Thanksgiving 2006

This is our first Thanksgiving alone, now that the nest is empty. (By the way, I was at Goodwill yesterday and saw a t-shirt that said, "The nest isn't empty until all their stuff is out of the basement!") We are having a scaled-down Thanksgiving and will plan on snacking on leftovers all weekend.

I decided to try something old, something new, something borrowed, and something true. The "something old" is my infamous three-bean salad, which is actually a four-bean salad by the time I am through adding onion, green pepper, seasoning, and garbanzo beans (chickpeas). I have made three-bean salad every year and am always the only one who eats it. I'll try to talk Mom into taking a taste, but something tells me I will be enjoying it alone again this year.

The "something new" is frog eye salad. I've never made this before, but liked it a lot when I tasted it earlier. I had a recipe from Grandma O that looked really good. But I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to use the entire box of pasta, so wound up with enough frog eye salad to feed the ward. I hope mine turns out to be edible, or a lot of frogs are hopping around blind for nothing.

The "something borrowed" is deviled eggs, borrowing Lindsey's famous recipe. My first attempt was a mini-disaster. I guess I boiled the eggs too long or didn't cool them adequately before shaking them in the pan to crack the shells before peeling them. Or maybe I shook the pan a little too hard or too long. Anyway, when I lifted the lid, all I saw was yellow mush. It looked like the eggs had been through a blender! My second attempt was much better and my eggs look almost as good as Lindsey's.

The "something true" is my potato salad. This isn't really a traditional Thanksgiving salad, but potato salad happens to be one dish I make that is pretty tasty and usually turns out well. So why mess with success? I think it turned out okay again this time, but really need Laura and Jenny Liu here for taste testing. And now you see why we will be snacking on leftovers for the rest of the week.

I missed having everyone here, each person making his or her favorite dish and trying to find enough room in the kitchen and refrigerator to prepare and store the food. It was a lot more orderly, but not nearly as much fun, making the dishes by myself.

I am very, very thankful for the gospel and for each member of my family. My heart and prayers are with you on this holiday and I look forward to visiting with you in Utah for Christmas.

I went to the animal fair ...

When Mom and I went to the Blank Park Zoo recently, she took a lot of photos (surprise!), including a couple of me visiting the prairie dogs. Remember the glassed in enclosure you enter by crawling through a tunnel on your hands and knees -- like the prairie dogs -- and then stand up in right in the middle of the burrows?


Here you can see me making friends with a couple of the little critters ... and getting really friendly with one who seemed to want a kiss!

Emptying the Nest

I realized in looking through some old photos that I never shared our final moments with Lindsey as we dropped her off at her apartment in Rexburg when we took her out to school in July.


As you can see, Mom and I are really looking forward to the "empty nest" years and Lindsey is excited about school.

A walk at Gray's Lake

With the change back to standard time, it gets dark in the evening much quicker now. The other night we went to walk at Gray's Lake, which is rapidly becoming a favorite place for us to visit. We arrived around dusk and soon found ourselves walking in the dark. This gave Mom the chance to take some unusual pictures of the colored lights on the bridge walkway and of some spider webs built under the walkway lights where the flying insects congregate.

A mosiac of light patterns on the bridge

A hungry spider anticipating dinner

Catching fluff, but no dinner