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We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow decorating yards and trees. This was the scene on the Normandie Golf Course as we headed for church about 9 a.m. Those are not shadows under the trees, but places where the snow had already melted. Flurries continued throughout the day, but roads were just wet and the powdered sugar coating was gone by noon. In fact, the central part of the city didn't get snow at all, just drizzle. Nevertheless it was hard not to remember that on this date two years ago, Nov. 30, 2006, we had a major ice storm that left parts of the region without power for a week or more. We were only out about 50 hours. (Click on link for my blog entry about it.) It's an experience we don't want to go through again any time soon!
On Friday, our friends the Dixons came by and brought with them their son, John, who was on a rare trip home from Chicago. Since we have known John since he was around 11 or 12, we have missed the pleasure of his company in recent years. He showed us his new Nikon camera and some photos he had taken this fall in Colorado. He has become a convert to Apple nation and has a MacBook pro exactly like mine. John is an executive with a bicycle company and travels a lot internationally, so he gets to take a lot of pictures! He is leaving for 10 days in Taiwan next week. John also loves old houses and wanted to take the grand tour of our 1922 Arts & Crafts- meets- Prairie- style home. He says he likes it! Maybe he'll come back soon.
On Thanks- giving we drove across the river and through some woods to our friends the Myers in Illinois. As usual, Karen had laid a festive table (three tables, actually) and there were plenty of hands to help get everything ready.
Gary, our host, roasted the turkey in his barbecue on the deck. He and his sister- in-law carved it when everything else (potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, dressing, etc.) was ready. I was mashing a huge pot of potatoes while they were doing this.
Norm, who was helping me hold down the potato pot while stirring, was the recipient of a test piece of turkey. He pronounced it done to perfection.
We had a most enjoyable afternoon with our friends and their families--about 20 were there and it was quite a scene, with the high school age nephew getting to drive Gary's convertible (with Gary as co-pilot) and a cousin making beaded angels and the little girls doing whatever little girls do when they are at Aunt Karen's house.
Happy Thanksgiving! While the pie cools and the sweet potatoes (no photo, sorry) bake in the oven, I thought I'd post the photos of the blooming amarylli, downstairs and up.
This one is growing in a pot with four bulbs that I started from small bulblets a few years ago. There are two more stalks coming up that should bloom before Christmas, but for now, this is our Thanksgiving Amaryllis.
First to open this year in the sunny upstairs sewing room window was this one, a single bulb I transplanted right before moving the plants inside this year. It has several brothers and sisters in various spots around, and at least one of them is producing a bud that might bloom around Christmas. Of course, the upstairs windows are crowded with cuttings from various plants, as well as the geraniums that I saved at the last minute because I couldn't let them freeze to death, after all.
Today we count many blessings. Flowers. Sunshine. Warmth in the house. Food to prepare and share with good friends this afternoon. Health. Friends. Family members all far away but in touch through the miracles of cell phones and cyberspace. Freedom. Time to do what we want, when we have the energy to do it. Visits from a warm puppy now and then. Love. And above all, the never ending grace of God. May all of you have a wonderful day, a feast of taste and fullness, a toast to health and well-being, rejoicing in the warmth of friendship, basking in the light of hope. Have a blessed Thanksgiving, everyone!
Visitor #1900 checked in about 5:42 a.m. from Garden City. Only one person we know fits that early bird profile: brother Don. Finally you'll have something new to look at. I appreciate seeing all the family checking in during the week and apologize for not having anything new for a while.
One tip: sometimes I use Twitter to post really small updates that aren't worth a whole blog post. The Twitter updates are on the right side of the blog page, below the "Blogs I read" listings. For example, I put a Twitter up on Friday about getting a pneumonia shot (it still hurts, too) and one on Saturday about what I was cooking for the church dinner. If regular Home Stories readers haven't discovered these, sometimes you can find an update on us if the blog posts are still the "old news." You don't have to join Twitter or do anything else but read them on the blog.
On Wednesday, Nov. 19, we took a field trip to the St. Louis suburb of Valley Park to look at samples of retaining wall "block." This is the style our contractor suggested but we had to pick the color. Our choices were pewter, pecan and hickory. Pewter is visible at the left of the sample wall. Pecan was on another sample; it looks like yellow sandstone. The hickory has a slight reddish cast. We picked hickory. Today (Nov. 24) we signed the proposal and sent in our deposit. We get a 5% discount for work done December-February. The project is one of the most expensive we have had since moving here in 2001. But the old railroad tie wall is at least 50% disintegrated and becoming a hazard. We decided to get it replaced with something more durable before the village cites us in the annual spring exterior inspection.
Today after church it was clear that the maple is rapidly thinning, but still a presence on the block. Almost all the rest of the trees are nearly bare. But many branches, with the sun filtered through them, still glow with the molten fire that endears this tree to neighbors, to passers by, and to us.
After we got home from Columbia Bottoms and lunch on Friday, I took the daily photo of the maple. It has thinned out quite a bit since yesterday, partly due to about half an inch of rain that fell overnight and Friday morning.
The maple is at the height of its color and glory today, but it is losing leaves fast. Today two men came to rake the leaves in our yard. The maple kept raining leaves on them as they raked! After they finished with our front and back yards and also our neighbor's. there were 35 paper bags full of leaves. In the next two weeks, the maple will probably let loose of almost that many more!
Regular readers may have noted the big jump in readership numbers on the counter at right between Monday and Tuesday. All of a sudden the Visitor Map is populated with dots from all over the globe. I was totally surprised by this when I looked at the blog yesterday, and I've been poking around on SiteMeter to figure out where all these hits came from and why. I now know the answer to where, but I have only a theory about why.
Between 9:09 and 9:51 p.m. on Monday, Home Stories received 92 hits from around the world. (Normally Home Stories gets 8-10 hits a day.) The referring URL for all of them was from within Blogger, on the Nav Bar. All I can assume is that Home Stories became the "Next Blog" that people who were simply browsing hit and saw in that hour. The previous post, "Blooms Abound Indoors" went up exactly an hour earlier, at 8:09. Apparently one of those three words is key to getting noticed!
Most of the 92 hits were for 0 seconds, which means the browsers just clicked and went on. Among those who stayed to look at more than one page in Home Stories were viewers in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Ontario, Tokyo (working for IBM, browsing on the job!), Argentina, Honduras, Singapore and Costa Rica, as well as Utah and Indiana. The first hit in this virtual meteor shower came from a viewer in Benton,Ill. and the last one from Singapore. (And somewhere in the middle of all this frenzy, Debbie B in Hutch managed to get a look, irrespective of the other hits. Amazing.)
The prize for the longest look goes to a viewer using Spanish in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He or she stayed on for almost 25 minutes looking at two pages. Perhaps practicing translation skills?
Anyway, it is fascinating to get a glimpse of the huge international reach of the "blogosphere" as Doug likes to call it. People in Canada, Brazil, Australia, India, the UK, and multiple US States also took a look, even if they didn't linger. It's also amazing how many people out clicked on the photo of the maple tree. Guess I'd better go take today's update photo now that the sun has come out!
Last night was our first really sub-freezing night, and the low was 28 or 26, depending on which weather service one consulted. I was surprised to see so many leaves still on the maple, but when the overcast brightened briefly in mid morning, I dashed out to snap these photos.
The view from the kitchen sink is pretty much what is visible in this picture. We know the show won't last much longer, but we are enjoying it.
Sunday: it was cold enough to snow this morning, and we actually saw a few minuscule frozen pellets as we set out for church. The overcast day isn't good for picture taking, but up close and in person, the maple is breathtakingly red. It's also shedding a lot of leaves now.
The view from beneath the same tree is quite different. All glows golden yellow, even on a cloudy day. This tree always seems, once its leaves turn, to be lit from within, reminding me of author Annie Dillard's Tree with the Lights in It from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. 
The leaves continue to glow even on the ground, but it's an ethereal quality hard to capture in 3 megapixels on a cloudy day. Certainly we are getting a good pile of leaves and we are grateful that Raymond, a friend of ours from church, is coming next Saturday to do some serious raking!
This morning it was partly cloudy so I went out around 11 a.m. to photograph the maple. It was a good idea, because the day became overcast, gloomy and cold after noon. It doesn't look much different from the Nov. 6 photos, but in person, the reds seem a little more vibrant. There are fewer red leaves on the tree, though, because a lot of them are on the ground.
Today Dave B. came to work his magic on some of the faucets, pipes and drains in our house. We are so grateful for his expertise! That's Dave's little red truck in the driveway, above. Tonight we have a new shower head that doesn't spray water all over the bathroom, a drain flipper that flips and a bathtub drain that drains. We also have a brand new faucet at the kitchen sink. We thank you, Dave!
While I was prowling the yard taking pictures, I had to catch these last flowers of summer. There are three perfect buds on Norm's favorite yellow rose. Tomorrow they will be cut and brought in since a freeze is in the offing for Saturday night.
On the advice of our long-time (and now deceased) friend Freda B., we wait until the 4th of July to start zinnias from seed. This is the last of this year's bunch. They will become part of the frost-escape bouquet, too!
The last warm day on Thursday saw more red highlights on the maple, but also more leaves piling up in the yard. Norm spent the morning at the food pantry for Isaiah 58, the outreach ministry housed in our church. This week, there was food to hand out. Last week he came home early because the shelves were empty.
On Thursday I went to water exercise, and then in the afternoon we went to Home Depot to get a new hand held shower wand for our upstairs bath. The previous one had self-destructed. Tomorrow our friend Dave, the Persnickety Crafter, is coming to clear up some little plumbing problems like that. We also stocked up on groceries for a couple of weeks at Shop N Save, where a $10 off coupon was in effect for Thursday only. We came home and celebrated with a Red Baron thin crust pizza straight from our oven. Ah, the high life.
Thursday was also Doug's birthday. Happy Birthday and we hope you get a well deserved rest from meetings and paper grading soon!
Day by day, the maple adds more color. This photo was taken on Wednesday the 5th about 1 p.m. All of these full views are taken from the far end of Barb's back yard. This is pretty much the view our neighbor Jacinta has when she goes out to get into her garage! Sadly, because of the height of the house, little of the maple is visible from the street.
Color has really deepened on the upper branches closest to the house, as this closeup shows. These are in the upper left of the big picture above.
Yet if one stands under the maple and looks up, there is till a lot of green yet to turn. Today has been overcast and a light rain fell before noon. I sat on the porch, drank coffee and read the paper until the mail came. The fine rain hitting the fallen leaves was so soothing! It's feeling a little cooler, so I came inside. Now the front is passing to the east and the sun is out. I'll see what kind of picture the maple takes today!
Meanwhile, in the tropics...I just looked and see there is yet another tropical storm--Paloma--forming off the coast of Nicaragua and Honduras. It's forecast to become a hurricane sometime tomorrow and to cut across the middle of Cuba on the weekend. Those folks have really been hammered this season. Imagine, named storms getting all the way to "P". Paloma means butterfly in Spanish, and it is the name of my neighbor Jacinta's older daughter.
Yesterday afternoon when we got home from voting, I took these pictures of our Maple. A few branches are getting to be quite reddish, although a lot of green is still visible. It has been dry and warm this week, so many trees have turned, peaked, and already lost most of their leaves. A cold front and showers are due through this evening. I'll take another photo this afternoon and we'll see how much is left tomorrow.
Post election thoughts are still percolating in my mind and will show up on Thursday's Child in a day or two. I'll let you know when they are up. Norm is also working on a reflection that includes being present at JFK's historic appearance at the Michigan Union after midnight in October 1960, when the ideal of public service became real to him.
Which is to say, we were amazed when at the turn of the hour at 10 p.m. CST last night, the race was decided. We just turned to C-Span (no commentators) and watched both John McCain's and Barack Obama's speeches. It was hard to go to sleep after all that excitement.
At this moment, Missouri is still undecided, with provisional ballots not yet in the mix. John McCain is leading by about 6000 votes and if that holds up, our state could lose its "bellwether" status (having gone with the winner in all but one election since Who Knows When.) Frankly, it would be nice to lose that popularity after the onslaught of e-mails, calls, flyers, endless TV and radio ads and campaign visits we have had from both candidates. Now we know a little bit of what Iowa residents endure every four years!
In the state wide races, all the candidates I mentioned that I would support actually won. In a split that could only occur in Missouri, we elected a Democrat governor and a Republican lieutenant governor. The positions we took on many ballot measures did not prevail. The 1/2 cent transit tax failed, and that will have serious consequences in our area for bus and light rail use. The English only amendment passed, a sign of these anti-immigration times. And the gambling loss limit was also lifted, so come on over to our state and lose as much money as you want. It's supposed to benefit our schools. Time will tell. One bright spot: the evil bond issue for our troubled Fire District is losing, for the third time. Each vote has cost the taxpayers at least $20,000 for that measure to be on the ballot, or so I hear. Recall! We have signed the petition already.
Today we are taking the day off from exercise. Norm will walk Ava this afternoon since Barb is still recuperating. And I'll post the latest from the Maple Watch after this.
Because this is not a political blog, I haven't posted this photo before, but there actually is a whole line of these on our street, in addition to ours. Norm and I will vote in our Bel Nor Village Hall tomorrow, sometime after we get out of water exercise. We hope to catch a mid morning lull when lines will be shorter. In 2006 the wait was nearly an hour, as new touch-screen voting machines were unfamiliar. This year will be the first presidential election using them. We will ask for the paper op/scan ballots since they leave a record that can be used in a recount, although we have used the computer machines in the primary and other elections.
Our ballot this year has not only the Presidential candidates, but also House of Representatives, three state supreme court justices, a whole passel of St. Louis county judges, and many beaucoup (as my father would say) amendments and propositions. One amendment makes English the official language of the state. Another removes the gambling loss limit at our casinos (it's presently capped at $500 per 2 hours, which The Industry says is making us lose gamblers to Illinois). There is a proposition to increase the sales tax that supports our Metro bus and train system, which it needs for operating expenses and to expand. There is a proposition for a bond issue for our local fire department that has twice been defeated because residents are trying to recall two members of the board. And then there are state offices: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Attorney General.
I'll be voting no on the English (unnecessary) and gambling (here we go again on promises to education that won't be delivered) amendments. Likewise the fire house bonds, no sale until the house is cleaned. Yes for Metro because even if it's more taxes, it still is a transportation alternative that we use and wish more people had access to. I'll vote for Democrats Jay Nixon (never thought I'd ever support a politician named Nixon!) for governor and my former student Clint Zweifel for treasurer. The Lt. Governor in Missouri has few duties, except to step in when the governor is out of the state or incapacitated. I am probably going to vote for the Republican incumbent, Peter Kinder. He has performed very well the last 4 years, stepping in to call out emergency help during our fall floods from Gustav and Ike in a manner more efficient than our governor ever could have done. He also is a voice for a large segment of Missourians who would lack representation in the executive branch if there was a Democratic sweep. Incumbent Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is effective and her opposition is not well organized. The Attorney General race is a real mess. Jay Nixon held this post for 16 years and proved to be an advocate for consumers, establishing an effective No Call list for the state that preceded the federal one, and that is still better. Neither of the men who want to replace him is appealing. The Democrat has switched parties in an opportunistic move, and the Republican is still remembered for giving the raspberry to a former governor from the opposite party, when he was delivering the state of the state address. Both men are accomplished lawyers, although only one has trial experience. Both of them have spent enough money on TV ads slinging mud at each other to stock every food pantry in the state for the next four years! Koster or Gibbons? I'm still wrestling with this one.
In the Presidential race, I've followed every attack and counter attack, watched both party conventions, watched all four debates. I've read the blogs and the polls. I say this to emphasize that I'm not influenced by any single incident or issue. I know that each side has distorted the other side's plans for taxes, medical reform, and other issues. The best source, unbiased, for running all of these down is at www.factcheck.org and if you still have questions about a robo call, flyer, or ad you've seen from either the Democrat or Republican side, I recommend it for its thoroughness and lack of partisanship. Each campaign has its debunking sites as well, but they are less neutral.
In the end, this year as four years ago (and four and more years before that, back to 1968, actually) the platform and ideals of the Democratic party have come closer to expressing the values I cherish: individual freedom, responsibility, care for the vulnerable in society, true security, seeking peace with war as a last resort. These are also values for Republicans and I respect the fact that we just go about implementing them differently. All I can say about third parties, for those who are not attracted by either the Democrats or Republicans, is to recall that once I voted for such a candidate. I voted for John Anderson in 1980 and Ronald Reagan was elected. I have always regretted that I chose to "express myself" over looking at the probable consequence of my choice. And I suspect a lot of conservatives who voted for Ross Perot in 1992, with the resulting election of Bill Clinton, might know what I mean.
Nearly four years ago I picked up Barack Obama's book, Dreams From My Father, and after finishing it, thought that I wished someone with his understanding of mutual responsibility and empowerment of the common people could be elected president of the United States. Perhaps, I thought, after he serves a term or two in the Senate and maybe gets elected governor of Illinois--since the CW is that governors, not senators, get elected President. Fast forward two years, and he is running. Fast forward to this summer, and we have two candidates for President, both of them Senators. So much for the CW. Yes, Obama has less experience. He is only 47, not 72. He isn't a socialist or a terrorist. Both of these guys have friends I wouldn't necessarily choose as my own. Obama's "Change" slogan isn't so much the reason for my choice, as is the one on the bumper sticker on my van: Yes.We.Can. From the beginning, this campaign has been about working together, changing the way we think about politics, uniting a fractured country, restoring America's standing among the nations of the world. Whether it succeeds, history will tell. If these sentiments make me a Liberal, I'm not ashamed of the title. I would put an "Unterrified Liberal" bumper sticker on my car in a minute.
No matter what the outcome of this election, I am still first and foremost an American. I will continue to love and support my country and work for its betterment in any way I can, for as long as I can. But most of all I want to recover a sense of pride in the USA. I want to feel once more that tingle under my ribs when the flag goes by, or when I hear the Star-Spangled Banner played when a small town radio station signs off the air at midnight.
If you didn't vote absentee or in early voting, please vote on Tuesday. Vote early, but not often!
Not a lot of change in one day. I snapped this on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 2, about 2 p.m. It was overcast today and I ran out of time to take a picture. Other trees in the neighborhood are changing fast and some leaves are beginning to pile up.
Norm finally got the mower started and mulched leaves this afternoon while I visited my dermatologist. Right now the tree looks a lot better than I do!
Carol L. has written that she may be the Mystery Reader from Flower Mound, TX. I think she is undoubtedly right. So glad to know you and Walt are following the blog again and grateful that Walt feels much better. Enjoy the upcoming weekend in Beaver's Bend. Wish we could join you!
Photos were forbidden, and the one I tried from my cell phone is just a blur. But Sunday night Norm and I got to go to a Neil Diamond concert at the Savvis Center in downtown St. Louis. A member of our church had comp tickets she could not use and passed them on to us. So our only cost was the $4 total roundtrip senior fare on MetroLink from the university parking lot to the station right across the street from the concert hall.
This was a make good on a concert in August that was postponed when Diamond was battling voice problems. We sat next to church friends Marty and Darrell and the four of us rocked out in our seats up in the nosebleed section. (I have to confess that earplugs from Walgreens made the amplification more comfortable.) We were amazed at the number of 30-somethings there who were on their feet and dancing to "Sweet Caroline" and other hits. The last time we saw Neil Diamond in concert was in St. Louis at the old (now demolished) Arena, some 30 years ago. He has slowed down some, and the tempo of some songs (notably Holly Holy) is also slower. But not all. The final encore was "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" and it was as energetic as ever!
We enjoyed the whole evening: it was warm, the place was easy to find, we rode the rails with standing-room only crowds of fans from the far suburbs. I couldn't get to sleep until after 2 a.m.! Wow.
We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow decorating yards and trees. This was the scene on the Normandie Golf Course as we headed for church about 9 a.m. Those are not shadows under the trees, but places where the snow had already melted. Flurries continued throughout the day, but roads were just wet and the powdered sugar coating was gone by noon. In fact, the central part of the city didn't get snow at all, just drizzle. Nevertheless it was hard not to remember that on this date two years ago, Nov. 30, 2006, we had a major ice storm that left parts of the region without power for a week or more. We were only out about 50 hours. (Click on link for my blog entry about it.) It's an experience we don't want to go through again any time soon!
