I'm So Far Behind...

... but I thought the best thing to do would be to just start with a bit of a narrative, tell you how things are going in my life for the moment.
  Right now, listening to Pandora, radio station Enya... and Phillip Wesley is playing Lamentations of the Heart.  Nice music to write to.  And now Breathe  by Greg Maroney.  I'm also having my dinner - a left over turkey sandwich.  I love left over turkey!
  So... as I've told you before, last week was the end of Leaf Season.  Of course, for some "Leaf Season" means oooh's and aaah's to the pretty colors.  For me, it means falling leaves and lots of work, and it's even worse in November because Michigan is one of the states that seem enamored with Daylight Savings Time.  I'm good with the summer time hours and really would just prefer they leave things alone come winter, but who am I.  The end result, though, is that it gets dark at about 5:00.  And, of course, it's cold.... and dark... and suddenly what I've enjoyed doing is less enjoyable by far.
  But, that is over.... and I went up to see Mom and Dad.  I managed a few pictures...

This is looking out the front window.  Too lazy to put shoes on...

Gracie wouldn't let me sleep in, of course.  Too many squirrels needing to be educated about the ways of the world that includes hyper dogs, I guess.  I swear those poor things have PTSD group meetings after we go home.  And, speaking of muttley....

... here she is quite obsessed with the Purina Dog Show.  She stood like that for 30 minutes.  I never did find out which one she thought was the 'best in show'.  And, yes, those are my big clods sticking into the middle of the picture.  Sorry.
  That little pine tree/bush is a Norway Pine that I bought Mom last year at Thanksgiving.  How she manages to keep these plants alive baffles me.  Obviously not something that came to me in the gene mix.  And, as you can see, Mom loves to knit.  
  We had a really good time.  I didn't get much done while up there.  I did manage to help Dad get the snow blower attachment on his tractor.  That dang thing weighs a ton and I spent more time on the cold ground than I would have liked.  Mostly, it was a good family time trip, and I was probably about a day long -- began to get a bit edgy, ya know?  I read a lot on my Kindle and Gracie had a really fun time every minute.
  Monday night, home again,  I again touched base with my friend and neighbor who brings her dog over for playtime with Gracie, then we take them for a walk - mostly from mailbox to mailbox.  I think I posted a short video of the dogs playing???  Here It Is  Anyway, when the dogs got done chasing each other around the yard we took them for a walk in the neighborhood.  I got a couple pics of a house that is just beautifully decorated.  My camera is a cheap one, and worse is that I have no idea how to use it, so these didn't come out anywhere near as good as standing there. 

These folks really did a nice job.  I wish the pictures showed better.

So, that catches you up on the interesting things going on in my life.  The rest of my life has been the grudging necessity of going back to work after four days off, to a mess no less, and the common household chores of cleaning and laundry and normal junk like that.  I like living alone, but it can be a chore sometimes!  Somebody in this house makes a mess....

I'm hoping to be more active now that the weather is cold and there is no extra work for me.  I'd hoped to find a second part-time job, but that isn't going so well yet.  But I would like to be able to spend a bit of time catching up with every one's blogs that I've been missing, write some letters I'm late on, and relax, so I guess I can coast on things for a bit.

I do hope your Thanksgiving - for those of you in America who celebrate it, and for others who don't, that your weekend was nice.  

Hugs!