My apologies for the protracted silence, but we've been in Tennessee, visiting Alex, Beth, and Hannah.  Actually, we still ARE in Tennessee....I'm typing this on Don's laptop in the hotel room, prior to our hitting the road.

What do you wanna bet the highways are going to be a bit crowded today? 

Not sure I've ever done the "drive home for Thuanksgiving" thing before, so this will be a new, and doubtless frustrating, experience.

We've had a super time seeing Alex, Beth and Hannah!  Will tell more about it later this evening when we get home.  ;^)

If you didn't get to see the final few minutes of the Texas Tech v. Oklahoma game, you missed what had to be the most tense nailbiter of an ending ever was.  Incredible! 

P.S.  Tech WON! 

If you've not been introduced to the phenomenal voice of Josh Groban, I
cannot urge you too strongly to go to Rhapsody or Yahoo! Music or
whatever online music source you prefer and give him a listen. 
Incredible.  His "O Holy Night" is superb, as is "Un Amore Per
Sempre", and the song I'm currently listening to, "Jesu, Joy of Man's
Desiring."

I don't know what Florida's done to frost the LORD, but were I them, I'd knock it off. 

Just kidding! 

Still, look at the forecast path of Tropical Storm Gamma, overlaid on Wilma's path:

Today it occurred to me, triggered by a friend's mention that her
father had died 24 years ago today, that this is the 25th anniversary
of the death of my grandmother, Modie Gambill:

I remember the last time I saw her was in Noel's Catholic bookstore on
Henderson.  She happened to come in while I was there, and she
delightedly let the store personnel know the baby with me - my
Alexander Beetle, who was two months old at the time - was her
greatgrandson.  Alex being the performer he is would flash the
older ladies a smile and they'd go all gooey and mushy over
him.  My last memory of Grandmother was her kissing baby Alex's
hand (she wouldn't hold the babies as she had low blood pressure,
causing her to occasionally fall).

That's a nice memory. 

She had polio as a girl and had feared she'd be permanently paralyzed;
the LORD was gracious to her, though, and she recovered fully. 
The only residual effect appeared to be a lifelong love of
walking!  She would regularly walk for miles. 

Grandmother was the best ad lib storyteller in the world, bar
none.  Her off-the-cuff tales of Peter Rabbit, the Big Bad Wolf,
and the other denizens of the Magic Forest kept Jeanne, Louis and me in
stitches for years.  She even went so far as to plant a small
orchard in her back yard, intended to be the Magic Forest.

Her dedication and devotion to Christ was a byword, and her presence at
daily services at All Saints' Episcopal church one of the few constants
in an inconstant world.  It wasn't surprising, necessarily, when
Canon DeWolfe, who was the rector of that church while Grandmother was
there, named her in a Star-Telegram interview as the only true saint
he'd ever known, but it was quite a bit more surprising when a man I
didn't know said the same thing about her in a Bible study class at
Christ Chapel a few years ago.

Your legacy lives, Grandmother. 

I still love you and miss you, and rejoice to think of the happy day we'll meet again.

Three more pix received from Jeanne, who is always so kind about making copies and giving them away. 

The Sisters Three, plus Kirstin and Bryson and Bethie, at Margaret's birthday party last month.

Darling Cole, with strange blue shadows....I tried to fix it there at
his neck, but am not terribly skilled at doing this type of photo
editing.

And my Bryson bunny!  Isn't he getting just too grown up for words?  =8^o

BTW, Alex called this evening and said Hannah took TWO steps and
probably might have taken more, only Beth got all excited and picked
her up.

Today I got to see Cole for the first time since he left the
hospital!  Can you believe he's eight weeks old this very
day? 

There we are, sharing a moment. 

Is he a poppet or what? 

Here's Cole with his Grandma. 

However, there was one critter present that didn't appreciate the attention being showered on Cole:

I think this is Indie, who was waving his paws frantically in an attempt to be noticed.  ;^)

Does anyone else occasionally take a sack of books down to Half-Price
Books to sell?  If so, does it seem to you they're getting
chintzier and chintzier in what they'll give for 'em?  Just took a
sack of books (individual titles, not groups in a series) to one and
received the miserly sum of $8.35.

Only once have I refused to take what was offered, as it's usually too
much of a nuisance to even think about hauling them back home again,
which is, I daresay, what they're counting on.  Still, they must
be paying 40 cents for a book they'll sell for six to ten times that
amount.  Nice gross profit percentage!  Most businesses don't
gross anywhere near that much.

Alright, I suppose "walked" is perhaps a teeny bit strong, but Alex
says she definitely took a step.  By herself.  No hands.

She was standing next to the ottoman and holding on, when she saw Beth
on the sofa, so she turned, let go of the ottoman, and took a step
forward! 

Then she presumably decided the old ways are the best ways, lowering herself to the ground and continuing on by crawling.

Still, I think taking a step all by herself at eight months old is pretty darn remarkable, says her Gran. 

I've seen the Jones soda display at Target or somewhere but never paid much attention to it, not being much of a soda drinker.

Are they cracked??? 

Welcome to the Holiday Pack of sodas, featuring:  Broccoli
Casserole, Smoked Salmon Paté, Turkey & Gravy, Corn on the Cob, and
Pecan Pie.

Mercy Maud!  And here I thought cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper was a reach.    Do you suppose anyone actually likes Broccoli Casserole soda?  Or Salmon soda?