While we in Albion, Gramma and Ann and I attended a "basket auction" and I won a huge basket of craft-related miscellany.

There were hundreds of all sizes of baskets on display. We purchased rolls of tickets, then chose which baskets to take a chance on.

I confess, there were other baskets I wanted more, but near the end of the bidding period Carol and I noticed that this one had very few tickets bid on it ... so, we bought extra tickets and "stuffed the ballot box!"

Aunt Carol will put the craft equipement to good use, I'm sure.

The whole thing was for a good cause: Meals on Wheels and Nutrifare programs. both of which feed many folks in the surrounding area every week of the year.

The Carriere's table is set for the feast. There were 13 of us at the table, and two more came later for dessert.

We enjoyed the tender turkey, spiral sliced ham, Italian pasta, several salads, lots of veggies, several wines, and desserts to die for.

The turkey browned beautifully.

And, I might add, it was juicy and yummy. It was a fresh turkey ... no "20% of a solution added!"

For the thanksgiving turkey, we took Karin's advice and cooked the whole thing in a brown paper grocery bag. This is Sara Carriere, bravely putting the bagged bird into the oven.

Well, now I remember what it was like living in snow country ... and I am sooooo glad we have moved south!

In Michigan, I had driven the van the day before, parking it while the windshield was warmed up but it was still snowing. This day I discovered that the snow had melted and formed ice which bonded to the windshield ... so, it wouldn't brush off. It darned near wouldn't even scrape off!

Brrrrrr! Did I mention, it was 8 degrees?!

We are on our way to NY to visit the NY kith 'n' kin for a short visit, then on to Michigan with Gramma and Peter in tow to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Nesbitts and Carrieres. Except for the part about the cold weather and the deep snow in the Buffalo vicinity, we are looking forward to the trip!

There may or may not be any more postings on the blog until we get home again, but we will be reading everyone else's every time we get a chance, for sure.

We started on a new project almost immediately. I volunteered to work on shingling the roof on this house.

It was a first for me.

The shingling, that is. I've definitely walked around on roofs before. (But this was perhaps the first time no one was mad at me about it!)

The "women build" Habitat for Humanity house I worked on was finisihed and dedicated last week. The family has moved in and started a "new life".

Very satisfying.

This crisp, cool morning was spent by John working on the shoulders of the road through our village. He was part of a volunteer clean-up crew -- the sort of work you rather expect to see prisoners doing, complete with day-glo orange safety vests. The good news is that the group gathered only a few bags of trash along their assigned two miles of roadway. The bad news is that there was any trash at all. People can be such careless slobs!!!!

I would've loved to have taken a photo of him in his vest, but I was otherwise occupied by a trip to the eye doctor, and when I returned my pupils had been dilated and I couldn't see to work the controls on my camera.

BTW -- my eyes are fine; no real changes. I mainly went to keep my prescriptions current so I can continue to purchase contact lenses for the next year.

Another advantage to residing in a temperate climate is the bird songs of autumn. They aren't as melodious, perhaps, as in the spring, but they are lovely to hear, nonetheless.

Our bluebirds murmur, actually, rather than sing, but waking up to their sweet conversations on our deck railing makes morning such a joy.

The Carolina Wrens and Purple Finches seem to be having such a good time laughing and joking out there ... they must've had great parties last night!

A bonus lately has been the Great Horned Owl, mournfully calling from the tallest snag in the nearby woods in the middle of the night. When we hear him, we are even almost glad that, because of our age, we are often up at those odd hours.

Life is good.

Here's my favorite subject.

A small farm in the valley caught my eye. No matter where they look when they step out of their doors, they are looking at glory.

The hills are covered from peak to valley with a luscious variety of colors. When he was about 10, Brian said the hills looked like blackberries that weren't quite ripe. He was right!

Did I mention it was a glorious day?

This, believe it or not, is also one of my tennis tournament shots. This was a very busy bee, buzzing around while I was setting up for other shots.

Here's an example of my tennis tournament pix.
Aren't our courts pretty?

We did find some wonderful autumn colors at about 2500 feet.

This afternoon we took a drive into the nearby mountains to look for autumn color. We found a huge metal-framed, moss-covered Moose! Apparently he has been by the side of the road for quite some time, for his mossy fur is rather ratty-looking, but we had never noticed him before.

No, we really don't have moose in our mountains, but wouldn't it be great if we did?

Friday evening we joined friends at the "yacht club" (actually, just a restaurant) and enjoyed watching the "parade of lights" on the lake outside the windows while we were eating. The pictures from the balcony really didn't show up ... trying to hit a moving, really, really low light target was more challenge than I could meet ... so I went down to the dock to get a more detailed shot. There were less than a dozen boats, but it was pretty and fun.