Love is...

a boy and his aunt enjoying A Sunshiny Late Autumn's Day together

Thanks for the Idea, Abilene Public Library!

When you have a 9 year old in the house who is eager to do art and crafts, you try to get ideas from ANYWHERE.

City Sidewalks 2018

These things seem to get earlier and earlier, but it could just be me.

We try to never miss the Christmas Parade or the Lighting of the Tree, so we were there bright and early.

They obviously had some undesired trespassing while waiting for the concrete to dry....

We had to park quite a ways away, as our first destination was the Public Library downtown, where we were hoping to catch...

 the Bell Ringers!

 Then it was off to the bright lights of The Paramount to listen to the Abilene Community Orchestra as they played some popular Christmas tunes.

 With the little boy being just a smidge over 5 feet, it was much easier this time to watch the Parade from the perch at the Post Office building.

 I didn't take many photos of the parade this year.  I figured that I wanted to enjoy the parade and not worry if I would get any Blog-Worthy shots or not.

 The parade this year was longer than it had been in previous years, and so we started our way towards the Civic Center.  There were several Attractions on the Civic Center lawn that we hadn't seen before.

 Like this Dabbing Wolf.

 As usual, we got there as the Orchestra was getting ready,

 as the People filed in slowly..

 And the glee club launched into song... and dance.

 until it was finally time for the Mayor and his Entourage to light the tree.

 Of course, after that, the tradition is to go to the gym/hall and have milk and cookies..

 while we watched some acrobatics from the tumblers and cheerleaders..but the little boy obviously had much running to do instead.

 On our way back to our car, we stopped by the waterfall wall garden/nook, and hey, there was a Santa there, just daring us not to take a picture :)

Till we see you next year, Parade. Don't try to come too soon, though. :)

Lunch at Henry D's

except it hasn't been Henry D's for YEARS now.  It is now Sharky's Burritos or The United Deli or Starbucks, even. 

ANYWAY, we usually have Sunday Lunch there with Lin, and I realised that even though I have taken many many photos of our lunches at the table where we eat, I have never taken a photo of the actual food area, where we get our sides dishes.

So, Voila.

A Lazy Sunday Morning with The Boys

How disappointing ..

.. it is when the yearly custom ornament that one orders WELL AHEAD of Christmas arrives at your home, broken.

At least all I had to do was email a photo of the broken pieces to Customer Service, and they replaced one free of charge.  They even upgraded the shipping to Priority.

Thanksgiving 2018

Preparations started the day before, with the little boy helping to sort out the "squishy" cranberries from the good ones, and then the hubs coming along to help with the grinding.

While waiting for the last minute preparations to get done, we managed to watch most of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

We brought the Cranberry Relish, a Turkey and a Heath Choco Cheesecake Delight that the hubs had prepared to Oldham Lane to join the rest of the family, and Allen, who had been charged with counting heads, said that there were over 70 of us there for lunch.

For Dinner, we all congregated over at Stephanie's house to have leftovers and got to spend more time with the wild and wonderful Woods bunch.

Little Cubby Hole

I happen to like my cosy little cubby-hole of a work area.  I have a nice view of the "woods" and the sunset :)

Here I am, preparing some Social Studies lessons.

Hoy.

Everything's Bigger in Texas?

The new Nissan dealership out by the freeway has a Car Vending Machine.

Like, WHAT?!

A Scavenger Hunt

So, the little boy surprised me the other day when he said he was sending me off on a scavenger hunt, and there would be a nice little gift if I got all the way through.

My first stop was one of the outdoor cat-feeding bowls...

 The clue? "You must go to the ball of weight that hath ( oh my! ) my favorite color.

 Okay, so I knew there was a weighty ball out in the yard, and it was green, his favorite color of the moment...

 And lo and behold, the next clue right under it.

 "You need to go to thy helping object which you can't pronounce"

 And we all know that the thing which I have trouble pronouncing is "Saw Horse", from the infamous "Smashed Foot" incident, what with the "W"s and "R"s the way Americans enunciate. If I was back home in Malaysia speaking "British/Manglish" English, it would probably sound like "Soh Hoss" 

 "Take the broom at the wood, and brush the dirt away"

 Et, voila! A clue er, unEarthed.

 "Go around the car, back to here, and go to the scarred-up chair, your next clue will be there"

 Don't ask me why we have a scarred up chair sitting out.

 "Go to the  middle tree, and wait"

 Now this is one fancy clue.

 "If you get this, go to the truck and recite "Mary Had a Little Lamb" ( I have to actually WORK for this? ) It's the password.  You will find the prize inside."

 After some rhyming,  I was allowed into the truck, where I found my lovely prize waiting for me..

a comic strip, 

 and this lovely little caricature of me, complete with my piggy shirt.

Thank you, little boy, it was such fun :) And I LOVE my prize. It was well worth the hunt :)