It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas trees in the parking lots

Decorations on the street lights

Candy canes in the grocery stores

Carols play in the restaurants

My mom has all her presents bought

Her tree is up, and the stockings hung

My children are counting down the days

until the Thanksgiving holiday.

Wait                                 What?

“It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Soon the bells will start”

And the wonder to me is that

It isn't Thanksgiving yet

At least not on my chart

My Little Sweetheart

My little sweetheart

          sleeping in the car.

Running errands all day,

          driving near and driving far.

Buckle-up, unbuckle,

          and buckle-up again.

An interrupted nap time,

           Somehow you found your zen.

by: Paula Dean Nevison

Rose Apple Pie

This is the rose apple pie that I baked last night. I used a combination of these two recipes, plus a sprinkle of ground cloves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3etVsU6B_Lg
http://www.blueberryoctopie.com/2011/11/rose-apple-pie.html

Apple Pies

My sister-in-law and I made Dutch Apple Pies today.

We used my grandmother's pie crust recipe,

and my mother-in-law's pie recipe.

I baked this one.

She took one home to bake.

I have 3 in the freezer to bake at

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

My daughter wants a rose apple pie.

It is in the oven right now.

We will eat pie tonight.

gray car

stopped at the light –

long pink eyelashes

-Paula DeanNevison

dog walking me,

cute scarecrow by a mailbox

startles her

         -Paula Dean Nevison

“No”vember Update

Since it is easier to change a habit than to break a habit. I have been trying to substitute healthy foods for unhealthy foods.

The first couple of days were difficult, but I'm okay now. Celery sticks were my easy immediate substitute for chips. (And by chips, I mean potato chips, tortilla chips, cheetos, doritos, fritos, etc.) Celery gets boring, and the last stalk I bought was bitter. So, I've started peeling and slicing carrots & apples in the moring too. I also bought grapes.

Ice water, lots of ice. I keep it conveniently near.

I let my kids eat the Halloween candy, a little at a time, in their lunches each day. It's gone now. I'm glad I don't have to look at it anymore. But I'm not intending to torture them, so I baked banana bread for a little treat to put in their lunchboxes. I'm going to bake an apple something next because I have the apples for the Dutch Apple Pies that we make-ahead and freeze for the holidays.

I think I will survive, and not feel too deprived, this “No”vember.

Haiku

“Every haiku makes a common claim: I was there! Like Kilroy with his nose over the fence.”

 

“... haiku contain a moment in time caught in the amber of the poet's attention and the poem's words. It is the only genre fully devoted to setting down a simple observation in the here-and-now so as to produce in the reader a little gasp. In honoring small events by italicizing moments in time, haiku should remind us of the multitude of forgotten moments, past and present, that surround each perfectly arrested one. The stop-time instant at the heart of haiku might be said to offer resistance to the remorseless powers of forgetfulness.”

 

midday heat
soldiers on both sides
roll up their sleeves

- Lenard D Moore

filling the grave

more earth

than will go back in

- David Cobb

Zeus by recently buried Maximus

at the edge of the precipice     I grow logical
     -George Swede

Why Must We Rake These Leaves?

poem by:  David Moloney

I stood in the rows of stones
sitting in growing columns,
as the trees littered the carefully laid
orange and white wreathes with
dying leaves.
Pink chrysanthemums root
readying for winter.

I question
why must we do these things;
the dishes,
brush our teeth,
wear clothes,
paint the baseboard,
return things borrowed,
fix the handle on the drawer.

the sink may stink,
but the flies well fed.
bad breathe brings distance,
but distance breeds fondness.
and no one asks a nudist hermit
to lose weight.

These leaves within these stones tuck
a blanket over the raw Earth,
readying for winter,
keeping warm the maggots and beetles.

With the shadow of the raised
scythe looming over us all,
it’s silhouette shrinking as the sun
leaves us

I ask why,
Why must we rake these leaves?

November Flower, Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum, which stands for cheerfulness and love, is associated with the month of November. According to Feng Shui, Chrysanthemums brings happiness and laughter in the house.

“No”vember

After finding out about aspartame, in an effort to be healthier, I declare this to be the first day of “No”vember. No candy, no chips, no pop, no alcohol. My husband said something about no caffeine, but he can do that without me.

Fruit instead of candy. Instead of chips, I'm going to look through my recipe books and see if I can cook something we will enjoy that will contain less salt, yet still satisfy like chips. Water instead of pop and alcohol. To make water more fun, I've pulled out from the cupboard, and washed, some of the fancy glassware we never use.

This will clean up our diet before the holidays. Then we can enjoy them, Thanksgiving and all the Christmas cookies, with moderation. If we can follow through with “No”vember, January can be the start of a New Year instead of another new diet.