Our Thanksgiving Table

My husband read an interview with a British actor many years ago.  The actor had been temporarily living here in the U.S. while filming a movie.  The interviewer asked him what he thought of American holidays, and the actor replied that he really enjoyed Thanksgiving.  He said it had many of the best qualities of Christmas -- time spent with family and good food, but without the pressure of gift giving.  We had never thought of it that way before, but we realized he had made an excellent observation.  Thanksgiving is special, and we love it.

We have much to be thankful for here at Forest Manor.  We have each other, our son, our extended family, and Duncan.  ;)  We also have a home, plenty of food to eat, medicine, clothing, and money left over to enjoy our hobbies.  We are thankful, also, to live in a free country.

November Super Moon

The moon was so beautiful last night; was it visible at your house?  It seems like lately every time there's supposed to be something interesting to see in the night sky, it's too cloudy here to see anything.  Not so last night.  My husband said the super moon was actually supposed to be visible in the sky at 6:00 a.m. Monday morning.  As much as we would have liked to view it then, we were too tired to roll out at that hour.  ;)  We had a busy weekend.

Last night, we decided to go downtown for dinner, and the moon was just gorgeous on the drive there.  Mr. Forest Manor parallel-parked on the street (something I still can't do) and then he took some pictures with his iPhone.  I thought they turned out pretty good!

I'm Starting Early

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Our son, Will, got up lots and lots of leaves here while my husband waxed Will's car for him.  I made a double recipe of chili in the crockpot, and sent some home with our boy.  ;)  Here in North Carolina, there have been serious forest fires in the western part of the state, and we're all hoping the fire fighters will soon be able to get those under control.  It's so dry here in our Piedmont region; we just really need to get some rain soon.

Well I've always said I wouldn't start on Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but every year I find it harder and harder to get everything done in time, so this year I'm going to start early.  It feels a little strange, but next week is Thanksgiving week, and wow, I already feel like I'm behind.  I know, right?!

Autumn in Mitford

Hello Dear Readers.  Have you had a good week, and are you enjoying this lovely fall weather?  It's been beautiful here this week, but high temps. in the low 80's.  It looks like November out there, but doesn't really feel like it.

Today I'm sharing some more pictures from our visit to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, last fall.  This little town has been immortalized in Jan Karon's "Mitford" series of books.  A few weeks ago, I re-read the very first book in the series, "At Home in Mitford," and that reminded me I still have to show you the rest of the pictures.

Autumn at Biltmore Gardens

My husband took this past Friday and Monday off from work, and on Monday we visited Biltmore Gardens.  Our annual pass will expire the end of December, so we're trying to get a few more visits in.  We were last at the gardens for the spring blooms, which were spectacular, by the way.  We thoroughly enjoyed the fall offerings, too.

Checking In

Hi everyone.  I hope you've had a good week.  I'm personally wondering if there's another country I could move to, because I'm sick, sick of this election coverage.  So, I've been hiding out here -- 

Making Christmas Memories

First, let me say that I'm not one of those people who likes to rush the season.  Oh, I look forward every year to Spring and Fall, but I never start working on Christmas until November.  I may have to change that and start earlier, seeing that it seems to take me longer and longer to get ready these days.  ;)

I was asked to work with "Paperless Post" in putting together some of my favorite Christmas memories.  Some of you are probably already thinking ahead towards how you'll decorate this year and perhaps starting your shopping and baking.

We love Christmas at our house, and I loved it growing up in my parents' house.  If you can manage not to get weighed down with too much commercialism and not stress out over trying to make everything perfect, it really is a wonderful time of year.