The rain had stopped–for the most part.  As we sat at breakfast, Sylvia observed, “Another gloomy day.”  It is, and that makes it a typical winter day in west Michigan.

The good news is that the cloudy skies help retain warmth.  Our winters are milder than they would be otherwise.  To me that’s a good deal.

This reminds me of what the old New England yankee is said to have said, “I’f ya cahn’t stand tha wintahs, ya doe-n’t desuv the summahs.”

We had both of our vehicles in the shop this morning.  Each had a stone peck on the windshield.  Now, they’re fixed!

At lunch today, I said, “What if all this recent rain had been snow?”  Sylvia responded, “We’d be in snow up to our knees.”  I then said, “I was going to say up to our ears.”

It has rained.  A lot.

A couple of weeks ago, I left a Facebook comment on the page of friends that live in Puerto Rico.  I said that I was dreaming of a green Christmas (it’s a popular song of the season in PR).  The response was, “Pack your bags and come on down.”

Shortly after, unseasonably warm weather invaded our corner of the world.  With it came rain.

The scene today looking out the office window.

Just checked on weather.com.  Looks like I’ll get that green Christmas right here at home.  I can stand it.

This weather should help us with a lower heating bill this month. :frolic:

Thanks to my friend, Roy, who sent me this Charlie Daniels clip.  I hope you like it too.

Pray for our country and its people.

Yesterday, our good friend, Vanilla, features “People Watching” on his blog.  In particular, he reported seeing Superman at their local supermarket.

That post got me thinking about my favorite superhero, Batman.

No, I have not seen the Batman in our part of the world.  But it did set me to thinking about an experience that James from Fremont, Nebraska reported.

James was at work when he overheard a heated conversation between two other employees.  They were arguing over who was the greatest superhero, Superman or Batman.  Temperatures were rising when the Batman fan said, “Of course, Batman would win.  Batman is real and Superman isn’t!”

James shook his head and walked away.  He carried with him a memory he’ll never forget.

The change for our church Website went very smoothly.  I had done my homework, and there were no nasty surprises.  That was something to be thankful for.  Lots of tiny jobs have kept Sylvia and me hopping this week.

Yesterday, Thursday, was the high spot of the week.  Two of my sisters were here along with a brother-in-law.  (The other sister and her husband is in Florida.)  After lunch, we were getting to the end of a game of Scattergories when Bryant and Barbara (son and DiL) showed up.  Wow!  That was great.  We sat the game aside and spent the rest of the afternoon in pleasant conversation.  Okay, we did take time to eat some pie–chocolate or cherry-rhubarb.

After a light supper, Sylvia and I were watching Despicable Me 2.  The phone rang.  It was Briana (granddaughter).  That put the whipped topping on the chocolate pie.  She had just finished her twelve-hour shift and was walking home.  It had been the quietest day that anyone at the hospital could remember.  One person had been there over twenty years.  Briana had started her shift with only three patients and ended it with just one.

Today, the community celebrates Christmas Around Town.  Our church participates and Sylvia has been there since she finished her early breakfast.

Sunday morning, the sun is bright and the sky is clear.  Early-morning gunfire had announced the opening of deer season with firearms.  No, there was not a single deer in sight.  What would you expect?

Less than a week earlier, we had watched a four-point buck cross our lawn, turn and go back.  That was nice.  We don’t see many with antlers.  Most of those boys are very shy.

As I looked at the “woods,” I saw an interesting anachronism.  Maybe you’d call it a reverse anachronism.

Can you see the cross roads in this jungle?  Me neither.

Wednesday was a “get outside in work in your shirtsleeves” kind of day.  So that’s what Sylvia and I did.  We got a lot accomplished.

Then came Thursday, and with it came cold, rain and wind.  Heavy winds shook the corners of the house.  It was a day to curl up in a comfy chair with a good book.

In the past, we have purchased Thai soup.  It comes with all the dry ingredients in packets.  These are placed in a plastic soup bowl with a fistful of rice noodles.  I saved nutrition labels from a couple of these and noted the ingredients.  (Do you ever do that?)

We then reverse engineered the soup.  Our goal was something hot and spicy and a bit more to our liking.

Thursday for lunch, Sylvia made the first try.  It was great!  She had fried some bacon for the baked beans we would have that evening.  After pouring out the leftover fat, she poured water into the pan.  Into that went, onion, finely minced celery with leaves and carrot (pre-cooked in microwave).  Bits of bacon pieces went back into the soup pot, followed by curry powder and cumin to season.  She used very fine rice noodles, which she boiled and rinsed with cool water.  After the noodles went in the soup and came up to temperature, we ate it.  Every bit of it!

That evening, the baked beans were delightful.  That, however, is another story.  Perhaps for another day.

I had planned on sharing this image with you at the end of October.  That was overtaken by unfortunate events.

I stepped out the back door, camera in hand.  I wanted to capture an image of the autumnal evening, which was dominated by a cloud-obscured moon.  The mood was fitting for the season.

It felt good to step back inside.  There I was safe from the sights and sounds.  Safe from things that go “BUMP” in the night.

Time to crawl into bed and pull the covers over your head.