TODAY WE GIVE THANKS.

What a day this has been, What a rare mood I'm in,

I could swear..It must be....Turkey love!

My daughter in law, Beth, came over yesterday and helped me set the table for the big day. At this stage of my life, I have a very difficult time getting things out that are in the lower cabinets ... that is where I keep the fancy stuff, and she's both petite and young (of which I am neither), so she was gracious enough to lend me a hand.

Once the tables were set, it was time for Boompa and me to go to work. I decided that it was time for him to learn to make dressing, so we accomplished this annual chore together last night for the first time in 50 years. Together we chopped, stirred and stuffed last night and here is the final result in the early stage sans Tom the Turkey.

We have discovered that the best way for the two of us to accomplish anything with great success in the kitchen when we're working together is to have a little help from our friend "Two Buck Chuck". For those of you who are familiar with Trader Joe's, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about ;-)

I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. this morning and woke up before it actually buzzed (that afforded Papa more sleep and that's always good for him). I also started the gravy by cooking the giblets and getting things ready for the final product.

Another somewhat strange tradition we have here at the Salazar household (and we have lots of those) is deviled eggs as an appetizer. The whole family loves them, so I was up early in order to hard boil 2 dozen eggs, and get them ready to be deviled so they would be ready when the family arrives.

Everyone arrived on time ( they always seem to when there is food involved) and immediately hit the appetizer table which had the deviled eggs, cream cheese with chipotle-chile-raspberry sauce on it, black olives and corn relish with jalapenos which Nicholas and Dayna always bring. Everything was delicious!

As soon as the snacking began, it was time for a little libation. We all gathered in the bar and discussed Thanksgivings past, drew names for Christmas gift exchange next month and had a Bloody Mary or two.

In case you didn't notice by the clothing, the majority of our family members are big time Cowboy Fans. Matt, Rachel's husband, is almost as big a fan as Boomps (he would be bigger if he had lived that long ;-) He and his Dad were friends of Tom Landry, so he has a very personal interest in "da Boys".

Of course there's always one in every crowd and today was Franklin's turn. He had to do his Chinese routine when he saw the lid to the ice bucket. Silly boy!

Boompa had a quiz for the little boys and when the "contest" was over, each one of them was given a monetary reward for right answers. He's such a good Boompa ... always has something special planned for the boys.

If there is one thing Frank loves, it's coats! Every time he goes to a department store, he comes home with another coat or jacket. We decided that we would have a shopping day at the "Salazar House of Coats", so the guys took their pick of 38 new or near new pieces of clothing for their added attraction and the price was right ... $00.00!

We will give the rest to a charitable institution and hopefully they will keep someone warm who is less fortunate that we are.

My only concern was how the younger ones might have felt since nothing would fit them. Ian decided that he could take several and grow into them but we discouraged it since he had about sixteen zillion sizes to go!
Once the "sale" was over, we headed for the kitchen and Papa and Nicholas went to work on the turkey bird. Nicky got the stuffing out of him, and then Boomps started to carve as Connor watched.

Even though I tend to set a very formal table, since we don't have someone to serve us, we gather in a circle, thank the Lord for our many blessings, and then serve ourselves from a buffet type situation. It seems to work better this way.

The young men still eat in the kitchen (that way they can misbehave and not be under our constant scrutiny) and we eat in the dining room. As they get older, they will "graduate" to the big table!




Those of us who are more mature (does that include Franklin and his Chinese hat???) sit at the dining room table with the crystal, china and candles, even though it's the wrong time of day to have lighted candles on the table according to Emily Post. I know that ... but I just love candlelight, even at noon ... so who really cares if I'm politically and socially incorrect on thanksgiving! It looks pretty!!!

I managed to max my plate out and everything was absolutely delicious!

It made me very very happy :-)

Beth made Potato Rolls, pumpkin bread and these absolutely adorable sugar cookies for the boys since pumpkin pie isn't their favorite (they don't know what they missed ... BUT ... that left more for us!!!)

Rachel made some of the most delicious pumpkin pies I've ever tasted (Boomps wanted the whole thing but I waited for the whipped cream!)

Nicholas and Dayna brought their wonderful corn relish with cream cheese and jalapeno peppers along with a green bean casserole. What more could one ask for!

We decided (or at least I did) that I would provide the turkey, dressing and gravy and the rest of the family could bring the rest. One of these days it will be their turn to do the whole meal, so they need to learn the ropes, so to speak. We won't be around as long as they will!

We polished off most of the turkey

and ate all of the rest of the food, so once we finished the meal, we decided that we needed a little fresh air and went outside.

I've always thought that Ian was a little monkey and he proved me right today!

Papa and Paco left for the football game and the rest of the family helped with the clean up. I'm so blessed. My back problems won't allow me to stand for any length of time, so my wonderful family always pitches in and puts leftovers in the frig, they do the dishes and leave my home like nothing ever happened today.

That's why I'm so grateful for digital images so I can remember and share with you this very special time.

Now that the "party's over", Harry, our youngest and smallest family member says, "Let's get the heck out of Dodge". He's tired of being an onlooker.

I'll leave you on a more serious note. I thank God daily for each and every one of you. I cannot tell you how much your friendships mean to me and to Frank. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and for all of you, we give thanks!

With love, Pcasso

BROKEN BOW, BIRTHDAYS, BON-BONS AND BABIES

The past few days have been busy ones for both me and Papa. If you remember from my last post, Frank went fly fishing in Oklahoma with his friend from church and they had a great time.


I assume that's where they went. At least they have the photographs to prove that they caught some fish. Oops .. what if they used someone else's fish and posed with them for this Kodak moment??? ;-)

Since the place they fished in Broken Bow was catch and release, he didn't bring any fish home but that's par for the course. All the places where he fishes in New Mexico have the same policy, so the joke around our house is, "Honey, I'm going fishing again and I think I'll take my pole this time" ;-)
If the fishing wasn't as good as they had hoped for, they certainly enjoyed themselves, just visiting and sitting in the jacuzzi. Nasser enjoyed a good cigar after a hard day on the stream while taking advantage the semi-mountain fresh air in the great outdoors in the foothills of the Ozarks.

They reminded me a little of the attorneys on "Boston Legal" at the end of a long day's work ... enjoying a scotch and a cigar and ... in fact, they even had a sleep-over!
While they were gone I painted my little fingers off. The first thing I painted was a calorie free treat .. a chocolate Bon-Bon. It makes me hungry just to look at it.

The next day I decided to add to my collection of bird paintings and painted "My Little Chickadee". I guess I should nickname him W.C. in honor of the infamous Mr. Fields.

Some of my daughter in law's friends (or as my friend Madge calls her, my DIL) took Beth to lunch at a sushi place called Pirhana Killer Sushi in the Highlands, which is a wonderful new shopping mall in Arlington, to celebrate her birthday on the actual day.

I think it's so great when young people get together and enjoy themselves. If memory serves me right, I did a lot of that in my younger days and it was great fun.

This little goodie is called Marry Me Roll and it looks delicious!

For those who are not 100% sure, there's always help with chopsticks when you need a friend. And then there are those who know exactly what to do :-)

Father Matkin, our Assistant Rector at St. Alban's, and his wife, Melisa, have just had their first child. She is a beautiful little girl named Madeline Grace. They are such proud parents and little Maddy is very blessed to have such loving parents.

We have another young priest who has joined our staff and he and his wife had their first child a little over a month prior to the birth of Maddy. What a blessing it is for us as a parish to have this new life as new members of our church family.
The day after Frank returned from his fishing expedition ;-) we had a friend come to stay with us. He lives in College Station and he and Frank have been football game buddies for many years (he's the one that Frank goes to the A&M games with).

This weekend was the beginning of the high school football game playoffs, so Robert arrived yesterday morning and they left for Texas Stadium at 10:00 a.m. and didn't return until 10:00 p.m. I painted the chickadee while they were gone, made Green Chile Stew and cornbread for them for dinner when the FINALLY arrived home and I was in bed by 9:30.
I have painted several things for Franklin and Beth's home, so she has sent me photographs of them hanging. It always makes me feel good to know that they like my work enough to want to hang it in their home.

This morning we went to church and they headed for Texas Stadium once again (last night I suggested that they take a bedroll with them and just sleep there!) The Cowboys played at noon today and they won ..YEAH! While they were gone, I painted this last painting of the last few days of my "paint-a-thon". It's a partially eaten Creme Brulee, one of my very favorite desserts.

I have to admit that it was a real challenge to paint. I thought it would be a piece of cake, but then, it was Creme Brulee, so what could I have expected!
I hope you have a wonderful week. I'll be having lunch with someone that I have never met before this week for lunch. She lives in Las Vegas and has purchased several of my paintings. Since she will be coming to our area for the holiday, I'm meeting her for lunch and I am really looking forward to finally seeing her face to face. we've been Email friends for several years and I can't wait to meet her.
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. I'll report on our family when the holiday is over.
In the meantime, may God bless you and yours. We all have so much to be thankful for and the thing that I am most thankful for is good friends like you.
XOXO, Pcasso