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...
