Life in November

Bad as I hate to admit it, seems I can only update this blog about once a month. Lately it's not even that nothing is happening, I just can't seem to get in the writing mood. And oh how I always loved writing; it was the heart and soul of myself. I'm not sure how it came to this: rarely any writing. I guess it's due to not "just doing it" ... instead of procrastinating, writing in my mind, not onscreen or paper. Wish I could promise to do better, but the older I get, the fewer promises I make to myself. Life is just happening...without many plans by myself.

To give you an example: My nephew's wife and my two grand-nieces have lived near me since I moved back here. I would sometimes see the kids out playing, stop with the dogs, talk and then be on my way. I always invited them over, but they never came by -- except when the tornado struck, they did check on me. Part of my hesitancy and theirs was probably due to the fact that my nephew is divorced from A., and with due cause (he got seriously messed up on meth). A. has since developed a good relationship with a very nice guy, and they are planning to marry soon. They have been living together for a year or so, and he brought his two young children to live with them.

At any rate, several months ago, my grand-niece, S., started dropping by. At first she only stayed a little while, but then gradually she came more often and stayed longer. She is ten, so it was like getting acquainted with this entirely amazing little girl with her own unique personality. We'd never been very close, and I became more and more intrigued. Anyone who knows me would be quick to tell you I'm not overly fond of small children...say, less than seven or eight. And infants, uh, no...just never had that particular mothering gene. Still, over the months, I've grown fond of S. and her sister, H., as well as the other two kids, age eight (girl) and (boy) nine. Oddly enough, S. and I never run out of things to talk about. She's a little chatterbox, and of course, ever the writer, I have a million questions to ask her. This whole experience has been truly remarkable, and something I never expected -- knowing my loner tendencies. And though I have no idea why, S. seems extremely fond of me; her mom says she talks about me all the time. As I stated, I don't plan, I'm just going to roll with this...see how it progresses as I visit them and they visit with me, share activities together.

One weekend recently I invited all the kids over for a movie. I made popcorn, gave them each a piece of chocolate candy with fruit drink and we all watched the movie on my big-screen TV. It was a revelation for me during the children's movie, since they all like "Big Foot" and were quick to assure me that he is REAL! And most important, it was fun.

I've just returned from several days with my sister in Huntsville; had a great time. We took the dogs to the "Galaxy of Lights" on the "bring your dog" night. Mostly they sniffed every inch of the path, marking here and there, trotting along with the many other dogs. Beautiful lit Christmas attractions, friendly crowd (dog owners always friendly with each other!), unbelievably mild night, light wind...perfect.

The second day my sister and I took the dogs to a wilderness park near their home. Even though we knew rain was predicted, we thought we had time to get in a walk...but about halfway along the path, it started to rain. At least it was unseasonably warm, and it just made us walk faster and put the hoods of our rain-jackets up. Here's a couple photos of the park:

Look at those dark clouds...we should have known it was about to rain!

This is the path, truly scenic area.

Some photos of the dogs at my sister's house:

Oscar covered himself in this old quilt we had put across the car seats!

Rambo takes over the softest chair!

We had our family Thanksgiving a day early, met at a local restaurant and enjoyed the food without actually having to cook it ourselves. None of us really like cooking, so since mother died, we opt for a restaurant. It was nice get-together, and our last living uncle (mother's youngest brother) was able to be there; he lives in Arkansas.

I do cook sometimes however, and here's a recent veggie pizza with homemade crust I made:

Here's some photos of the cats on the prowl late one afternoon in the backyard.

Bitty Kitty on the garage. She'd just been stalking a squirrel in the tree.

Slinky stalking the grass...

As seen above, my two indoor cats continue to thrive. I don't often let them out into the backyard, but before it started getting dark so early, I would sit on the porch and read while letting them roam in the yard. The stray cats I feed are also present and accounted for. While I was away on my trip, I got the neighbor guy to feed my cats and the strays (couldn't let the strays go hungry!)

This is my backyard in mid-October before the leaves fell, and after I had a damaged pine cut. The top of the big pine was wrenched out during the tornado, and had I not gotten it cut, beetles would have taken over.

A recent foggy morning in late November.

I've got quite a shopping list this year for Christmas, but haven't bought a thing yet. I know what I'll be doing in December.

The new Sheriff has declared that this year the Sheriff's Rodeo (in a couple weeks) will be dedicated to my late husband as a Memorial. I'll be there for the opening ceremonies, of course. Late husband got the rodeo started, so it's only fitting he be remembered. It raises a lot of money for the Sheriff's Department too.

I guess that about rounds out the latest for November. I'll turn 60 next Saturday, hurrah! Contrary to how many people feel about hitting 60, I'm just happy I made it to this age. After all, the doctors told me at age 25 I'd never live to see 30. Shows how much doctors know, ha!

I'm outta here!