Remember the Book of Lists by the Wallechinski-Wallace family? It was a big hit when it first came out in 1977 and contained lists of all kinds of obscure subjects like the breeds of dogs that were most likely to bite to people suspected of being Jack the Ripper. They have published four more list books since then, although it's been years (maybe decades) since I've seen one. I like lists as a way to help organize my thoughts and as a way to remember things. So today, I'm going share some random lists that are bouncing around in my head.
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| When I wasn't making lists, Ward and I took a walk at a local Audubon bird sanctuary yesterday. |
What we had for Thanksgiving Dinner:
1. Smoked turkey
2. Make ahead mashed potatoes
3. Cuban cranberry sauce
4. Ward's stuffing, June's stuffing (Ward and I grew up with very different kinds of stuffing, so we made some of each.)
5. Roasted butternut squash and peppers
6. Green bean casserole
7. Apple pie
The names of all of the Tawney-Shreve kids:
For a few years when I was growing up, we had a large family living across from us who had nine kids. Just for the heck of it, I've been trying to remember all of their names in birth order.
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| Jimmy of onion-eating fame. June Ann liked to eat them that way, too. |
1. Sissy (Shelia)
2. Sheryl
3. Jimmy (Rhonda, who liked to eat raw onions like they were apples)
4. June Ann (skinny, cross-eyed girl who later became a model)
5. Sharon
6. Billy
7. Bobby
8. Richard
9. John (named after his dad).
The mother, Opal, was living in her mother's tiny house with her second husband. I didn't understand it all, but I knew that they were all afraid of the first husband/father. I am so lucky that just across the street, I lived with a very stable family and no one was afraid (except maybe when we didn't do our chores or do something we shouldn't have).
Countries I've visited outside of the US:
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| Wally celebrated his 1st birthday in Guatemala with his great-grandmother and others. |
2. Guatemala-visiting Ward's relatives
3. The Netherlands-with with Ward on a business trip, The first Gulf War started when we were there and getting a plane back became iffy, but obviously it worked out.
4. Brussels-an excursion from the Netherlands, a lot of good French cooking there
4. Japan-visited Miss Landers who was working there.
I think travelling outside of the country is very important because it gives a different perspective on how the rest of the world lives. It has helped me realize how thankful I am that I was born in the US. With all of that being said, I don't have the travel bug and am a happy to explore what is around me close by.
On my To Do list for today:
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| This picture is from a couple of weeks ago when there were still some flowers around that had survived the frosts we'd had. Now they're pretty much all dead. |
2. Pick turkey carcass and make soup
3. Help Ward put up Christmas lights
4. Start writing Christmas letters
5. Finalize gift list
Well, these lists are not nearly as interesting as the ones in the Book of Lists, but it is a post to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking.
Until next time...
Love the picture of your shadow images.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with the book of lists but it's fun to read yours. Mine for today: 1) put up indoor Christmas decorations 2) put up the tree 3) put up outdoor decorations (hurray for nice weather!) 4) bake cookies for tree-decorating party later tonight 5) vacuum up all the detritus from our decorating spree. So, along the way with my chores today, I discovered that half our our Christmas tree lights don't light. Hubby tried to fix them but I think they are beyond repair. Not the best news in the middle of a pandemic on a crazy busy shopping weekend. I did have 2 strands of lights which I thought were electrical but are battery operated. I went to Target to get the right size batteries .... they work well but aren't long enough to fit on the whole tree. I can't find what I want in the local stores and frankly don't want to stand in the long long lines, so I decided it was time to get creative. Back when we got married 19 years ago, before all the twinkle lights that are so popular now were a "thing", I took a strand of white lights and put white silk flowers around the bulb and we used it as part of our wedding decorations. I discovered that they still work, so between the floral lights and my other 2 strands, we have enough to make the tree look ok. Very grateful I have those and thought to use them!
Anyway, enjoy picking away at your to-do list! Glad you had a good Thanksgiving.
The picture is good because the scene was so good. It had been cloudy all day, but late in the afternoon when we were there, the sun came out and put a warm glow over everything. That combined with the fact that we were entirely alone made it almost magical.
DeleteIt sounds like a lot of fun Christmas activity happening at your house today. We got the lights out for the outside of our house and had problems with bad strings, also. We gave up and went to the local Ace Hardware and got some replacement strings. Small store and not many people.
Later, we had a trip to the recycling center and decided to see how crowded other stores were because we had a list for several things. We were pleasantly surprised when we found Costco not too bad, Aldi's with not many people at all, and Staples with no other customers. So we were in and out and got more errands done that we thought we would.
Oh, I love lists! I am not familiar with the book of lists you mentioned, but, I enjoyed reading your lists! And, I think I've finally figured out your name is June! I remember seeing it on a link to a recipe you posted, earlier, but, I wasn't sure if it was your name or not! Ha, ha, I'm a bit slow on the uptake, aren't I? My mother was one of nine siblings and her mother was the oldest of 14! I was taken to visit Japan when I was a child - my parents took a family cruise with 3 of my half brothers and me and there were several ports of call along the way including Singapore, Burma (back when it was Burma), South Vietnam, and Hong Kong; later, I visited Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, and England. My to do list for today includes dealing with some Thanksgiving leftovers, too! Hope you have a lovely weekend.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. June is my blog name. My family uses the characters from the TV show, "Leave It to Beaver", for our aliases, thus Ward, June, Wally, Theodore (the Beaver). Other people I refer to regularly are other characters from the show: Miss Landers, Aunt Martha, Uncle Billy, Mary Ellen, etc.
DeleteYou have the special experience of not only visiting other countries, but living in different countries with very different cultures. I think that makes you a wise woman in a lot of ways.
I've heard of the TV show, but haven't watched it (grew up without TV services) and am not familiar with it. Which is my excuse for not making the connection to the names you've used to refer to your family! As I said, earlier, I'm a bit slow on the uptake! :D Thank you for explaining it to me!
DeleteWell, I'm sure if you feel like your life is not complete unless you see an episode of Leave it to Beaver, I think it's been in reruns continuously since the 60's. :) That's where I've seen it over the years. I had TV when I was growing up, but we only got one channel for much of the time.
DeleteI sort of remember that book.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun and interesting reading. The perfect bathroom book. :)
DeleteAh, now I know who Miss Landers actually is!
ReplyDeleteI still have my Tokyo Giants hat (and it actually fits better now, than it did then) and tiny, hard plastic Godzilla, but he, regrettably, no longer emits sparks. Plush Godzilla with the Hawaiian shirt was a respected member of the family for a long time and was often used to confuse Bubba and Kudzu, our late cats. Plush Godzilla went on to another home with young kids, but the Hawaiian shirt outlasted him here. However, it may be in the rag bag. I always appreciated your gifts from the Japan journey!
You have put two and two together correctly.
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