Thanksgiving and Then Some

Good morning my dear readers! Thanks for stopping by! It is a cold day here in Murphy, NC, to the tune of 38 degrees at 11am, however, and this is a BIG however, the sun is finally shining again. Plenty of rain and gray skies has been our norm of late, although Thanksgiving was a beautiful day for which we were grateful.

We are living and learning as it pertains to plants in this climate. One might be tempted to think we should have been practicing common sense, but one would be wrong in some instances. I did bring this plant indoors and what is so remarkable to me about it is that it is blooming much more vigorously than it was in the warm weather. Go figure. 

The Lowe's ad for Black Friday contained poinsettias and we fell for it hard. Fortunately they were but one dollar a piece because by Shop Small Saturday, they looked like this.

Not just one but two urns like the above!! Live and learn is a good motto to follow, especially the learning part. 😀

As was probably the case for some of you, grocery store runs were more frequent than typical in the days before Thanksgiving. On one such trip I saw that yeast was on sale so I picked up a pack and at the same time noticed that Fleishman's has a pizza dough yeast. Well, why not try it, especially because it requires no rising time?

I've got to say, I am sold! It was crazy easy to work with and while the taste was not as robust as had it proofed, it was excellent for a homemade pizza on a cold winter's night! It was so easy a child could make one with ease so my advice to you is check it out should you be a pizza lover! 

Despite me saying a cold winter's night, we are still several weeks away from the official start of winter. They filled up our gigantic propane tank about two weeks ago and I keep wondering how long it will last. As you may recall, it supplements the electric power when it gets/stays cold. This upcoming summer we must remember to buy propane because by the time he came to fill it in early November the price had risen significantly. Another live and learn scenario. What a blessing to have new opportunities for learning, right? It, and the multitude of stairs is keeping us youngish. Yup, youngish because as I type I am thinking of a multitude of folks we either know personally, or through others, who are 90+! Living another twenty years seems impossible, but then again, why not? 

Because Bruce and I were celebrating Thanksgiving as a couple this year, my kitchen duties were not so much that when D'Anna asked if I wanted to ride down to Elijay in order for her to pick up a Honey-Baked ham, I was, let's do it!! It had been quite a number of months since last I was in a larger town and it felt sort of weird  to me, seeing all manner of chain stores, including HBH.

One reason I agreed to go was because, and this will probably sound crazy to some, but I wanted to visit their large thrift store where I was hoping to find some new things for the bookshelves and a mirror for over the fireplace something I have mentioned ad nauseam. Not being much of a thrifter, despite that it was not much in her realm of experience, she agreed to take me there. She has been in a Goodwill a time or two so not completely a novice, but definitely not one with thrift in the name! Well shoot, it was closed for Thanksgiving! We decided to head to Blue Ridge where there are thrift stores and lunch. Way past lunch time, when we got out of the car after being fortunate to find a parking space, I saw a pub right there and I suggested we try it. The streets of Blue Ridge were teeming with tourists so eating at an out of the way place made sense to me. Another new experience for her, going to a pub and adding to that, eat at the bar! One of the things that I so like about her is she finds great pleasure in simple things, something I think I do as well. So, birds of a feather and all that.....

The menu was extremely limited, so with few choices she ordered fish and chips and I had chicken tenders. The owner was the bartender and we learned after a while not to ask too many questions. A woman sat down next to me who owns a big brewery across the street and knows him as sort of cranky. It was she who told us as much. She also said he was once an Irish Catholic priest who found a different calling. 

That would be him behind the bar because according to our new acquaintance; that's the only way he likes it.  At any rate, it was a new experience for her and maybe one day she will sit at the bar with intention. 

Once she dropped me back at our sweet house on Campbell Street, I got to work making Bruce's apple pie for Thanksgiving. Really, it is not workto me so perhaps I should say that I began a pleasurable experience, peeling lots of apples, making a crust and hoping for the best on getting it off the was paper!!

The apples were local from Mercier orchards in Blue Ridge. 

Our menu was a simple one, made even simpler because we only bought a turkey breast which was most certainly a first for me. Gosh, the big dinners I once made! So many people! To combat dryness, I made a compound butter, using fresh herbs from our little garden, including parsley that for some reason had not frozen, along with rosemary that has been robust and hopefully will make it through the winter this year. As well I made the simplest cranberry relish, one I have grown to love. You know the one....three ingredients and for some folks they use a food processor but not having one, the grinding function on my thrift store blender made a find stand in. Oh yea, an orange, a bag of cranberries and a cup of sugar.

Bruce started to take a photo of the table, so I took a photo of him taking said photo.

Bruce's favorite dressing turned out well, as did the green beans with lemon zest and almonds. Shockingly, the turkey was way better than I expected. Another star of that show were the mashed potatoes, nearly my all time favorite food. I believe I read an America's Test kitchen post that claimed that rather than cutting potatoes into chunks, cut fat slices instead. Not only did they cook faster, but they just mashed so well. Thus, a new tip you may want to try to add to the pizza yeast trick!

Pretty much as soon as Bruce was in the kitchen washing the dishes, I was gathering the Thanksgiving decorations making way for Christmas! Having only four tubs in our upstairs closet made it easy. I would rummage through and find things to carry downstairs, including two second-hand goods. 

In some regards it almost makes me sad to think how many hours it took someone to do the cross stitch on this placemat as well as the two others, along with three red napkins, for $1.25. May she, and I am only assuming it was a she, never learn how little her work was valued. 

The tiny lamp was a Christmas present to us because we love little, and think that after the paint dries, it will look sweet on the bookcase. 

Now because we are going to Florida for a few weeks, Bruce was not terribly excited about putting up the tree, but his love for me prevailed and we now have a beautiful tree.

I don't expect anyone to remember how last year, after having the tree up for about a week, all of the pre-lit lights went out, forcing us to undecorate and put on new lights. (Google thinks undecorate is not a word but Google has never had the pain/pleasure of undecorating before! Maybe it isn't a word but for our purposes we will stick with it.) You are seeing the aftermath of Bruce's efforts to cut off the previous lights.

This is but a fraction of what he cut off!! 

And now the living room looks like this, including the finished second bookcase behind the television!!

Vancouver taught us the power of Christmas tree lights on gray and gloomy days.  (one of a ton of posts from Vancouver should you be interested)

Friday afternoon, on Black Friday I walked into town with the intention of shopping local for as many Christmas gifts as possible. My first stop was a winner, and not only did I buy two gifts, but I received some Murphy dollars, if you will.

Ignore the expiration date because I promptly spent the one I earned that day at another shop. So far, so local. 

I did see this going through the town sometime last week.

Look at that gray sky! In addition to the sky, take a look at our brand new pavers and grass!! It is so exciting! The project that has marred downtown's appearance for most of the year is nearing completion and it is turning out lovely. 

Below is a first for me. Saturday morning, the mop I'd left in pine sol water on the back porch was frozen!

Live and learn Gail, live and learn.

We were there for Shop Small Saturday and we will be there for the rescheduled Christmas tree lighting which will be held tomorrow night rather than Friday because of....you guessed it, predicted rain on Friday night. Hopefully folks will see the notice and we will have a good crowd.

I will be sure to let you know!

your friend,

Gail

p.s. life got in the way and I am finishing this at 6pm.

Life is Full of Surprises

What I was doing the other day when the thought occurred to me, I can't say, but it popped into my cluttered mind and has not dislodged yet. Surprises. According to my limited research, the word surprise means: an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, or thing. 

Friends, moving to North Carolina qualifies as an astonishing event. 

Over the years we have known loads of folks who visited North Carolina with regularity, enjoying the climate and the beautiful mountain views. Were we some of those folks? A resounding NO! Our North Carolina experiences had been few and far between. Many of our NC friends visited yearly, or had a cabin here for years before committing to full time living. Us, we come here once and decide it is for us! Frankly, I am surprised and astonished that we did this, and even more so that we could not be any happier despite our inexperience. So, yes, life is indeed full of surprises!

Now let's see what surprises were in store for us this past week.

Before Christmas rushes in, a few more autumn images. A big surprise to this life-long Floridian is how darn long a pumpkin lasts on your front porch! Chastity and Daniel's pumpkins have been there for easily a month. Those suckers would have caved long before had they been in Orlando!

Having rain with frequency this past week, it seems to have hydrated the Japanese Maple leaves, keeping them on the tree, albeit in a rust tone these days.

I will say, despite last week's mowing to pick up leaves, a whole lot more leaves are currently carpeting the lawn.

With a Lowe's only about two miles from the house, visiting there is easy and necessary when Bruce is either fixing something at the church or creating something in our home. The garden center is my favorite and this time of year there is some seasonal confusion going on.

Each year the decorations are weirder and weirder. A rooster, while in the crucifixion story, has no place at Christmas. 

Then again, does any of the above fit? 

It is 5pm and nearly dark, in part because it has been a very gray day. The Christmas snowflakes come on even in the middle of the day if it is dreary which is most welcome.

Here's a neat downtown story for you. Continuing my quest to find interesting books for a song, I filled two grocery bags with them after studying the shelves. The sale was ending on Friday and I think instead of a bag of books for .50, the price was rising to .50 a book. What's a bargain hunter to do but get them while they are hot? Anyway, as is SO common, I ran into a friend at the library and I almost asked for a ride home because those book bags were heavy! Mostly I have become somewhat efficient on the steep streets, including ours, but on this day, for a minute, I thought maybe I would catch a ride with Bette. Then I decided to just go for it. As I was walking, only a very short distance from the library, and ditto that to our home, a woman pulled up in her Subaru, slid the window down and asked if I wanted a ride because my load looked heavy. My initial reaction was that I was okay, and then I thought this is why you live in a small town now! She was quite pleasant during our short time together and in the end I was grateful.

LOOK what is happening with this heat and rain! My creeping phlox are blooming along the front wall!

Oops while we were on the subject of downtown, I walked by this the other day and thought, wow, I forgot how old North Carolina is compared to Florida.

Showing off my ignorance is what I am doing! Unlike lots of folks that have moved to Murphy and never bothered to learn a thing about the town, maybe because we live in town, we do know some things. Earlier today, while doing a task at church, my partner is a native who when she saw a name said, oh yes, that is one of the local families. I like that. When we walked by a shop, she said the owner was her cousin. I like that too. 

This past week Bruce has been hard at work on bookcase number two and if fact, he is working on it in the living room as I type. This one he built in his shop, rather than in place.

I waited the requisite week for the paint to harden before putting much on the completed case. Using mostly what I could scavenge in the house, or of course my bargain books, I've had fun with it although who knows how long it will stay like this.

It is not unusual for us to spend plenty of our time either volunteering or attending things at our church, and this past week was no exception. The Soul Table meal was well attended, and by all accounts, the food was terrific. Cobby and Diane had some help in the kitchen this week preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Plenty of guests and volunteers.

Oh look!! Your favorite dishwasher in action too!! Both ham and turkey were served along with the usual suspects. I was making name tags like they were going out of style! 

Sunday following church, a bunch of folks helped to decorate the church for the upcoming beginning of Advent.

Lest you think that is all we do, we did go out with John and Laura on Friday night and had a scrumptious meal at Poor Parsons Pub. Cozy and fun, that too, is one big surprise how we landed at their cottage and have become good friends. On Saturday she came over with her sewing machine and we worked out a few problems she was having while making napkins.

Projects around here though, were the star of last week and I am so happy to report that the machine sewing on the quilt is done!

That is because the lines are two inches apart and you might be wondering why? Maybe not but I'm going to tell you anyway! The last one I made they were quite close and it is a style that I like, however, the quilt is just too stiff for my liking. Hopefully this one will be soft and comfy! I told you the back was pieced and I was not kidding!

Seriously polka dots just add so much fun to anything!

Good night, Monday rolled around and we were back at church with a bunch of other volunteers, making boxes, 

which truth be told, were a pain in the butt to assemble;  talk about stiff....holy cow!! 

The boxes were then filled with all kinds of farm fresh ingredients from around here, including large chickens that were added when the recipients came to collect their box. Farmers carried in their produce, or in the case of the potatoes, brought them the day before. Two fifty pound bags worth!! 

Today I learned that the potato farmer lives quite near David and D'Anna and is still farming by himself at 83! Also included were apples, carrots, greens, pumpkin pies made with fresh pumpkins, cornbread, lettuce,

homemade jams, eggs, honey and well, that sound like enough doesn't it? Grant, (below) applied for a grant that paid for the food so not only were the farmers blessed, so were the families who signed up. Very much a win-win situation. 

Homemade potholders and dish cloths were included as well.

So yes, we do spend a lot of time there, but with time on our hands to donate, why not? 75 boxes were assembled.

I've got a notice above all of my own typing that Google wants me to try a new AI feature that promises to produce a more engaging reading experience! Well, should I?

Videos are coming in fast and furious of Christian walking!! Yes, walking! I reported he was close last week, but by golly he is sailing into his first birthday on his own two feet!That's an awkward sentence isn't it? You get my drift. They are just so fun to watch on repeat, or at least to these grandparents they are. 

Mrs. Mockingbird says hello from a bare tree, matching the gray of the day,

however, the sun is coming out tomorrow and if all goes as has become common to this old couple, there will be surprises waiting!

your friend,

Gail

A Warm Spell

And might I add that it is most welcome? Actually I like the cold but my darling husband is not as big a fan. I am writing this on Wednesday afternoon at 2:45 and according to the front porch thermometer the temperature is 72 degrees, a far cry from a little over a week ago! A big rainstorm overnight left wet courts leaving Bruce and I free to work on things here at home. 

Looking through the photos from last week, I guess it had something to do with the cold weather, but we were not as busy as some weeks, a cause for celebration actually. 

Saying that, it is more likely that I can't remember what we did! Actually I do remember some things, one of which was helping with both buying food for and organizing the food pantry that Diane and Cobby set up at the church. Lots of generous folks contributed and with Bruce's guidance ringing in my ears. we did what we could to make it appealing. 

Last Thursday others manned it during the time it was open to the public for distribution. Everyone was heartened though when the government shut down ended, making this sort of operation unnecessary. Around this county a food pantry is always a good thing, but most of the most needy folks live outside the downtown area and getting here can sometimes be hard for them. It is undoubtedly a conundrum. 

That reminds me of something we learned the other day. We stopped into Cherokee Cellars for lunch because we'd heard they were selling more food these day. Indeed they are and it was tasty. While that was good to report, asking the server if she was a local she answered in the affirmative saying she was from Abernathy holler. Now I have read that term in countless Southern novels I've read but I can't say as I could have actually defined it. Now I can thanks to our server who told me it is called that because mostly a group of related families live in an area so closely you could holler at them. At least that is my interpretation of what she said! I tell you friends, some days it is if all those novels are coming to life right here in front of me!

Most morning it has been freezing when we awake in the dark. I have not liked daylights savings time one bit this year!

The snow feels like it happened forever ago! I picked up a handful and it felt so nice, sort of fluffy-like. These bricks are in a shady part of the yard, so a tiny bit remained for a few days and the birds found it!

It was not just the Japanese Maple tree that lost her leaves, yes I am dubbing her a she because she was so showy and beautiful!!

On Saturday Bruce began tackling the backyard leaves going in such a methodical fashion it astounds me how he can be so consistent. I am such a scatter-brain compared to him. If I was the one doing this,

I might have started in a circular fashion, but there is no way I would have ended up that way! David Lamb came over to work on a drawer bottom of his that he'd ask Bruce to help him with. When he finished the staining, he joined Bruce in making the yard look tidy.

Please note those handy leaf-picker-upper things David is using that work like a charm, I might add. I found those at JoAnne's Fabric before we moved into the house when we were in Orlando and for like $4. At first Bruce was a tad bit dismissive, that is until he actually used them, discovering that they are as good as gold. 

Meanwhile inside the house, the scatter brained housekeeper, AKA Gail, finally caved and cleaned the fridge. For weeks I kept thinking it really was in need of some attention and finally, Saturday afternoon, it happened. I removed not just everything from the drawers and shelves but the door shelves as well! That's what I call a deep clean.

While we are looking at the above photo, most of which did not need throwing out, it's really the dishwasher that is the star of this show.  20 plus years old and still growing strong! Simple to use, cleans the dishes, and doesn't ask a thing from me in the doing. Most folks, including me, have horror stories of the new, wildly expensive appliances, with more functions than anyone knows what to do with, breaking in a few years, or in some cases a few months. Keep your old appliances folks and you will thank me for the suggestion later!

Look at this beauty!!

It has been a learning curve, using a side by side, but we've been up for the challenge. One item I found in the fridge, in a brown paper bag, was this gift from Tom and Jane Payne.

Who are Jane and Tom you ask? Astute readers just might remember Tom, he of who needed a ramp more than a year ago, but no longer does, much to everyone's surprise. He is really something at 92, as is Jane at 90! I bring that up because, yes they are from West Virginia, They were at Dollywood this past Sunday, otherwise I would have asked which one of them did that drawing? Enlarge the photo so you two will know how to make a West Virginia hot dog!

Every day is a good day, but having Bruce working on and finishing one bookcase, makes them even more special.

Perhaps I mentioned that the fireplace front will be the wall color? We are still looking for a mirror to hang over the mantle, but finding one has been somewhat elusive to date. I suspect if we were ten years younger we would have already gone further afield in our search but with age we have become more patient. One of these days, the right mirror will show up! 

Sunday after the church potluck, we popped into Marketplace Antiques to scour the store for things to fill those shelves with. I found a couple of things, all very unique, at least to me. Especially the purple spotted rhino that is heavy as can be.

One more thing we bought, all for very reasonable prices I might add, is this, what we have learned is called a Cage Santos doll. Or at least I think that is the order of words.

Kind of weird, right? That is why I love that store so much, you never know what you will find!

Another place I visited to find books, well duh, the library where when they are trying to get rid of books, they know the power of a deep discount! I paid one dollar for this stack!

While I was perusing the books for give away, I mean for sale, Matt rang on FaceTime and I went outdoors, sitting on a power box under a bright blue sky, we had a good long chat, that is until my phone died!  About a month from now we will be reunited after almost 1 1/2 years. Speaking of family, thank God for videos because being able to watch Christian take some early steps was so good. Unfortunately I cannot share a video here very easily, so you will have to trust me that it was adorable and did wrench my heart a bit that we are not there in person. That said, it won't be too much longer. He celebrates his first birthday on Thanksgiving Day. Time has flown, hasn't it?

It has been far too long since this site has hosted bird photos ,so let's remedy that right now, shall we?

We were driving by and I did not have the best camera with me, but it's still fun, isn't it?

While choosing the books, it did not occur to me that with my heavy camera bag, two bags of heavy books to walk home with might be a challenge. It was a little bit, but when the bluebirds landed in the tree as I was walking, I just set everything down on the ground, rummaged for my camera ,and we have bluebirds to admire!

To tell you the truth, I can't remember seeing a bunch of bluebirds together, otherwise known as a flock of bluebirds, but by golly here they are!

As to when I've seen a Myrtle Warbler before, maybe never?

Lastly, taken the same day as the warbler at Konehete Park, are the long shadows of winter, something that really appeals to me. You know I wanted to experience seasonal living and by golly, I am! 

Oops, one more bird photo of a Robin enjoying the berries on our neighbor's tree.

We are celebrating Thanksgiving a week early tomorrow at Soul Table and expecting a big crowd. Ham and turkey are on the menu, as are mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and something else. that I  can't remember. Most times I make a dessert to share but I'm thinking others will be helping with that leaving me free to concentrate on getting this blog post done!!! 

Fall, yep, that is why they call it fall.

The leaves on the tree above Bruce and David's neat work have no respect for that work and are finding their way to the ground as I type.

I will be back next week and if all goes according to plan, it will be on Tuesday!!

your friend,

Gail