After an extended, month-long break from writing or illustrating of any kind, I find myself with some uninterrupted time to pick it up again. Brendan is trying out for Basketball this week. He has to be at school at 6:45 AM! If he makes the team, he'll have to get there at 6:30 every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I'm determined to make good use of the quiet time. By the end of Basketball season, I should have cranked out a novel, at least. The hardest part is getting out of bed. Once I'm up, I'm up. So let's get started with a quick blog entry.
Happy Thanksgiving - a little late! By now the leftovers should be just about gone. Mom made a 17 lb. turkey for the five of us to eat, because Bill wanted lots of leftover bird for sandwiches. True to his word, it's almost gone. I froze the rest of the stuffing and gravy for later. We had a great time baking and cooking in Bandera. The scenery in the hill country was particularly pretty this year, but of course I didn't take pictures. The weather was weird -warm with low clouds and HUMID! We came back in from our morning walks damp. I hardly had to take a shower.
Since it was just Thanksgiving, Id like to give thanks for a few things. In this economic climate, it may be tough to be thankful. But we are such a blessed nation. We have freedoms other countries can only dream of. We have the freedom to participate in an election process where each vote counts. We have the freedom to worship as we wish without fear of persecution. We are relatively free from fear that when we lay down at night, we will wake up in the morning in a safe place. I am personally thankful for a warm bed, food to eat, friends near and far, a wonderful extended family who all are well at this moment in time, and an amazing son, who continues to surprise me. Allow me to brag for just a moment.
Whether he makes the Basketball team or not, Brendan is distinguishing himself in other areas. His watercolor painting of a stingray was submitted to the Reflections contest, a fine arts competition with music, poetry, drama, etc... and was selected to go the next round of judging. We have the honor of going to the awards ceremony. Also, because of his perfect score on the English portion of the TAKS test, he has been invited to participate in Duke University's TIPS program of excelerated learning opportunities. In order to place him appropriately in the program, he will be taking the SAT this Saturday! He constantly goes above and beyond what is expected in assigned projects. And even though he says he doesn't want a "nerd" award, I think he would do well in the science fair with his tornado simulator. As you can see, I'm very proud. Okay I'm done.
This year, I am collecting the "must have" recipes from all Moehring family members to put into a cookbook. Brendan's favorite dish is Mom's cranberry sauce, and I still didn't have the recipe. In the book, I'm putting photos of holidays past. We spent a good portion of a morning looking through Mom's albums looking for family photos. The one you see above is of me at my new kitchen set. It's a great trip down memory lane, and brings up lots of great stories - fodder for my writing... which I need to get to now.
Hope this hasn't been too disjointed. I had lots of thoughts running around in my head.
Merry Christmas! May God unclutter your mind and put peace in your heart.
