Thanksgiving

I was a little remiss this year with picture taking.  Not sure why, just lazy I guess.  But the day before was filled with cooking so maybe I was tired. Not! 

Really, the boys and I made four pies and the dressing the day before Thanksgiving.  And Mike was smoking the turkey so that was one less thing to do.  The cabbage (yes a family tradition is cooked cabbage) did not have to be made until Thanksgiving morning.

So, two chocolate pies made with help from Zachary:

Uh, new can of cocoa became a bit of a challenge.

Then Zane helped with two pumpkin pies. What you don’t see here is him putting the pumpkin in the bowl.  He would sling it out and some did hit the wall.  I think I did more cleaning than cooking.

But we got it done!  And Thanksgiving day was full of lots of family fun.  Centerpieces thanks to my sisters!

And of course the annual wishbone pull.  This little booger was slippery and hard to break.I finally had to get in there and help pull!

OK, just noticed I do not have a picture of Kathleen.  How did that happen???  Well, next time.  Love family stuff.

Flora and Fauna in San Angelo

Recently we took a trip to San Angelo to pick up pecans.  The pecans were not so good and the picking was slow and tedious.  But the area was beautiful.  There were so many different things to see and photograph. We were camped near Lake Nasworthy.  A really pretty lake.  I think this orange berry is from a Chinaberry tree.  Poisonous.  And the acorns were so cool!That little green pod is a pecan just about reday to drop from the tree.  See all of them in the middle picture. One day we went to town and saw the International Water Lily Ponds.  If you go to San Angelo, this is a must see.  Beautiful.This is one of the best visitors’ centers I have ever been too as far a beauty.  Wow.  I was amazed.   Here in Amarillo we have statues of horses.  In Plainview they have cows.  In San Angelo, sheep.  Ross, Deedie, Bruce, Jerry, and Peggy enjoying the views.They were putting up lights all over town for Christmas.  These in the bottom right pictures are giant poinsettias.  Wish I could have seen them lit up.There are lots of deer, turkey and other wildlife in the park.  Ants are abundant – and bit!  Fire ants.  I found out the hard way.A couple of times we were in the park when the Monarch butterflies swarmed in.  What an amazing site to see. Loved the early morning dew.  You could see some cool spider webs. One day we had a squadron of the Canadian Air Force fly overhead in formation.  There were nine of them but I only got pictures of six at a time.  And of course Bruce fished every day I think.  Here he caught a catfish.  Can’t wait to go back.  It was really a great experience.