I’ve been making cinnamon chip biscotti today. I will give some as a thank you gift to a friend who is an amazing glass artist. He made a beautiful tray/platter as a going away gift for my friends who are moving to Reston, VA. I am picking it up tomorrow and thought I’d take the biscotti as a gift for his rushing to get the project done for me, in addition to the agreed upon fee. This is the finished item:

The streaks you see are reflections of his overhead lights.

The rest of the biscotti will be sent to my friend who is in Pentwater, MI caring for her elderly parents. Both parents caught COVID from one of their part-time caregivers and had to be hospitalized. They recovered, but her mom’s dementia worsened considerably during this stay and she stopped eating and drinking. Both parents came home last Monday, with her mom in hospice care, and she passed on Thursday. Her father is really taking it hard, which is understandable considering that they were married for more than 75 years. He has congestive heart failure and is 98 years old, so this could be hastening his demise as well. I will bake some of the cookie dough I have in the freezer tomorrow to make up a nice assortment of cookies and biscotti for her. It’s as close as I can get to sending them an in-person hug.

Pam, the tray is beautiful . You friend will love it. That’s sad about your friend’s parents. You’re probably right that her dad won’t survive his wife but much time. He’s probably already in a weakened state from Covid and grief will finish the process. We’re afraid my BIL won’t last long without my sister. He’s never taken care of himself and she was the one making him go to the doctors and making sure he took his medications. When my sisters visited last week, they said he was living on Fritos even though there was food in the house. They have a dog who is like their baby. I promised my sister we would take Jackie when they’re gone. She recently told their neighbor was willing to take him if we’d changed our minds. I told her we want to take him.

I picked up the tray this afternoon and enjoyed a brief visit with my old friend, the artist. He gave me a marker we can use to write personal messages on the back of the tray, as well. They will eventually fade away, but should last awhile u less they put it in the dishwasher, which is not recommended anyway. Chances are good they will be moving within the next month, so I’m glad this was able to come together so quickly. Here is the artist’s website if you’d like to see a few more examples of his work. I particularly like the hearts and the woven glass wall hangings. Website: www.larrypileglass.com. I think the pictures on his site are some of his older work. I’ve seen pics of some of the things he’s sold recently at various art fairs that were just stunning.

I had dinner with a friend last evening at our Mexican restaurant. I'm sure folks farther south would die laughing at what passes for a Mexican restaurant in Maryland. There is exactly one thing on the menu I order. Every time.

FAJITAS TEXANAS

A sizzling pan filled with slices of tender steak, chicken and 4 medium-sized shrimp grilled with onions, green peppers, and tomatoes. Served with rice, beans, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, and tomato. Your choice of corn or flour tortilla

I thought I had everything for Thanksgiving and then realized - during dinner of all things - I was missing mashed potatoes. DH wouldn't have liked that. LOL!

Pam - I don't like cranberry but those pies sound scrumptious!

Growing up, regardless of whether we were at home or at one of two grandparents' houses, Thanksgiving and Christmas were always turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie. Same menus without fail I'm sure there was also cranberry of some sort but I ignored that. My paternal grandmother also sometimes made mince pie but I don't think I ever even tasted that.

We always spent New Year's Day at my paternal grandparents. Menu was pig belly (aka PA Dutch hog maw) and fried oysters.

I short cut the whole thing with Stove Top stuffing, refrigerated mashed potatoes, and jars of gravy. One year to horrify my sister I sent her a photo (she was quite the gourmet cook).

My friend’s father passed away this morning, 8 days after his wife of 75 years passed. My friend said she felt he did her a favor passing so soon after her mom, so that she can grieve once for both of them. I think she’s been working so hard for so,long caring for them that she will be lost and without purpose for awhile.

On the plus side, now she and her husband won’t have to face another Michigan winter. On the negative side, they no longer have a home here to come back to. Last year they sold their recently remodeled home here to their son. Their plan was to build a smaller home on part of the land where their daughter has a home, but just as they were starting to develop a house plan, her daughter informed her that they were thinking about selling this property in another year or two. So they scrapped that plan and currently only have their home in Michigan but want to come back here to be closer to their children and grandchildren. The housing market is still really tight here. My friends who are moving to Virginia sold their house after 4 days on the market. They had multiple offers and finally accepted one that offered $25K over their asking price, which they had set higher than they thought they would get, plus the buyers will pay this price even if it doesn’t appraise for the agreed upon price. It’s a great time to be a seller, but not so great if you want to buy.

I’m sorry that your friend died. It sounds like she’d been going downhill for quite awhile, but it’s still hard.

I saw this and it made me laugh.

I’m sorry for your friends’ losses. It’s even worse around a holiday. My MIL died on Thanksgiving Day 15 years ago. We had left the nursing home for a couple of hours to have dinner at my sister’s house. We got a call from the staff there saying she’d passed while we were gone. Because Thanksgiving doesn’t have a fixed date, the event didn’t overshadow the Thanksgivings to come. She did the dinner for about 15 years. Once BIL’s children were in school, we started traveling to them for the family dinner. In recent years, they traveled to CA to spend the holiday with their oldest daughter. Around that time, we started leaving for FL with a Thanksgiving celebration at my sister’s in SC. We had a mini Thanksgiving at her house last night since we’re heading to FL to see my sister who’s terminally ill. Dinner last night was turkey breast, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. I brought a pumpkin roll for dessert.
We left my brother’s house this morning and drove to Jacksonville for the night. We’ll be at my sister’s house tomorrow afternoon.

Well, DWTS season 30 has ended. I have to admit I never got too engrossed.

One thing that pleasantly surprised me was how beyond okay Len was with JoJo and Cody. I thought he was a little more old school than that.

I found this season of DWTS to be pretty dull. I really thought JoJo would win, but I was glad that Iman Shumpert won. I thought he showed the most improvement. JoJo came into the competition with a lot of dance training, even though it was not ballroom, which I think still gave her a significant edge over those who had no or little dance training.

I just finished baking 3 pies and about 5 dozen cookies. The cookie dough was in the freezer, so all I had to do was slice and bake, but I’m still very tired. I got a late start on the baking because I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, then had to go to the pharmacy to pick up my new blood pressure medication. I’m happy with how everything turned out, so even though I’m tired, it was worth it. I’ll try to post a picture of the cherry pie I made for my friend who is recovering from hip replacement surgery. I’m very proud of it, lol! I usually struggle with pies, so when one turns out well I have to brag a little.

The pie was gorgeous. We’ve been listening to part of the Hannah Swenson mysteries. She owns a cookie bakery in Lake Eden MN. We were listening to one where she was a contestant in a food network dessert contest. She was talking about making apple pies and the different crust styles. When she talked about lattice pies, she mentioned using leaves between the strips instead of a basket weave. Pam’s pie reminds me of that. It’s impressive looking.

Happy Thanksgiving Jean!!

I'm so happy you're checking back in!!

I'm also happy that you're starting to get over the fatigue. As much as scientists have learned about this disease, there's a ton they still don't know. More answers will come over time I'm sure. For now all we can do is get vaccinated, wear a mask, and keep social distance. If someone does that they can still get it but hopefully won't die or need to be hospitalized. Sounds like you got a pretty good dose for a vaccinated person! I got "boosted" as my boss puts it the first day Walgreen's was offering it.

It's been one heck of a year. In the last 12 months, my dad died, my (younger) sister died, my brother got snippy with my BIL, decided he wasn't going to live in their in-law apartment after all and moved back to Gettysburg where he has a very uncertain future (because of finances), a really good friend had a series of strokes, is in rehab, and has a very uncertain future because of her finances, the woman whose colonies I committed to take over 6 years ago finally succumbed to her cancer so now I'm feeding every day and my favorite cat at those colonies (that I hadn't yet convinced DH to let me bring home) disappeared. I'd say "what else the heck can happen" but I'm afraid to ask.

Jean, it’s so good to hear from you! I’m sorry you’ve had a struggle with COVID, but I’m glad to hear you’re on the mend and coming out of it now.

Thank you for the kind words about my pie! For some reason, I’ve always struggled with pie crust, so when one turns out well I have to celebrate. I made this one for a friend who had hip replacement surgery last Thursday, and she’s having a difficult time recovering so I wanted it to be extra special.

We are at my sister’s home now and relaxing. Tomorrow the cooking will begin in earnest.

Wishing all of you a happy Thanksgiving, however you celebrate it!