Thankful...

It's been a long several days...days spent preparing for, and finally celebrating, my first Thanksgiving here at my home! As I sit here with a happy tummy, I thought I'd take a few minutes to express my gratitude to everyone who made it all worthwhile:

To my parents, in general, and my mom, specifically, for her help yesterday and today with our delicious Thanksiving meal. As always, mom, dad, your support and love is greatly appreciated and completely reciprocated.

To my Kurt, for his help today, as well as for the time and effort he put in over the past couple of weeks helping me get my house in order. I couldn't have done it all without your firm -- yet fun! -- motivation.

To Donna and "Pop" for the loan of the turkey roaster, the wonderful dishes you brought to share, and all the random, above-and-beyond, last-minute help you gave me!

To Noreen and Richard, not just for the tasty ziti and help this afternoon, but also, I was touched that you made the 3+-hour-drive-one-way just to spend the day.

To Rio and Joan for making, and bringing, my nephew! Oh yeah, and for the yummy pumpkin bread, help all day, and for carving the turkey. Like I said guys, once you have "the" grandson/nephew, you become chopped-liver...just kidding! I love you both and am thrilled that you're spending several days here!

To Tonya for taking a break in the middle of your busy work day today to join us. I feel honored when I think about the fact that your Thanksgiving day visits only consisted of seeing us and your son.

To Vincent, Jasmine, Charlie, and Autumn for sharing their Light...and Sammy, Cleo, and Chloe...for the joy and smiles you all bring me...

Hobos...

When I first moved here, one of the things I had added to my mental To-Do list was to go for a walk across the river by way of the train trestle. So, as one of my ways of celebrating Samhain -- by doing something new -- Kurt and I took the walk.

The view was lovely, but since all the leaves had yet to fall, all we could really see of the structures on my property was the barn roof:

There was an open hatch about a quarter of the way over the bridge and, of course, we couldn't resist seeing what was down below:

It being the 1st of November, the water was fairly shallow and one of the interesting things we saw in it is in the next photo. This ladder-like structure was about 10 feet wide and 40 feet long. Perhaps it's the frame to an old flat-bottomed boat?


...and just as a side note, the night before this walk, we celebrated the old year's passing by lighting a beautiful bonfire...

Flooring find...

Earlier this summer -- garbed like a HAZMAT tech in pants, long-sleeved shirt, work gloves, breath mask, and goggles -- I faced the task of tearing up the decades old, moldy, musty, dusty, water-and-other-questionable-liquid-stained carpet in the common room and stairwell.


With mental fingers crossed, I slowly worked my way section by carpet section and eventually revealed hardwood floors beneath that were in beautiful shape.


The only flooring that will need some TLC are the stairwell steps; even the stair risers are in good shape, albeit painted.


I have some old, undated photos in my "house history" box and these, plus the fact that the floor slats are narrow, make me think that they weren't installed too long ago -- maybe only 40 years ago. Still, I feel pretty lucky to have just the stairwell to refinish since you never know what you might find when pulling up old carpeting...