11.28.2005

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Don says

Thanksgiving was great, we cooked a beef brisket.   I can't speak for anyone else but after half a century or so I've lost interest in turkey or ham for Thanksgiving.   Of course I'll snag a turkey, if there's a post holiday sale, to mesquite smoke but that one gets divided into small, manageable packets for the freezer and consumed at random times, whenever it sounds interesting, thoughout the year.

Among the many other benefits of a faster connection (we've had DSL for a few weeks now) we've just discovered internet radio.   This is seriously cool stuff y'all!   We both love blues and there are some really nice blues stations on the web.   I found a lot of webcasts with google but for one reason or another most of them didn't seem to play on my computer so I was pretty discouraged until I found this portal site:   http://www.ruv.net/webgrab/startat/ (which site is now defunct).   A couple of stations we've really enjoyed are the Atlanta Blues Society and BluesOnAir but KOQX (Editor's note: which, sadly, is no more) has become our favorite.   I'm sure we'll find other stations we like but for the time being we're getting enough blues for the first time in our lives and we love it *grin*.

Blues legend, John Lee Hooker

After sending this message to all my friends a few days ago, it occurred to me that I'd like to share it with my readers.

Subject: Thankful

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The older I get the more clearly I can
see what really matters in life. Material things, possessions, "stuff", is
of no real importance. The old cliché nailed it; "You can't take it with
you". That's how it is. Once you understand and accept this, you can see
that what really matters is people. Friends and family who share our lives.
Whether they're people with whom we interact on a daily basis , names and
faces we struggle to keep straight at reunions, or somewhere in between.
The thoughts and emotions we share with them are the only important things
we leave behind when we move on to the next plane.

Here it is Thanksgiving again and, as usual, I'm thinking about how
wonderful my life is and how fortunate I've been to enjoy so much true
wealth. I'm thankful.

May your life be filled with love, happiness, and true wealth.

Don Crowder
http://www.don-guitar.com

I like Lisa's plants even though I don't know much about them so when she expressed some concern over getting them through the winter I figured I could manage to build a small greenhouse.   I think it came out pretty good, what say?

Lisa says

Our mini-greenhouse.  It might be nice to
join the plants on a winter afternoon.

There was an early freeze about a week ago and we got some frantic calls for help from people who weren't ready.   Well, I wasn't ready either so the plants came in the house temporarily. Don rectified the situation and built this structure for my plants.   We can't decide whether it's an overgrown cold-frame or a short greenhouse but it will do the job.   The walls are covered with plastic on both sides, so there's an air-pocket for insulation and the whole thing, when the six sections are unscrewed, can be easily stored in the shed to minimize wear while it's not in use.  One neat little touch is that we dipped the latch, made of wood, into paraffin to make it waterproof.

We're enjoying the beginning of the holiday season, seeing and talking to more family than we expected to, and loving it.   Life is good.