let the joyous news be spread

it's FRI-DAY!

and

there are only 36 more days until Christmas.

Let it be said.

I am GLAD soccer is over.

It was FUN!!

(I will miss it a little)

I am ALSO glad Marching Band is over.

Those are GOOD times.

*

ALSO good is 

the season of more down-time 

and even possibly some book-reading.

The Great One

When my sister and I went off to college, we were the first kids/grandkids to go so far away from home.  We had GREAT support from family and extended family.  I remember really relying on the mailbox for strokes of love from home.  Uncle David was very faithful--almost weekly he would send plain white envelopes with no return address and "TGO" in the upper left corner.  The intent was to remain anonymous, but we caught on quickly.  Inside would be a carefully clipped comic strip that he thought we would find funny.  Even after we deciphered TGO (The Great One) and figured out who the anonymous sender of the funnies was, the acronym stuck.  He really is great.  His smile, laugh and quiet (sometimes mischievous) sense of humor are definitely favorite things about Uncle David.

He passed away this morning after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.

Sleep In Heavenly Peace Uncle David.

I'll miss you

XO

college football, where the game is an aside

UMass Band Day.  

WoW! sums it up.

Can you spot Enrique?

Our marching band was part of the half-time multi-bands extravaganza; 

here they were lined up and waiting to perform.

Mesquite was there too 

doing her best fluting, 

alas I never did find her 

despite the monga-zoom lens.

It was a pretty fantastic way to end the season.

Don't ask me to do anything. My fingers are busy working out.

Am I crazy?
Am I mad?
Am I the one with nothing to do?
Oi.
I've been wanting to improve my piano performance skills for a long time.  In theory it's easy to think about; the hard reality is that it's quite another thing to execute the plan.
I've been playing organ and piano at church whenever the opportunity arises, and I've been trying to play spontaneously at home a little bit more.  I'm busy teaching piano lessons on the side.  So when the High School music teacher asked me (about a month ago) if I would accompany the choruses at their Holiday Concert in December, I said
"SURE!  I'd love to."
It'll be a challenge, I thought.  This is my chance to become better, I thought!
WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?
I'm getting cold feet.
Butterflies.
Stage fright.
Nervous fingers.
Performance Anxiety.
NAUSEATED.
But I'm determined.  And I'm kind of excited.
And now I'm going back to the piano to practice some more.

You must have an affinity towards rice pudding to fall in love with this idea.

And OH my goodness.
This is just about the best thing I've made in, days months years well, EVER.

I was hankering for a little something.
It was past lunch time, and there was no bread and no milk.
Not really knowing what I was hungry for, and not having much in the way of possibilities, I looked at the leftover rice from last night's dinner and THEN I saw the egg nog.  It was like it started communicating with me.

Crack an egg.
Whip it up (I used a fork) in an over-sized microwave-safe cereal bowl.
Add egg nog.  I didn't measure.  It probably made about a cup of liquid.
Whisk that up together, and sprinkle on some cinnamon and nutmeg.
Again, I'm sorry, but I didn't measure.  I was just going with the inspiration.

Here's where it got going.
I added enough rice to fill up about 3/4 of the bowl, and stirred it so the liquid incorporated itself into the rice.
Put the bowl in the microwave for 5 minutes on high.
Try not to touch it for about five more minutes, if you can stand it, because the bowl is HOT.

And then the food Gods smiled down upon me:  I was able to squirt just enough whipped cream out of the bottom of the can to cover the top of the--what shall we call this?--rice-y custard-y dream to make it my gift to myself.

You should try it.

My rock-star parents

I found this gem on my camera memory card this week.

Real Lookers.  Movers and Shakers.  Mom and Dad.

Those windshield-sized sunglasses are just to fool the paparazzi.

These two could totally have their own hit show.

After reading a paragraph of my dad's letter to my missionary son this week, I'm pondering what the name of their prime time thriller would be.  Check it out:

.........

This is what life has come to.  Wake up, put the dog out, stub your toe on something, take your pills, feed the chickens, clean the freezer.  Then comes the excitement.  Take a nap, wipe the counter, let the dog in, get the mail, do a cross-word puzzle, take a nap, get the eggs, let the dog out, check the temperature, pay some bills, fill the car with gas, let the dog in, check the calendar, take off my pajamas and put on my jeans and shoes, start a fire, read a while, let the dog out, watch some tv, get my pj’s back on, go to bed.  Dream about cowboy cookies and carrot cake with raisins.

.........

I know, right?!?