What a nice way to finish out a work week and the month of November.
Another new place for my cat to land, during the day.
She loves watching me in the morning and sometimes, in the evening.
This happened to be in the middle of the afternoon, during Thanksgiving weekend.
It always amazes me, if she gets up there when I do not hear her.
She is suddenly at my eye level...as in this photo.
Such a cute kitty.
My neighborhood is directly next to my Church.
One of the closest houses in the development, is by the entrance to the Church itself.
Well, I am not sure what they are building in the back yard of that nearby house, but it is totally being framed in steel.
Our houses are stick built, so I truly wonder about this one.
I did not want to disturb Mass (yes one of the best views was through the window of the Church), so I waited until I was outside.
Sorry, it is not the best photo of the steel framing.
We shall see what it turns out to be. A garage? A storage unit for a camper? A granny house?
Only time and luck, will tell.
Another year, another light display.
I don't have a wide eyed Son around anymore and he didn't comment for many years, so who knows.
I like to think that there are other wide eyed children, who get that spark of excitement from seeing a neighborhood filled with lights.
So we still decorate.
As usual, it came out pretty darn nice and very similar to last year.
You can see that display, HERE.
I have made Persimmon Cookies in the past, though not in the past few years.
Someone at work brought in about 15 Fuyu Persimmons (the ones that you don't have to let ripen) and so I took 3 to make some cookies.
We are having a cookie exchange on Wednesday and I thought I might bring some of them with me.
I will save me and the Hubby some, of course.
This was my original Persimmon post from 2014 and it includes the recipe, if you are into such things.
Obviously this year's batch has not yet been iced.
They look good enough to me, but I will ice some of them.
My Water Post For Today.
After a few weeks off, I once again bring you to our trip down the Hudson River.
This time we are in Albany, NY.
The Livingston Avenue Bridge crosses the Hudson River and connects Albany and Rensselaer, NY.
From what I just read, it is not in great condition and that is why I managed to get some decent photos.
The speed limit on the bridge is 15 MPH.
It was just about sunset, so the photo is not very bright...but you get the idea.
It made me think of the fact that after a long day, we were finally getting toward NYC.
Just a few hours to go.
I hope you enjoy.
Yesterday was Hubby's Birthday.
I invited my Magic Son to come along and then when I got a request from another friend of my real Son, I added her to the dinner plans.
We appreciated having some get together time and celebrating my Husband's birthday.
My birthday gift to him, was that we booked a cruise to Alaska, for next year.
Please don't ask me how we are going to pay for this.
It should be fun.
We did manage to talk to our Son on Thanksgiving and find out how things are going, as winter settles in, in Michigan.
He said that it was 20 degrees out and that he had put his snow tires onto the car.
He was one of 3 employees in his area, so that any work that came in this week, went to one of the three of them. It was busy.
He ended up spending Thanksgiving with Chris' Family and friends.
He made stuffed Mushrooms, a la Mama. :-)
They fried a turkey for dinner, which seemed a bit scrawny, but I am sure it was good.
Glad he was not alone and of course, it was great talking with him.
So our Thanksgiving was quiet, but good.
We did indeed barbecue our 2 thick steaks and they came out delicious.
The Cranberry Conserve was sweeter than it had been the night before, but it went well with the steak.
We ended up putting half into the freezer, for Christmas.
We went shopping today and landed a fresh turkey for a good price. Put it into the freezer for Christmas (see I told you we would not go through the season without another turkey. :-)
As the day passed, Makenna kept us amused with her posing on the ottoman.
She looks like an Egyptian Cat, in this photo.
What is the deal with that? :-)
Hope your holiday was peaceful.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Thanksgiving is a family and friend holiday, when people get together to celebrate the fact that food and family are the most important things.
They travel such long distances, in horrid traffic, to gather.
We did that for many years, but this year will be different.
On the last Sunday before he left, my Son asked us to cook him a Thanksgiving dinner.
My Husband and I bought things, week after week, hoping that what he wanted, he truly wanted.
We finally asked him on the Friday before, if this was still something he wanted us to do for him.
His answer was a firm YES!
It was not as wonderful as it could have been. The rolls were canned, instead of home made, but that was fine.
He enjoyed it and we ate the leftovers most of last week.
To say the least, turkey is not a wanted thing, this Thursday...so we will barbecue some nice thick steaks instead, (since we are not ham types).
My Son will be going to his friend's (from EcoCar2) house, so hopefully it will be a good day for him, too.
As I said, family and friends make the holiday.
A traffic friend of mine put up a recipe that they will be serving, on Thanksgiving Day.
It is called Cranberry Conserve and both my Husband and I think it might work for our dinner.
Since we are having steak, I am trying to get into the holiday mood by having Sweet Potatoes and maybe these.
Here is the recipe.
Cranberry Conserve
1 12oz pkg fresh cranberries
1 C light brown sugar
1 C chopped toasted walnuts
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 C orange marmalade
1/2 C raisins or Craisins
Preheat oven to 350F
Toss cranberries and brown sugar in a bowl, toss to combine, place in a baking dish or foil pan and cover with foil. Stir after 30 minutes and bake for about 1 hour.
Add walnuts, lemon juice, raisins, and marmalade to the cranberry mixture and stir. Bake for 15 more minutes and let cool.
(a note from Susie's sister:)
I think this usually fills about 2 of those 2 cup Ziplock twist and lock smaller containers...it is usually enough to take one to PA for Thanksgiving and keep one here. It keeps well in the fridge and even freezes well.
On Sunday, my cat decided to not only enjoy my new blankie, she began kneeding on it.
Claws and all!
She is totally in her own world, in this photo...and totally happy, too.
I keep the throw up above the couch, when I am not using it.
Otherwise someone is going to take it from me.
My Water Post For Today.
I saw this photo by William McCabe, on Long Island Sunsets and Beyond and could not resist posting it.
Especially since I have mentioned being a Girl Scout leader and bringing our Junior Troop to Tobay Beach.
I must admit that I never saw sunsets that look this good, when we were camping there...but who cares.
I hope you enjoy.
In High School and then in my 2 year college, I shot archery.
In High School, my Sister and I were on the Archery Team.
The first year my team won every game...except the one we played against Manhasset. They were a wealthy town and had competition bows. Oh well.
The second year we won every game...except the two we played against Manhasset. I assume you are getting the idea here.
The third year (which I thankfully did not compete, though my Sister did), we lost three and all of them were against Manhasset.
We loved the sport, anyway.
In college I took an archery class and won the award of best female shooter.
I didn't touch a bow, since that last class...but I wanted to, badly.
The other day I read an article in our local paper about a group of people who had approached the City of Santa Clarita. Land was provided to them, for an archery range and the soft launch was yesterday.
I was super busy, but I managed to spend an hour at this new (totally out of the way) range and shoot 2 sets of archery.
My car is dusty, but the girl still has it.
Two bullseyes on my second set.
Hopefully, I can carve a small amount of time and get in some shooting.
I haven't owned my 2006 Saturn for 2 1/2 years, but I do know that just before I sold it, the radio display was starting to go bad on me.
I have never had my 2007 do what my car did, but suddenly the display on my radio stopped lighting up. So we could not see the time (muy importante!) or the Radio Station/CD Track.
My Son took it to Long Beach last Monday and when I drove it on Thursday, the display was better.
So I took this photo and sent it to him, asking if he fixed it, while he was out here.
He then informed me that it repaired itself (for now, at least) on the way down to Long Beach.
I am sorry that it is going the same way as my other car, though it should not surprise me.
They were built about 4 months apart.
I received a text message on Sunday.
"Do you still have the Harry Potter Books?"
So I went into the den and photographed what I thought was the collection of books.
After I sent it, I asked, "How many were there?"
He answered me that there were 7.
OK then, I think I need to look around some more, since all I see are 6.
I seemed to remember that when we were recycling books to the Library, we came across a Harry Potter book and that I put it back on the bookcase.
So I looked at the nutcracker and there it was...sitting on that top shelf, since the bookcase was filled.
My Son informed me that he had not read the series for 20 years and he wants to do so, as an adult.
So somehow, in his luggage, he managed to fit 7 very heavy books in there.
I was shocked that they made it and they are now living in Michigan.
Wonderful memories reading these books with him and then watching him read them on the floor of my office, during summer breaks.
Things you never forget.
A new perk at work from our benevolent overlords.
The last time I had coffee that was part of the work environment, was back in 1982.
I was working for KCET Newsbeat with Clete Roberts and we had Gaviña Coffee service. We were a real news operation and we had coffee, hot chocolate and soup, for those days when we worked late at night. Shortly after I arrived, the money ran out and along with the lack of money, went the coffee.
So it has been 36 years or so, that I had to bring my own tea.
On Monday of this week, our new combined organizations began bringing coffee and creamer.
The PBS SoCal employees get this normally and so we have been granted this same benefit.
I am not much of a coffee drinker, but the thought does count with me.
Thanks so much for thinking of us.
“Let our country — our nation’s citizens, our Democratic Party, my fellow elected officials all over the country — let them all cast their eyes toward the heartland, to the industrial Midwest, to our Great Lakes state, you showed the country that progressives can win — and win decisively — in the heartland, [and] that by putting people first and by honoring the dignity of work, we can carry a state Donald Trump won by nearly 10 points.”
Those were the words that I basically read to my Husband on Election Night.
This was a piece of a very well written speech, that hits all the reasons that I follow Senator Brown.
He is being ASKED more and more, if he would be willing to run for President in 2020.
I don't think that ultimately, he will...but I think that he will be involved in it.
I truly believe that if he had been on the Democratic ticket in 2016, we would have won that election. Tim Kane made no sense to me and actually gave me these weird vibes. There was just something "off" about him.
No matter, it is a new day and a new time and the party has to pick itself up and move on. To a certain extent we have...but there is much more work to be done.
May Sherrod Brown help make that possible.
When we visited the MTA Building on Thursday, we saw an exhibit on the wall.
It is the story of one of the murals that lives in the Union Station subway.
I just checked and it does not seem to be present on this Blog, so you will have to figure it out, from these photos.
This first photo has a picture of what they eventually created in tile. It is on the far right.
You also see in the center, the hiker done in pencil, with the tile colors marked on him.
The last photo on the left, is also the first one on the second photo.
The second photo shows the full painting of the mural itself, is on the far right.
The center of the photo shows a sketch of the hiker again and the lady sitting on the far right in the work.
On the far left, is an example of how the lady's face will look in tile.
All in all a fascinating look, at how a tile mural is created.
An FYI, I happen to love the work and where it is located in Union Station.
My Water Post For Today.
My Brother-in-Law took some photos about two months ago, when he provided audio for a car show at the Vanderbilt Museum.
I believe I may have visited this location, to watch Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. They have a Planetarium on site and since I know of no others on Long Island, I think I have been here.
It is located in Centerport, on the North Shore of Long Island, where the very rich lived in the 1800's.
The water you are viewing, is Northport Bay.
Quite a lovely place and very worthy of a water post.
Thanks, Geoff, for thinking of my humble blog.
I hope you enjoy.
It seems that the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald follows my life...
While we were visiting our Son in Detroit, we visited the GM RenCen.
Right next to the huge complex, is the Church immortalized in the song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Mariner's Church is right outside the building and across the street, as you can see in this photo, (not a great photo since I was in a moving car, but one does what one can).
43 years ago, yesterday, the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior, not far from the closed Soo Locks, that allow transport between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.
The ship was headed to Detroit, when it went down.
From Wikipedia: "Reverend Richard Ingalls, then the pastor of Mariners’ Church on Jefferson Avenue, came to the church early November 12 to commemorate the loss of lives, the worst ever on the Great Lakes, by ringing the church “brotherhood bell” 29 times. The act is forever known in Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”"
In a rustic old hall in Detroit they prayed,
In the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral.
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
This photo was taken on Friday Morning.
The fire broke out on Thursday evening, just after we got home from Downtown L.A.
From a mild Santa Ana wind to 2 raging fires in the West Valley and Ventura County, it all changed in a matter of moments.
I have a work friend who ran home as soon as she heard about it. So far her house is good, but neighborhoods on either side of her, are not so lucky.
I have a friend of my Son's who evacuated at Midnight last evening. No idea if the place where she lives is still standing.
When I look at where these fires have gone, it is a huge footprint and spreading to the beach in Malibu.
Yes, we have been down this road before, but it never gets any easier.
I took a half day off and we went to Langer's for a late lunch.
Being we took the subway to Downtown, I asked if I could go to the MTA Building, to fix a problem I had with transferring $17 from an old card, to my new one.
The guys were OK with that and actually my Son had an old expired card with some money on it, too.
So we went over to the MTA building.
After I took care of moving the money, we went outside and took some beauty shots of the structure.
In many ways, it so reminds me of The Empire State Building, due to it's nods to depression era artwork and Art Deco design elements.
These photos also show a more modern look, among the Deco elements. Like the palm trees, especially. :-)
The MTA spent a fortune building their monument to transportation.
$300 Million, to be exact.
I am not sure if that is what they should have done, but the result is stunning.
If you are interested, you can read more about it, HERE.
Back when Congress tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I emailed my congressman, Steve Knight.
I told him that his constituents were using this and as a matter of fact, my Son and my Magic Son were both on it.
I told him that I was sure the residents of Lancaster and Palmdale were using it and the children in Simi Valley were using it, too.
In other words, there were many children who had aged out of their parents healthcare and didn't have anything without the ACA (think the gig economy).
I know that the poor, veterans, older people who lost their jobs before they were eligible for Medicare were involved and using the ACA, too.
In other words, he needed to vote no on the repeal, so that he served his district.
I ended up emailing him two times, and when he voted to repeal it, I sent him one more message.
It basically said that his vote was going to bring him down, come Election Day.
He sent me this very detailed 3 page letter (pages 2 and 3 are below, if this interests you).
Well, Election Day came and whereas normally we get no traction in this very Republican District (Gerrymandered to keep it Republican, BTW).
This time, he lost and the Red District that never is anything but Red, has now flipped to Democrat and newcomer, Katie Hill.
31 years old, she is going to Washington for us and I can't be prouder of her.
Don't blame her and her money for your loss, Steve, it was your vote against the ACA that killed you.
Enjoy returning to Lancaster.
On Monday I was invited to accompany my Other "Magic" Son to the IATSE 695 Sound Local, to witness his swearing in.
We got there with 15 minutes to spare and promptly found out that there would be no swearing in happening that day.
He just got to fill out paperwork and pay them an outrageous initiation fee in the thousands of dollars.
The money and application go to the International and after they approve him joining, he will get the swearing in.
Still, pretty cool and I hope this gets him more lucrative work, moving forward.
There has been so much talk of how States are trying to take away voter's rights.
As they say in many places on the Internet, if it wasn't important, they wouldn't be trying to do it.
Even if you are not sure what to do, check online (there are places to do that). Read a newspaper...most of them give their thoughts on offices and propositions. You are welcome to not agree with them, but at least it's a place to start.
But whatever you do, exercise your right today.
My Water Post For Today.
After we passed Plattsburgh, New York, we followed Lake Champlain.
It is quite a large lake, and very serene.
It took quite a while to pass it.
My Husband and I once took a ferry from Burlington, VT to Kent, NY.
It ended up the ferry season was over and so our train did not stop there.
Too bad, for me.
A nice view and very welcome.
I hope you enjoy it.
In good news for us, we got everyone we invited, to attend the birthday party for my Son.
My Magic Son finished work at 3AM in the morning, so he made it to the party, too.
I had arranged with the waitress at Saugus Cafe, to serve the Birthday Cake I was bringing and she happily did so.
She even had candles, for the cake.
I forgot them, in the rush to get there before the others arrived.
I made sure she got tipped well, for her help to make the event wonderful.
All in all, we all had a good time.
I got this photo on Friday afternoon.
It looks like my charm bracelet is indeed making another Girl Scout happy.
In her case, the ballet slipper is just the icing on the cake, since she is a dancer. (BTW, I always wanted to be a ballerina...oh well).
All that I have become, is from Girl Scouting and it is a great way to learn so many skills.
Especially the fact that it can empower women, something that is needed in these times.
But for me it was always camping and all the fun that it brings.
Enjoy the ride, little one.
The photo is from the 60's and so is the bracelet.
That is me (all the way on the upper right of the photo), my first year at sleep away camp...at Camp Edey.
I loved being in The Girl Scouts and over the years, I collected many things.
One of them, was this bracelet.
I don't remember all the particulars of the bracelet, though it goes back to the 50's according to the Ebay site I checked out.
Our council had a store in Gertz (which was a Department store that anchored a shopping center called Mid Island Plaza) and my Mom would bring us to buy our uniforms and badges.
I remember falling in love with this bracelet. I don't know if I had any money to buy the bracelet and the six charms that you could add, or if my Mom took pity on her daughter and bought it for me, but I have always loved it.
2 of the charms moved into my Printer's box in the living room of my house, along with my nametag from Camp Edey.
The rest languished in my jewelry box...for decades.
Just before the trip to NYC, I thought about giving it to our friend's son, who has a daughter who is just into the age where things like that matter.
I never did find it, in time for the trip, but I did this past weekend.
The Mom thinks her daughter would love to have it and show it off at her meetings.
So the two charms were reunited with the rest of the bracelet and off it goes to Queens...sort of where it all started.
I hope it all ends well.
Hopefully you have survived Halloween...next up, The Day of the Dead.
I have been holding this photo in my blog for months now.
I thought it was cute and figured I would use it on the Day of the Dead.
Guess what, Day of the Dead seems to run for 3 days in the United States...but what do I know.
What I do know is that in the Catholic Religion we have All Saints Day on November 1st and then All Souls Day on November 2nd.
All Souls Day is for all the billions and billions of people who didn't get to sainthood.
What many people do, is go to the cemetery where their loved ones are buried and they have a picnic at the graves.
Not my thing, but I can't fault people for remembering their loved ones, at this time of the year.
If you partake, enjoy the holiday.
