Thanksgiving and a Wedding

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  This is has become my favorite holiday as the years have gone by.  Good food and good company.  Each year it seems there are both constants and variables in each.  This year Livia and Darren who have become friends of Sarah and Keith through an exchange program of sorts at Cornell.  They are from China.  Livia is an MBA student and Darren, her husband, driver, cook and chief bottle washer as the saying goes.  This was their first Thanksgiving and they cooked a terrific steak/spinach stir-fry. 

We also had some significant help in the kitchen from Zhora as you can see in the photos below.

 

 

 

New apron made with love by G'ma Karen.

 

Makin' some celery boats! 

The mess hall!

 



 

 

 

Denise and her ladies.

 

Just a sliver more, with help from four-legged friends.

 

 

Nice smile......

 

and another.

 

 

On Saturday we had another gathering at Veneta's house with a surprise event mixed in.

 

 



 

G'ma & G'pa doing their thing.

 

Darren doing his thing...........very well, by the way.

 



Three generations.

 



 

SURPRISE!!!

One very happy guy.

 





 

Two very happy ladies.

 

Mr. & Mrs. Bassington

 



Party royalty!

 



 

The party's over, it's time to call it a day...........

The newest Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, or Cory & Laura git hitched

 

The flowers were beautiful...

 

 

 

The stained glass was "cool"!

 

 

 

The Bride and Groom were ready...I think...

 

I love the first dance!

 

Dinner was great :-)

 

There were LOTS of attendants, but

 

these were my two favorites!

 

Grandpa didn't dance, but I know he wanted to, and

no, they didn't take home any of the special beer brewed and

gifted by Cory.

(They did take the cool glasses through.)

 

Andy and Gayle didn't dance either, but they had

a good time and enjoyed the food and music.

 

Mom and Vaneta were able to visit during dinner...

afterwards, not so much.  (The music was great though!) 

Grandma didn't dance, but Vaneta did!

 

Perhaps the biggest wedding cake I have ever seen!

It was really, really good!

 

We got to see Jill briefly and are looking forward to a little

more visit time before she returns home.  She has school

work to do... go figure!  

 

The parents of the groom, looking a little shell shocked.

I think it was just their dress shoes...

 

ahhh - also my favorite dance...can you have 2 favorite dances?

 

G'ma Harrington and her boys - all lookin' mighty fine!

 

The venue is called Windows on the River and it is

in the old Power Station.  It was really lovely.

 

A blurry shot of "The Term" looking festive.

...and a couple more lovely, wintery

 

shots of the river and lights out the big windows.

 

 

Congratulations to Cory and Laura!

May your journey together be blessed with

love, laughter, meaningful experience, and

family and friends with whom to share

both the good times and the difficult ones, as well.

Love, Aunt Karen and Uncle Pat 

 

Mostly Shades of Red

While walking about the yard a few weeks back, I noticed how dominating the color red was in our landscape. Perhaps it was a precursor to last weeks election results.  As you know, Ohio is a red state:-(  As we are supposed to dip into the 30's during the daytime for the next 10 days, I thought these might help to keep my warm feeling.

 

 

Viburnum berries

 

Cutleaf Japanese Maple

 

 

Hydrangea

 

 

Snapdragons

 

 
Hydrangea

 

Cutleaf Japanese Maple

 

 
Pink Dogwood

 

Flowering Crab

 

 

Ruby Sedum 

 

This one and the next two are obviously contrary to the theme, however I couldn't leave them out.  These are Toad Lilies.

This is a paper wasp (Hornet?) nest in one of the street trees on Grant St.  It's approx. 2' tall x 1' in diameter.

 

 Anemone from the garden.

 

One last shot of red.  This is a traditional Japanese Maple.

October in Review

Since everyone else has posted, I didn't want to be the only one to not -

especially since I have been trying to get a post done for weeks.

Not a great Halloween trick or treat night but I would observe

that 10-31 is my official end of fall anyway.

Enjoy the pictures of the month:

 

 

 

 

G'ma Rockwell celebrated her (84th) birthday this month!

 

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon with Cory and Laura at their

Wedding Shower.  There were so many gifts (and trash)

that we had to call in your Dad and Red Rider

to help.

 

It was a beautiful fall and these pictures were

taken on a particularly nice day.

 

We have really enjoyed our little garden and are hoping

that it survives the winter.

 

I've always wanted to do this!

 

The oak leaf hydrangea didn't bloom this year, but it

has been lovely in its fall colors.

The viburnum has really benefitted from the trimming

of the oak tree a couple year ago.  It is loaded with berries!

 

I do love this plant, partly because it blooms late and

continues to bloom up until snow, but also partly

because of it's name - Toad Lily :)

 

This is the hydrangea by the front walk.  It is still

in bloom and the size of a small hedge.  I hope

the deer don't eat it this winter.

 

Oak Leaf Hydrangea  

 



 

Fall leaves in the bird bath.

 

One and only bloom on the hydrangea on the

south end of the porch.  It usually blooms in

the spring and somewhere along the way the

Ph in the soil has apparently changed as it

has never been other than pink.

 

We did a major ranking of the yard yesterday - the leaves

are mostly down and the leaf vac was supposed to come today,

which of course it didn't, so now we have huge piles of

very wet leaves on the curb.

 

Probably the final fire of the season.  Wish you had all been here!!

 

My Uncle died a couple weeks ago and I rode to Paden City

with Andy and Gayle for the funeral.  These are the 4 of 8

siblings of dads from the left:  Uncle Paul, 86, Aunt Shirley, 80

(it was her husband who died.)

Aunt Jannie, 78, (Uncle Jim died a year or so ago) and Dad.

 

So, another month is gone!  Dad and I have both worked a lot this month,

AND

we have done a lot of yard work also.  Neither one of us is looking

forward to the winter, but we have lots of indoor projects - not as

much fun as working outside, but we shouldn't have any trouble

with boredom!

 

Miss all of you.

Love you,

Mom