Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful as it was just my parents and a couple of single neighbors who didn't have anywhere to go or people to spend it with either but in spite of not being around my two nephews, sister or either one of my brothers and their families we managed to enjoy ourselves and as usual ate lots of Turkey with all the trimmings, good conversation and no confrontations, a novelty in our house.

With this cold snap across the country, it really is feeling a lot like Christmas, at least the Christmas's I remember growing up in Missouri with the cold and snow.  Now that I am in Texas I really would like a warm dry holiday like the ones that prompted me to move here in the first place.  Don't get me wrong, I think snow is beautiful, when it's falling, as it lay on the ground sparkling in the sun or weights down the branches of the evergreen trees or bare limbs of the many other tree types common to the mid-west.  I was almost dreading the Christmas holiday this year, again, but with the birth of my nephew's new baby boy, Lucas, I looked forward to sharing  with him his first Christmas.  I have not been able to share the holidays with any children for a long while and it is an experience I have missed.  It seems, at the last minute they had a change in plans and like Thanksgiving, will be not spending the Christmas holiday with us either. 

 I do realize, it gets increasingly difficult, every year, to come up with a plan for all of the family to be together for the holidays.  As  families increase in size and direction, with marriages, divorces, boyfriends and girlfriends and their perspective families it is impossible to always be able to get together with loved ones regardless of how much you may want to be with them on those special days.  I remind myself of this when I start feeling left out or deprived of their company in anyway.  That does not lessen the loss but it helps me to put it into perspective.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and Santa brings each and everyone of you good boys and girls :) exactly what you want most.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I truly hope you all enjoy a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  I was thinking the other day about what I am thankful for and I came up with a decent sized list.  I am thankful for not having worse health than I have, my parents are still alive and in fair health, that my siblings are still alive and well or at least as well as can be expected in their circumstances.  I am thankful that I live in a country that I can make my own choices about MY life and that I have a say, as small as it may be, in what our country does or does not do and if I do not I have the right to protest without fear of bodily harm or death.  I am thankful for all of my family and friends, those I see regularly and those I do not.  I am thankful that I have things to be thankful for or that I realize that I have those things to be thankful for.

I hope all of you found your own things to be thankful for and don't forget to acknowledge them.

Here we are in yet another, hot and steamy summer in Texas .  With the temperatures in the upper 90's and 100's with no rain in most parts of the state to fill the tanks (ponds, to you non-Texans), there is a silent vigil being harbored for a cooler, wetter, fall and winter.  Normally, I would hear people talking about weekends on the river or at the lake floating, fishing or picnicking with family or friends but this year, many are staying at home and inside, out of the boiling, hot sun and heat that steals their breath away, with hopes the rain will come and fill the rivers and lakes once again. 

Not only are the humans suffering in this heat, the plants and animals are feeling the effects of the heat and draught as well.  The small farming and ranching operations are losing crops and having to sell off livestock due to the lack of rain.  Without rain, crops like; corn, soybeans, alfalfa, wheat, sorghum, rice and many grasses, coastal and otherwise, needed for feed for sheep, goats, chickens and cattle are dieing or not growing at all.  Without these crops, the replacement cost to purchase these feeds or having water hauled in from out of area or out of state brokers, is more than many operations and individuals can afford, forcing them to sell off livestock at a fraction of their worth in a suppressed market and at times, their homesteads.  Even with agricultural exemptions and local and federal programs to assist many smaller and some larger farms and ranches still can not make it, in the end  loosing out, some of these properties having been passed down through families for generations.

I know Texas is not the only state suffering this plight and I pray for relief for those as well.  I welcome any of you to pray with me for those inflicted by the draughts this year.   Pray, that God will lead them through whatever obstacles are placed in their paths and help them look with faith and hope to the future for better days through his grace and will.

So here we are in the middle of summer.  Here in Texas the heat has been unbearable while the ground drys out and the temps seldom fall below the mid 90's.  This, for me, has been a year of breakage.  My air conditioner went out the first week of June, followed by my water heater on the same day that my main water supply pipe broke  and poured water onto the ground under my house for six or more hours before it was discovered.  The riding mower has broken down more times than it has been used and my car failed inspection because the tires were showing the steel belt along the sides.  Then sadly, one of my pets died of kidney failure a few weeks ago. 

 In spite of all of these things going wrong in my life, there have been some good things happen too.  My nephew and his wife are getting ready to become new parents in a month or so for the first time. One of my neices announced she is getting married next June (if she can wait).  I started a facebook site where I was able to connect with my  brothers children whom I have not spoken with for way to many years as well as with an dear longtime friend that I have not seen or spoken with for several years.  I was also awarded my SSI Disability and should be getting my first check soon and be able to pay back all the people that were there for me financially over the last year and a half.  I have been working a part time job from my home through a company called NTI who does work with people who are home bound or have disabilities that prevent them from working at a regular facility.  It isn't much but it has helped.

In closing I would like to say, as hard as this year seemed as I went through it I still feel much more fortunate than many others and try to thank the Almighty as often as possible.  I look to my lord to guide me and give me direction when my faith is wavering and I am sure that is one of the reasons I am able to see the good in spite of the bad or unfortunate things that have been laid in my path.  Bless you all and thank you to those who have continued to contact me here with good wishes and words of encouragement and friendship.

Is there any one place I would want to revisit in my after-life, I think not, instead, I think there are many places. Places that my family visited or drove through on trips across the country, places that I was to young to remember, completely.

I remember little things, like, driving across a really long bridge/road that was practically sitting on the water. This is a difficult one as no-one can seem to remember exactly, where it was. My mother, believes, it was a memory from when I was a baby, around one and a half, when they took a trip to Oregon.  I have seen pictures of, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, and it looks a lot like the memory I have, so, who knows... maybe, they went through there on their way to Oregon.  I believe, when I die, I will remember everything from my time alive, even those things I would rather not remember.  I do recall memories of trips to Oregon to see relatives, going to the Botanical Garden (now called the Oregon Garden), in Silverton, and the coastal area in Oregon.

There are memories of, narrow cliff dwellings of the Pueblo Indians in Flagstaff, the beautiful red clay dwellings of the Sedona Valley, and Lake Powell in Arizona.  I recall bits and pieces of these things as well as, the windy city of San Francisco, California, the boat trip across to Catalina and the tour of Alcatraz Island and the prison there.

The trip to the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and up Pikes Peak in Colorado were unforgettable, and seeing Old Faithful blow, in Yellowstone National Park in California, now a distant and slightly blury, but special memorie.  All memories of our family vacations.

These, and many other vacation sites would be where I would want to return. I would return to relive my happiest of memories, both, as a child and an adult.

Deb Dobs
 

I have always wanted to live at the beach.  I feel more comfortable and “at home” there than any other place.  Walking along the beach, feeling the wet sand, cold against my soles as I pad along is like salve for my inner soul.  I can sit for hours, watching the sea gulls and pipers scavenge the beach for bits of food, listen to them call to one another in companionship or in warning and watch as they soar the skies bringing me a closeness with my creator like none other.  In the evening, I relish in sitting on the sand, listening, to the surf crash against the shoreline, if I am fortunate enough to have a full moon above, I can make out the foaming white crests of those waves as they follow, one behind the other until spent or pulled back into the deep in reconstruction for yet another run against the sandy beach.  When unable to be at the beach, I surround myself with pictures and figurines of beach settings, lighthouses, sea creatures and nautical fare. To achieve the peace needed to create or just rejuvenate my body and mind, my perfect room would be in a beach-side house, with walls of windows overlooking a picturesque Oceanside community, at the end of a long strand.  Maybe, someday, I will find my home, with the perfect room, with a view.