Happy Thanksgiving

My Christmas Gift-Along List

I got this idea from over at Niki's blog to list my URL with her to get more traffic and also keep track of my projects....since it requires reading I thought I would add it on this blog for some good reading...

What this “along” project is: Gift-Along is a blogroll collected with fellow gift-making bloggers. Blogrolls help blogs gain exposure and many times new regular readers. Every week, or few weeks, blog a post with your up-to-date gift-making list and photos of finished projects. Of course, some gifts will be top secret I imagine if you would prefer to keep something on your list hidden from possible recipients. Feel free to snag my image (right click–> copy image location) to use in your ‘08 GAL posts, and don’t forget to link back to this post so other may find this GAL as well!Your gift list can be of anything handmade; felt crafts, knit/crochet, sewing, you name it! The purpose of this gift-along is to get blogging crafters in general together.

My current gift-making list:

• a book crochet ....J
• crochet wine bottle......Lori
• sew apron western........Mary
• sew apron pig......Sandy
• kids apron set sew.....Ashley
• crochet birthday hat......group
• crochet apron for red hats gift
• sew bag for corvette club gift
• sew cat apron ....Gail
• sew apron cat......Alane
• sew apron bird houses....Lori
• crochet veg and fruit with flowers basket....Alane
• crochet small ????....for crochet group
• ?????????????? for red hats group members [something small]
• ?????????????? for Amanda

If you’d like to join this gift-along and want to register your blog URL, please do so in a comment over at the A-Team. 2008 GAL blogroll:

Happy Crafting great idea Niki

We Have A Winner

Congratulations goes out to fbartlett!!!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers: 27
Timestamp: 2008-11-01 17:22:54 UTC

She was out lucky winner ....

unfortunately we had to exclude "4cope" as there was no email or blog to follow, sorry!

Confirmed:

fbartlett.................. yes and mailed

Songs The Wizard of Oz and Thanksgiving Memories

Almost immediately after the Halloween, we turn our thoughts to Thanksgiving. The chill is even in the air here in So. CA with a little rain. Boy did we need that. One of my earliest recollections of childhood Thanksgivings comes from watching the Wizard of Oz on an old TV, black and white, in the parlor area of my favorite Aunt's house. My mom and dad and Aunt Mary and Uncle Harry would be in the kitchen laughing and yelling playing cards. It was a Sat night ritual for them and for me it was watching the the WOZ. In grade school we were making pilgrim hats and learning holiday songs to sing at one of our usual assemblys we had for the holidays.

A couple songs I remember - occasionally fragments will pop into my head - are Over the River and Through the Woods, which always reminds me of feasting, and We Gather Together, the quintessential “pilgrim” hymn.

Over the River is the newer of the two, written by Lydia Maria Child, remember her? She was kind of the Martha Stewart in her day. It originally appeared in a book of poetry, Flowers for Children, Vol. 2, in 1844.

Over the River, and Through the Woods:

Over the river and through the woods,

to Grandfather’s house we go;

the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,

through the white and drifted snow.
Over the river, and through the woods,

to Grandfather’s house away!

We would not stop for doll or top,

for ’tis Thanksgiving Day.
Over the river, and through the woods-

oh, how the wind does blow!

It stings the toes and bites the nose,

as over the ground we go.
Over the river, and through the woods

and straight through the barnyard gate.

We seem to go extremely slow-

it is so hard to wait!
Over the river, and through the woods-

when Grandmother sees us come,

She will say, “O, dear, the children are here,

bring a pie for every one.”
Over the river, and through the woods-

now Grandmothers cap I spy!

Hurrah for the fun!

Is the pudding done?

Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

How many of you remember that one?

How about We Gather Together it is considerably older, written in the 17th century, but translated into English only in 1894.

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;

he chastens and hastens his will to make known;

the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:

sing praise to his Name, he forgets not his own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,

ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;

so from the beginning the fight we were winning:

thou, Lord, wast at our side:

all glory be thine!
We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,

and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.

Let thy congregation escape tribulation:

thy Name be ever praised!

O Lord, make us free!

Some Book Reviews:

I searched over at Goodreads and found a critque on this book "Thanksgiving" book by Janet Evanovich

October 31st 2006 (first published 1988) by HarperTorch
256 pages
isbn 0060598808 (isbn13: 9780060598808)

What is it about:
When Megan Murphy discovered a floppy-eared rabbit gnawing on the hem of her skirt, she meant to give its careless owner a piece of her mind, but Dr. Patrick Hunter was too attractive to stay mad at for long. Soon the two are making Thanksgiving dinner for their families.

Since I love Thanksgiving and I like Evanowich's book I may get this one.

This next one is a real interesting one. I have not read anything by this author before either.

published 2006 by HarperCollins
416 pages
isbn 0060094435 (isbn13: 9780060094430)

What is it about:

Richard Bausch calls this, his tenth novel, "a love comedy with sorrows." The story is set in the small Virginia valley town of Point Royal, where several of Bausch's other novels and many of his stories take place. It is 1999; predictions of catastrophe blare on the radio, and religious fanaticism is everywhere on the rise. The millennium is approaching.
Oliver Ward and his divorced daughter, a young policewoman named Alison, and Oliver's two grandchildren become involved with Holly Grey and Holly's aunt Fiona, elderly ladies with a marked propensity for outlandish behavior. Holly's son, Will Butterfield, and Elizabeth, Will's second wife by that name, have been happily married for ten years but are about to discover how fragile happiness is.
And in the middle of all of them is an old priest, Father John Fire, who is a good man, thinking of leaving the priesthood. He is called "Brother Fire" by everyone who knows him, after the famous words of Saint Francis when confronted with the burning brand with which he would be martyred. Close to both Holly and Fiona, Brother Fire also has a part to play in the rapidly unfolding family drama.
Thanksgiving Night is a touching and empathetic portrayal of family$#8212;the one we have, and the ones we make. The people who populate these pages are flawed, wounded, stubborn, willful, scarred, often wildly eccentric, and all searching, in one way or another, for love. 1006