) Candles-I love the flickering, the ambiance, the scents wafting through my house...they calm my soul.
7) Campfire-in the night mountain air, the crackling sounds, the aroma of pine, fir, tamarack;the whispering of creatures in the dark; the warmth of flames, friends, tales & songs!
8) Crashing Waves- at the ocean. Their strength, their sounds, their retreating…brings an inner peace to me. I can walk in or sit on the cliffs watching & listening to for hours upon hours.
9) Calves- baby calves!! Witnessing or even helping with their birth; Whether I get to bottle feed or watch them nursing on their mommas; their cozy napping or their frolicking antics…precious beyond words!
10)C...”- Last but NOT least...both our Son & Son-in-law have the same first name…and I love them dearly! These two “C” s bring the warmth and joys of sunshine to my heart everyday!

So if anyone else wants to play, leave me a comment and and I'll assign you a letter

but it is purely for fun this meme.

Then you list 10 things you love that start with that letter.