One Never Knows, Do One?

The day I have been fearing for months has arrived. It's snowing! When I lived in New Jersey, I couldn't wait for it to snow. I looked forward to those beautiful flakes gently falling from the sky. I now realize the reason for the love of snow was that it never lasted more than two days. That is not the case here though. I know that now the beautiful white stuff has begun falling, it's going to keep falling until March at least. And this year I witnessed a snow storm on May 30th in Saranac Lake, so I view the advent of snow with more trepidation than wonder. I do appreciate it's beauty still, but wish it wouldn't hang around so long.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at Tim and Lisa's house. The turkey was nice and juicy, cooked to perfection by Lisa and carved to perfection by Travis. Lots of good food and good company, and I really appreciated celebrating the holiday away from home this year.

Here is a photo of the festive table before dinner.

And this is some of the delicious food waiting to be eaten.

Cousinly love-that's Blake, my nephew on the left, and Conor on the right. Silly boys.

We were able to video chat with Tim Thanksgiving night, which was Friday afternoon for Tim. He had picked up a camper and was setting off on a journey south for a few days with two German tourists he had met-one a doctor and one an engineer. I believe after he returns to Sydney from the trip, he is headed south to Melbourne. He really is having a great adventure, and says Australia is one of the happiest places he has ever been. I guess it would be quite a change from New York City.

Travis and Alyssa were able to stay for a few days, along with Begonia. She is a very funny dog, and we enjoy having her here.

I don't think the cats like having her here quite as much as Conor and I do. This is where Seamus spent most of his time while Begonia was here. He also hung out on the tall bookcase in Conor's room.

We had some very devastating news two days before Thanksgiving. My sister Jane, who has been battling breast cancer for 11 years now, was told that she has no more treatment options. Her liver has basically stopped working and she has anywhere from two weeks to a few months to live. She has fought this disease with such grace and strength, that I think I believed that she would be victorious over it, but that is not to be. Jane lives in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, which is about 4 hours from here. I had plans to call her on Wednesday, but instead my brother called and asked if I wanted to go and see her for a couple of hours. I said sure, packed enough knitting for at least a week, and we went to see her. I think she was very surprised and pleased. We told her we came to have lunch with her. I felt better having seen her and am going to try to go over every couple of weeks if I can. That's another reason I hate snow. I drive a car that is horrible in the snow, so it limits what I can do. The plan is to get snow tires though, and that will help. Now I just have to sell a lot of yarn and fiber so I can buy the snow tires. So if you are reading this, and you believe in prayer, I would ask you to keep my sister Jane and her husband Marty and children Ethan and Emma in your prayers.

I will leave you with a foot photo. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember that I like to take photos of my feet. It actually came in handy recently when I was trying to remember what I had worn on my feet last fall when going to a particular activity. I just looked at old photos and found the answer. This is Lisa and me on Thanksgiving. Look at those nice cozy shearling lined slippers we are wearing.