What a good prospect for kitchen art.

(Thanks, Possum.)

Lyman knows his business. How sore can a middle-aged woman stay listening to Aaron Neville?

Buy for "You Send Me," sixties jazz background; "Respect Yourself," with Mavis Staples in background; "Let's Stay Together," because his and Chaka Khan's voices don't mix all that well; and "A Change Is Gonna Come," because he says so.

We have now taken 440 satsumas from the satsuma tree.

There are more.

UPDATE: Final count is 483.

Almost done. I still have the inside of one large bedroom window and the insides of the porch windows.

What isn't sore? Laying floor was easier on the muscles.

It must be all the reaching. Thank goodness we have only one floor.

I'm not quite done total, but I am done today.

Can't say I'm whipped, yet.

Hmmmm. Washing pleated shades.

Hmmmmm. Washing six-foot wide pleated shades.

I got your $4 tacky Dollar Store capris on.

I got your oversized "Splish-Splash" library t-shirt.

I got your sponge wand from Fred's and the soft brush from the hardware.

I got three days of warm weather to wash windows and blinds.

Oh, Lucy.

She has another egg this morning. That's four for November.

Paula Deen said one of my favorite things the other night.

She was working one of her shows and addressed a young woman, "You have a diamond growing out of your nose. Can you teach me how to do that?"

Let's talk about my 10-inch knife.

It would have been much harder cutting a head of cauliflower lengthwise with a smaller one, and it knocked out a minced shallot in seconds.

I still take it out of the block with a little trepidation, but confidence will come.

That bolster WILL become a problem in the long term, but in the meantime it is a nice knife to use.

For all the talk about keeping a knife for a lifetime, it can't and won't happen if a person uses and sharpens it frequently.

TIP: Because I am not confident with the knife, I always settle a large, round object on a clean dishtowel before I even try to cut, to stabilize it and prevent a slip.

Looking for something to serve for the luncheon Friday next, I tried the Two-Cheese Squash Casserole on this page last night.

A small serving would complement the stuffed bell peppers well, and provide that "over-prepared" holiday twist that people seem to like so much.

I'd prefer lightly steamed green beans with butter and lemon, but I'm serving others, aren't I?

I'll take you one better, Dr. Reynolds.

Sarah J. Hale established Thanksgiving as a holiday in this country. She lobbied Lincoln for it, if I remember right. She was editor of Godey's Lady's Book for 40 years.

She lived in a frontier time, and would advise women on the western front in economical ways to make their homes liveable. She provided patterns, so women could dress well.

She was widowed young, with five or six children, and wore black until she died. (It has been said that black was quite flattering to her, too.)

I don't have the paper anymore. My journalism degree is still not entirely worthless.

Men find the silliest things to argue about.

Back off.

We cooked roasted cauliflower according to a recipe in Cook's Illustrated, with a recommended curry sauce.

No, you can't have any.

We just picked another 20 satsumas to send to Lyman's sister. Lyman's parents will be eating there today.

That brings us to 340 that we have picked from the one tree so far, and another 100 or so remain.

I'll tell you one thing I'm NOT thankful for today, and that's turtleneck tops.

When I dressed the other morning to leave town the temperature was in the high '30s. I pulled out a long-time favorite little black turtleneck to layer under a crewneck sweater.

That black fabric up around my chin emphasized every line, wrinkle and incipient sag on my countenance. Applying mascara was a nightmare. Why, I looked like a turtle!

Time to start wearing a warm muffler that can be discarded indoors.

We'll just be two for Thanksgiving this year.

Chicken stuffed with a rice, sausage and mushroom stuffing, roasted cauliflower, and, um, something else.

No call for pity. We had a boisterous family gathering when Lyman's son visited two weeks ago, and there's plenty ahead for Christmas.

On this holiday, I am thankful for quiet.

And a good one to you, too.

I did something I have never before done today. (That I can remember offhand.) I went shopping with a girlfriend.

Glenda showed at 8:30 this morning and we drove to Monroe, LA, to the Pecanland Mall. She was working from her birthday and Christmas list.

There are some fine things about living in a small town in the South, but shopping ain't one of 'em. Oh, I can pop over to Natchez right now and find a lovely Victorian dry sink for your home, but it's harder finding a chic boot. Not that I wear boots.

It has been, I bet, 15 years since I've even looked at clothing for myself at Dillard's. What a sad note for a Dallas girl.

Glenda dropped me off at home at 6:30 this evening.

Three days of trimming and no casualties.

Here is the large oak, trimmed.

We have some very confused and disappointed squirrels around these days.

Go, Radley!

Lift2

More cool tool.

UPDATE: We rented this thing locally for $175 from Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. until 8 a.m. this Monday morning. We were warned that dropping a log on one of those hydraulic legs could cost about $2,000. The boys avoided that. One of our better buys.

And we will need it again to shave the suckers from a lot of limbs. The boys were too tired to do that this weekend.