Happy Thanksgiving for Us and the Birds

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at David and Tami's.  Tami's brother, Jeff and his wife, Mary Jane and their son, Josh, were there as were Nancy, and Matt, Lindsay, and kids, and, of course, Michael and Jordan.  I took 3 pies   ( pumpkin..shown above, sour-cream lemon meringue, and a Granny Smith apple pie) and a sweet potato casserole.  I got the casserole recipe from the Deseret News where Jeanne Jones takes high calorie recipes and makes them less fattening, and everyone liked it.


Another Kai Story:  I was watching the kids while Lindsay and Matt were moving stuff last week.  The girls were watching a video, and Kai was eating a snack at the bar.  I told him that I loved his beautiful blue eyes, and he said, "Aunt Ancie's eyes are hazel."  So on Thanksgiving day I told Nancy what he'd said, and she said that they had discussed it when she had dinner with them the previous week.  I just can't get over what he retains for his age (barely 3).

We enjoy the finches (and sometimes the doves) who feed at our bird-feeders





Guenther spotted this bird perched in Phyllis Suzuki's tree.  He thought it was an owl, but my zoom lens shows a hawk.  We figure he was waiting for a "finch" snack.

More Snow Photos (Our Second Real Snowfall)

On Tuesday the 23rd of November, the airways were filled with dire warnings of a blizzard to hit around 4 p.m. in the afternoon and commuters were advised to leave work early.  Sure enough it hit hard and heavy as predicted.
This is how the field looked at 3 p.m.
  This is when the storm came in around 5 p.m.  I was thankful when Nancy called to tell me that she was at home safe and sound.  Because of the warnings, many people left work early and school had early closures, so there weren't many auto accidents.

I took these shots the next day.  This is the corn field that I photographed earlier this month.

First Snow of the Season

Last week we had our first real snow.  We've had a few skiffs earlier, but this is the first snow that stuck.

The sunsets are so lovely.

Our English Walnut tree

I love this English Walnut tree.  It's leaves are a beautiful green in summer and a glorious gold in the fall.  I snapped this photo on Monday, the day after my Favorite Day of the Year.  Oh, Christmas and Thanksgiving are wonderful days alright, but the Fall-Back Day when we get an extra hour as we switch back to mountain standard time just feels so great..I believe because I have always been a slowpoke, I'm usually pressed for the time to do all I'd like.  Wish every day was "Fall-Back" day.

And, two mornings later, after a cold blustery wind, this is how the tree looked.

I'm happy that I read on the internet how to harvest and dry the lovely walnuts.

visiting Antelope Island

Jordan and Giselle paid us a visit on Thursday.  After lunch, we drove over to Antelope Island.  I was amazed at how low the lake is.  One has to hike a ways to get to the water from the beach houses.  We enjoyed seeing all the bison..mostly bulls I believe..they had a roundup earlier and penned up all the females and calves for inoculations, etc.

A walk down our country road

I love these views of the field corn that we saw this week when we took a little walk down the dirt road behind the house. Fall is quickly coming to an end..note the snow on the mountain tops. Guenther says that it feels good  to be able to stroll without the lower back and hip pain that he used to have.  Maybe it's all the fresh air.

Spooked

The doorbell rang last Saturday night, and Clifford the Big Red Dog cried, "Trick or Treat! Smell my feet. Give us something good to eat." When they stopped by this evening (one week later), Kai immediately asked very sweetly did I have some more candy.