HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving to all our wonderful friends and family. I am so thankful for so many things and most everyday I set a few seconds aside to thank God for my life and health.

This is by far my favorite holiday because eating is one of my most favorite things to do. I love food, I even dream about it and when I lay in bed at night, I think of the new recipe I am going to try the next day.

I got up early and made sweet potato casserole, broccoli cheese casserole, fresh cranberry, pumpkin pie and homemade whipped cream.

We left late morning and headed to Gary's home in Bandera just 18 miles away. Gary already had picked up mom up at the nursing home and they were there when we arrived.

We had a wonderful visit and pulled out old family albums. Mom unfortunately did not recognize early pictures of herself, her husband or children when they were little but she seemed to enjoy looking through the album and it brought back memories for all.

Gary is a real good cook. The turkey was in the oven, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans with ham on the stove and stuffing and homemade rolls in the oven.

Dave arrived with his mothers recipe of lima beans and dumplings. Dave is a single fella who lives here in Bandera. He is one of Gary's motorcycle riding buddies and he has a shop there  in town. He is a wood carver and furniture builder and does beautiful work. Last year we had a table made by another man who told us about Dave's carvings. Dave gave us some ideas and we picked out a design of a stage coach being pulled by a team of horses. Although the picture does not show it, it is very detailed and quite on eye catcher. The edge of the table is surrounded by wooden lariat roping and we keep lexan over the table for protection. This really added a nice touch to our Rolling Ranch House.

We sat down and enjoyed this delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We stuffed ourselves silly and mom sure did eat her share. But 10 min. later after the dishes were removed, Gary asked her what she had for dinner and she had no clue. Yet she chatted and remembered many of her stories from long ago.We had heard these same stories over the years and when she repeated them, they were exactly the same. She did not forget any details.

Gary has a herd of deer that come to his yard every day. The deer in this part of Texas are small because of the type of forage here and only come up to your waist. When the deer hear the sound of his garage door opening they come running. They know Gary is going to feed them. He throws deer feed on the ground and he hand feeds them flour tortillas. He can even pet a couple of them and has names for them all.

By late afternoon we took mom back to Town and Country Manor.She refers to T&C as the condo because she lived in one for 7 years before coming to T&C. She still believes she is working. I guess so, because she worked up until age 83 and she is now 87. For many of her years she had always worked 2 jobs.

It is always a little sad when we bring her back. She always says goodbye with a big hug and kiss.

Happy Trails until we blog again!