THANKSGIVING 2006

Of all years to decide to do a fresh bouquet for the Thanksgiving table! It poured down rain all day with no let up, so I had to go out in it to collect flowers. I got soaked, but amazingly found some still really good stuff! I still had quite a few roses, hydrangea, and some incense Cedar for filler. Martha Stewart top that! (Wait till you see what my dad can do with a turkey carcass!) Good thing I have a big kitchen! When we were building this house, the framers did nothing but make fun of my huge kitchen and it's view. Wish they could see what a blessing it's been to our family over the last 15 years.

Does that look good or what? Are you drooling? No! Grandad, save some for the rest of us! Our Great Nephew, Benton, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner. He loved Great Aunt Marci's Cranberry Salad and kept wanting refills till his mom said no more. Next year I'll have to make sure to make plenty!
Thanksgiving day is a difficult day to try to celebrate your birthday. You're too full of Pumpkin Pie to enjoy your cake! But my sister, Sherri, and I, celebrating our 52nd and 53rd birthdays 2 days apart, did our best to enjoy hot, Pumpkin Spice cake in the late afternoon. Only 4 points Weight Watchers!

SUNRISE NOVEMBER 28TH AND YES, MORE SNOW!

Anyone up for relaxing on the park bench? It sure looks soft and cozy.

Zoomed in close-up of Mt. Pisgah. In the lower left of the picture is the orchard I keep an eye on from my kitchen window. It's beautiful year round.
Check Josiah's "Sunrise Sunset" blog for more snow pictures.

YES, WE GOT SNOW!

If you look closely you can see the lights on the house, and on the Blue Spruce below.

And yes, that is Cantina blooming again! Just when I thought she was finally done, another 3 buds appeared. They are a lot slower to open this time of year, but the first of the three started to unfurl in the snow of all things!! This is November 27th!! I think we'll have to rename her the Energizer Bunny!

FROM BROADWAY TO SINGING WITH THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE CHOIR!

Carissa, Dennis and I before the Broadway Show Saturday night, our last night in NYC! The Broadway Show that was included with our travel package was Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorites. I cry every time I see the movie, so I was wondering how I'd be with the live production. I cried of course!

Andrew, Jessi, Dennis, me, and Carissa excitedly waiting for the show to begin. You can see some of the rest of our group behind us.

The seminars at this years conference were taught by Jim and Carol Cymbala themselves-a real treat! What we learned was been just what we needed as our choir has been leaderless since August! Carol is an excellent choir director, who reads no music and so teaches every song with no written notes. It's a little hard to get used to at first for those of us who are used to reading music. She worked us hard for 4 hours at choir practice Friday night, but with the with worship, prayer, and testimonies mixed in, it flew by. And finally what we'd been looking forward to throughout the whole conference, the carrot at the end of the stick so to speak: Singing with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir during the Sunday service. You can't describe the feeling and the sound of singing praise to our Lord Jesus Christ with close to 1000 voices! Awesome!! Can't wait till Heaven!!!Look closely and you'll see me (right in the middle of the picture below) singing my heart out along with Tammy, our choir president on the left, and Russ, our former choir director on the right.Our welcoming committee! They were definitely glad to have us home. Sheba had to smell everything to see where all we'd been, and Bernard would rub and purr in between the dirty looks, as if to say "Please don't leave me again. I missed you!" It feels good to be missed...And as much as I loved NYC, it's good to be home!

CENTRAL PARK

Meet George and Sal. George is the horse of course. We started our 2 hour tour of Central Park with a long awaited carriage ride. I'd wanted one 2 years ago on our last trip to New York for the Brooklyn Tab Conference. So, finally this time my wish came true! It was so relaxing to just lean back and listen to the clip clop of the horse's hooves on the pavement, as the beauty of Central Park drifted by. Central Park is so beautiful, it's hard to pick just a few pictures to represent that beauty. But, one of our favorites is the Bow Bridge below.
And the other is the ivy covered Gapstow Bridge.
And of course any tour of Central Park isn't complete without a walk through The Mall. If you look closely you'll see that that is Carissa and Dennis walking away from the camera. Considering there are 800 acres in Central Park, I think we're going to have to return yet again. There is so much more I want to see, and 2 hours is just not enough time. Believe me. We were walking quickly!!! Stay tuned! Just one more New York post to go!

CANTINA'S LAST BLOOM NOVEMBER 7TH!

If I hadn't witnessed it myself, I never would have believed it. But, Cantina, rebloomed from August clear through till the 7th of November! I'm hoping this wasn't a freak year. This is definitely THE iris for iris lovers!

BACK IN TIME: OUR FRIDAY IN NEW YORK

New York Public Library

A Thing for Ceilings!

We never would have found the one above if we hadn't gone on a quest for the restrooms! They were on the third floor with the most beautiful wood work and paintings on the ceiling and walls. Well worth the long trek to the restrooms!

This ceiling is in the entrance as you come in. Grand Central Station: See Jessi and Andrew's blog for a great family photo on the steps inside Grand Central. Pictures just do not do the architectural features of the inside of Grand Central justice. It is just too grand! It also has an awesome ceiling. About 11:30 Friday night, after a wonderful afternoon and evening at the Brooklyn Tabernacle Conference, I rejoined Dennis. We took a walk around Rockerfeller Center and past St. Patrick Cathedral, pictured below. It was a beautiful evening, just the two of us, like a fairytale you don't want to come to an end. We left behind all the hustle and bustle of people in the subways, people on the streets, people at the conference. It was like another world!You ever notice how the most beautiful buildings have been made to bring honor and glory to our God?

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS TREE TAGGING

Picking a Christmas tree can be a real adventure. Equipped with walkie-talkies, they set out to find the perfect tree and got a little sidetracked!

These guys are having entirely too much fun! That's Josiah with Josh and Brandon Shinn. In the process of tagging the tree, I think we might have hung our first ornament if we can't get Josiah out of there! For once I was able to capture Jeremiah (on the left) in the shot without his knowledge. A great time was had by all.

And this is the Griswold...Oops, I mean Brown family Christmas Tree! It's a 17' Noble Fir, after some trimming of course! We don't want a repeat of last years fiasco with the top going through the ceiling! See November 2005 archives. We actually brought a 25' tape measure this year! It was still too tall to get it all in the picture, so you'll just have to come see it in person, after we cram it into our house!It was a gorgeous, Fall, Sunday afternoon. This is the view from the top of Oakdale Road on our way home. And there nestled in the trees is home (the blue one).