Here's Me...

Thanksgiving II

Brett and Betsy came over for another turkey dinner, and John and I had a lot of fun making it. I forgot to get a photo of the dinner, but here are the pies: apple, lemon meringue, pumpkin, chocolate cream, and cherry (5/6ths of a pie per person). We played games and visited.
John and Chris put up the Christmas lights yesterday (it hadn't even snowed yet!) and we turned them on for the first time tonight. Now I have to get the tree up. This will be our first Christmas with kitties. I have a feeling they might be as much of a challenge to low-hanging ornaments as grandbabies are.

Skype

If your monitor doesn't have a built-in camera, you can buy a webcam for about $35. It takes organization to make sure you're both signed in to talk at the same time, but it's free, and the most fun thing (for me) is how it makes me feel like I'm living in Isaac Asimov days. Or the Jetsons. Amy and I talk for fun, with Jamison hovering in the background, and Betsy and I do business meetings on it, since we can call up files and email etc. at the same time. Google it. Obey your mother.

Thanksgiving Dinner in Grantsville

We are thankful for family who invite the poor bereft three of us to dinner when the rest of us are elsewhere. We are thankful for genuises to be with.

We are thankful for video games.

We are thankful for Bill's Africa room, which Alan shows off here. It is simply indescribable.

Farm Animals

Liz and Alan have some very pretty and furry cats, unlike our cat Claudio, who is more like a dog. He is sitting under my computer gnawing on my toes right this minute, as a matter of fact. Liz and Al also have some chickens, including this rooster, who Chris says looks like an 80's rocker. Note the straight, bleached, shoulder-length hair (with shorter topknot); the velvet-and-leather jacket, fringed at the elbows; and the beak of a nose. You have to imagine the strutting and the headbanging type motion. I remember in Chicago seeing a dance company do Mick Jagger's Little Red Rooster as a rocker, and it was hilarious.

Casa Verde

I made pies, went to some therapy appointments, and then we drove over to Casa Verde yesterday and stayed for the night. John had it all tidy, and cooked us tacos for dinner, and eggs and pancakes for breakfast, which we took over to Liz and Alan's to share.

Treatment of OCD

One of the things I do as part of my volunteer work for the Utah Psychological Association is organize periodic brown bag luncheons where psychologists and others present to their colleagues for an hour on their topics of expertise. Here is a link to one of the most interesting recently. Mandi and Dr. Owens came and both talked about the long and arduous process of recovering from severe OCD--it has been her idea to go public, as another way of confronting her fears.

An admirable young woman. I mentioned here how inspirational her presentation was.