Thanksgiving 2020 -

No matter where, no matter how, make the most of things 

this different year, and have a happy day.

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I may not pop up with new posts for a while! 

I'm now having to switch over to, and learn how to use, 

the new version of PicMonkey. 

With Adobe Flash being discontinued at the end of December,

this wonderful photo editing program of many years - I signed on at

 PicMonkey's inception - is changing.  Some of you I know have 

already managed to take the plunge and now I must do the same.

I'm no smart techie and I admit to not being a very patient

person. Put those two together and coming days, maybe weeks,

don't sound much fun!  

I'll let you know how it goes!

Meanwhile, once Thanksgiving is over, like most of you,

I'll be pulling out the boxes of Christmas items and

'hanging the greens'.

Life goes on - we must too!

Take a peek at Bisbee, Arizona. . . . . .

This is Bisbee, a short drive from my brother-in-law's home.

It's a historic place which became a renowned copper mining and smelting 

town following the demise of Tombstone which had turned into a ghost town

 by the 1920's.

The Lavender open pit mine is no longer in operation.

This area of Arizona is certainly different from where I live in North Carolina. 

Yes, we do have mountains in the western part of our state, however we also

 have trees and greenery as far as the eye can see, whereas here it is a dry,

desert climate and landscape.

We enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving with many members of our

 Arizona based family, and some of their friends. Now spending a few 

extra days sightseeing before heading home to get ready for Christmas!

Arriving in Arizona. . . . . .

Arriving in Tucson to bright sunshine, the drive south to the

 town of Sierra Vista certainly presented some very lovely vistas.

It's the desert though. It would have to do much more to entice me,

 an English gal from the land of cool, damp, rain, to stay very long! 

Family are here and have been for many years. 

We've been before but it has been some time, especially for me.

Thanksgiving Day will be special as there are several new 

family members to meet.

Giving thanks.

Hope you will be with your families and friends.

Giving thanks. . . . . . . . .at Thanksgiving

Today is beautiful outside.

What I would call a perfect Autumn day.

Here at the cottage we have noisy workmen repairing our deck and

 gazebo - wood rots after years of rain no matter how hard you try to preserve it.

We have been somewhat upset with the carpenter - he has not been here every

 day as promised, in fact disappeared leaving his tools behind, so the job is taking

 much longer than planned. Thankfully he is here today and has a helper so things

 are now moving along!

This morning I was totally stressed out and needed to get away from banging,

 drilling and sawing - so off to Eastgate Park just five minutes drive away.

Parked, walked through the woods, around the pond, sat and watched the

 Canada geese, sad that the ducks we loved now seem gone. I took in

 the Autumn colors now at their peak, the reflections in the water turning the 

landscape into amazing paintings only possible by Nature.

May your Thanksgiving be special tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving Day . . . . . .

Autumn Days are fleeting. . . . . . . .

I've just not had time to take many photos this season.

Being my favorite time of year I know I should be out and about, with

 my camera, capturing the beauty of Nature here close to home.

Instead I'm home doing things such as organizing, cleaning, planning......

all those mundane chores required to keep life moving along as the 

lovely sunny days pass swiftly by.

This collage, from a former Autumn, is one of my favorites showing the things

 I love . . . . . . so I'm sharing it again on this beautiful November morning.

Off now to plan what I need to prepare for Thanksgiving next week as it will be 

here before we know it.  

If in the US, are you home for the Thanksgiving holiday this year?

Thanksgiving. . . . . . . . . .

VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY 

                 TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

My kitchen duties are just about zero this year - we're eating out!

I hope your day is full of great moments as you feast together and

 recall the reason for this special American tradition.

Thankful for so much . . . . . .

Today we are celebrating Thanksgiving as always, but this year I'm 

taking a break from cooking the huge meal and we will be eating out.

Tomorrow, still stuffed from the traditional holiday delicacies, we'll head 

to the North Carolina coast for the weekend. With pleasant weather 

expected, we'll dress warmly and walk the beach, stroll the old boardwalk,

eat fresh from the ocean seafood, and join in the annual start 

to the busy Christmas season - beach style. 

I love this delicate china, in a rich brown transferware pattern named 

Petunia, from Johnson Brothers. Beside petunias there are fuchsia, dianthus, 

and sprigs of other dainty British garden flowers.

From what I've discerned online, Petunia was perhaps one of their first patterns 

and produced around 1885. At present, there seem to be very few pieces 

available to collectors here in the USA. The four Johnson brothers 

bought their grandfather's business, the famous Meakin china factory in 

Stoke-On-Trent, England, in 1882, and launched themselves into the dinnerware 

business, producing sturdy whiteware with glaze as fine as that on good porcelains. 

Following WWI, the company also began producing dinnerware that was a solid color 

throughout so that chips didn't show as badly. Business boomed to such an extent 

that by 1900, an additional five factories opened in England and brother Robert Johnson 

moved to the USA to handle the trans-Atlantic sales.

Johnson Brothers china company joined the Wedgwood Group in 1968 and, 

sadly, by 2003 all manufacturing operations were moved to China.

I own just two pieces of Petunia, one a dinner plate, the other a side plate.

In fact I've never really made an effort to collect brown transferware, my little stash

consists mostly of some antique blue, grey and black patterns. 

So, if you enjoy the lovely brown designs you must take a look HERE where

 blog friend Loi, at the beautiful blog Tone On Tone, is displaying his fabulous collection

of transferware - including an unusual shaped platter in the Petunia pattern.

 Loi is a Washington, DC antiques dealer, shop owner, designer, 

gardener, grower of topiaries, and photographer extraordinaire. 

I can honestly say I have never not fallen in love with anything Loi has shared 

on his wonderful blog. 

If you've not visited Tone On Tone yet, do so soon. I promise you will love it.

So dear friends, whether eating your holiday meal on priceless antiques, 

your every day china, or even paper plates, enjoy and be thankful.

A rather calm Thanksgiving. . . . . .

Here it is, the day before Thanksgiving and I actually feel relieved at having nothing

pressing regarding roasting, baking, setting, serving, cleaning, scrubbing, washing up.

You know, the myriad chores associated with producing a groaning table of food 

for others. Does that sound mean? Hope not. I am very thankful for very many things. 

Over the past 50+ years, in kitchens of my various abodes, I've produced those huge

meals requiring two days of preparation, followed by 24 endless hours in a hot kitchen.

My hair got frizzed from opening the oven while basting a big old bird I never 

tasted, all while trying to get the lumps out of the gravy with one hand and mashing 

rutabaga and butternut squash with the other.

I won't expound on the clean-up and dish washing late into the night, other than

to say thankfully my lovely man always insisted in helping with that part.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind the cooking, I love cooking, but these days I love it 

on a smaller scale.

Now, if not invited elsewhere - and I'd be only too happy to bring along a dish of 

something delicious - a restaurant is the place I want to be. Being a non-turkey eater 

I don't require a traditional Thanksgiving meal other than some great veggies, perhaps 

a nice portion of tasty meatless stuffing, cranberry sauce. . . . . . and the ultimate 

splurge for me, a slice of pecan pie with real whipped cream please!

 This morning. . . . . . . . calm, and quite delicious.

What did I decide to do early as I sipped my first coffee? As there's no big bird 

chilling in my 'frig requiring my attention, I baked a big batch of our now favorite 

muffins, The Mennonite Girls Can Cook carrot raisin beauties. 

See my recent post HERE for more on this fabulous recipe, and the link is there 

if you would like to make them. I measured all the dry ingredients last night 
making less work this morning.

The recipe makes 18 and they freeze very well. I store two to a bag

and freeze them until we pull them out for a morning breakfast or teatime snack.

Once again I used Trader Joe's lovely bag of mixed tricolor carrots - more interesting

than just orange. Tossed the remaining carrots, not required for the muffins, 

into a baking dish with a quartered red onion, a sweet red pepper, and olive oil, 

and now have a lovely roasted veggie dish to enjoy also.

Happy Thanksgiving preparation if you're the chef at your home. 

Hope you get some assistance and can then sit down and enjoy a lovely meal 

with family and friends on the big day.

Thanksgiving's simple pleasures...........

 Thanksgiving wish....may your day be beautiful.

Taking a break from blog land and hitting the road.....treasure hunting, enjoying the countryside during Autumn's waning days, sharing time with dear friends.  

Have a wonderful holiday. 

See you later.