Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving, and 2010 may have been the best ever.


I prayed we would have good weather so we could all be together at my mom's and have room by being inside and outside too. It was a beautiful day and all 16 adults and 8 chidlren in my extended family spent several hours together. Some came in costume, as pilgrims, indians, and even a pirate.

Visitors

Erik and Carrie brought Cara and Libby to see our new house after school yesterday. Actually signed Cara out a bit early, during math, she told me. It was so fun to let them explore inside and out on their own (loosely supervised). They fed the ducks, of course. And ran up the stairs to the bonus room first thing. They played dress up and ate snacks. I was really glad they came.

I had lunch with a visiting family court judge from Spartanburg yesterday too and got to show her around a bit. That was fun too. Nice to be back in Family Court, observing how they do things around here.

Big day ahead. 2nd Annual meeting of the South Carolina Collaborative Law Institute in Columbia at lunchtime. Better get ready and hit the road.

O Christmas Tree

The Burketts have turned over a new leaf. We, who sometimes hardly decorate for Christmas at all, have already put up three lit trees in the backyard to reflect in the pond. And sure enough, someone Alan works with who lives in our neighborhood asked him today if those were our trees. I like it so much I want to put a forest out there.

Urgh....

terrible, terrible football day. Too bad I can't stop caring. That 4th quarter was painful to watch.

Book Review

It is SO AWESOME to have time to read for pleasure again. In 2, maybe 3 days, I read Girl With a Pearl Earring b Tracy Chevalier. Well written, interesting tale set in late 1600s Holland. I'm not great with Dutch names, but that lack doesn't distract or hinder me from enjoying the story.

Swim report

Did you know that swimming makes your ribs hurt? OK, not technically my ribs, but it does hurt to take deep breath. But I was back at it today, another 35 minutes. At least I don't hurt anywhere else, and maybe my joints are getting more limber.

The ladies in the Arthritis class while I was swimming said I was very "smooth." My crawl is getting better, but I can only breath on the right side and I have to THINK about breathing out through my nose and in through my mouth. Today I strung together 2 laps of each stroke - back, side and crawl. Not 6 in a row, just 2 each.

Swimming - Day 1

I made it to the Y this morning to workout for the first time. I spent 45 minutes swimming in lane 1 - back, side and crawl strokes, and treading water. And resting in between. 8:45-9:45 seems to be a good time to go. There were about 20 people in a water aerobics class in one corner of the pool, but no one near me thankfully. Sharing a lane sounds like the scariest thing on earth to me right now. I kicked the steps twice. Imagine getting tangled with a fellow swimmer. Yikes!

Weekend Report

Time Change: loving it! See Gr8NGwd for a fabu pic I took last week. Same view this morning, from the bed at 8am. So nice to sleep in my own warm bed. Yes, I put the electric blanket on it already.

Clemson football: Glad I went to the game Saturday, although it was COLD and both teams played poorly. Still, a win is a win, and Carolina went down spectacularly so it was a good football day.

GTR: the organizers of our favorite tandem event announced that May 19-22, 2011, we will be riding in Macon, GA. Great! I hope to get in LOTS of riding between now and then.

Friends: We have great friends. SO looking forward to a visit from Wayne and Sarah next weekend.

Family: We have a great family. SO looking forward to Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday.

Just grateful, thankful and SO aware of how blessed I am. This time of year brings that on for me reliably. And I'm glad.

My friend Jay

You have to hear this story.

OK, actually all the life change stories are amazing. Yeah God!

November 1

Well, I don't know what is great in Greenwood lately because I haven't been here. I left on Thursday to go to Columbia and meet a friend from law school. Friday we drove all day, up through the Shenandoah Valley, to Washington, DC, for a conference on Saturday and Sunday morning. Back to Columbia late yesterday and home this morning. Stopped in Ninety Six to check on Hopson and meet Alan for lunch. Home for an afternoon nap. What a great life!

I cannot describe how beautiful the drive up was. Plus the weather while we were there was perfect. No, I did not take part in the Jon Stewart rally for "sanity" but I did see some amazing Halloween costumes on people.

Now it is November and all the things I said in Sept and Oct I'd do "in November" well, it's time to get started, I guess. The 13-16th Wayne and Sarah are coming for a visit from Denver as part of their November road trip. We are looking forward to that.

Apparently I missed a most excellent football game (Ninety Six at Ware Shoals) Friday night. Another disappointing Clemson game on Saturday. Glad I didn't waste any time or effort on that. Alan said he gave candy to about 150 trick or treaters Sunday evening and our neighborhood had 2 cops directing traffic. Sorry I missed that.