1. cook lamb
2. take pictures
3. open my heart
4. knit this sweater
5. make paneer
6. make saag
7. be brave
8. move my body
9. do SOMETHING big

It goes without saying, I suppose that I want to tend this little space better in the New Year. 

But this is our prettiest tree ever.

We're slowly slogging our way through ornaments and decorations.  It should all be done by this weekend.

The best part of the evening was when we put jingle bells on each of the dog's collars.  Three tiny reindeer.  Let the festivities begin.

We traveled to Atlanta for Thanksgiving this year.  Neel's parents have recently moved to the Peach State, leaving the cold white north for warmer climes and a new grandson.   It was a big family gathering, the kind you'd expect at Thanksgiving, and for us it was the first chance to meet Callum's new cousin and our new nephew.

There was lots of nephew playing, for sure.

We did some sightseeing...here's Centennial Park.

Neel and Callum took off for Coke World.  An interesting choice for a boy who's never had a Coke.  Next time I call, "CNN."

The Hindu temple took my breath away.  

It'll sound crazy to say that there was a subtlety in its shimmering opulence.  Layer upon layer of marble carved so intricately that you lose your eyes in it.  Cerulean skies make the perfect backdrop.

We skirted Stone Mountain, and lost Callum at the top.  I was too distracted to take pictures.

 
It's not hard to imagine losing a little boy in the face of that vast precipice, but we got him back. 

We're lucky, in Atlanta, to have a lot of friends as well as family. Some from college, some even from high school.  There were quite a few late nights over beer or wine, and I was too busy having fun to take pictures.

Did get some good shots of the boys playing pool, though.

My sister in law is originally from Honduras and her parents were in town for the holiday as well.  Lucky for us they did a lot of cooking.  So, of course, we did a lot of eating too. 

We had all of the traditional foods and some amazing Honduran fare as well.  That dish to the front, sort of at 9 o'clock?  Oh. My. God.  Merletons, and I need the recipe (although it sounds labor intensive), because seriously, I nearly fell face first into that stuff.  We ate around 2:30 or so, and sometime after six my sister in law's mother poked her head out onto the deck where we were all sitting around and talking.  "The turkey, he is feeling good now."  Good enough to eat a little more, that's for sure.

Gotta watch out for those turkey enzymes though!

Good morning sunshine!  I think that while everyone was participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), I was carrying the charge for NoBloPoWh...No Blog Posting Whatsoever.  I feel so accomplished! 

Truthfully, I needed a break.  I have been writing, and taking some pictures (Including a great shot of Callum's name spelled out in funyuns.  He has a whole post ready to go with that shot!).  I'm debating how much to say about our recent election (a bit late, perhaps, but for me the impact lingers), and how much to say about the state of my heart (I'm fine mom, really!).  We're headed further south for Thanksgiving (it was snowing when I got up this morning, can you believe it?) to meet a new nephew and see some family, so I'm going to lie low for a few more days.  You'll have all my attention, little blog, in the last month of the year.

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,

'Twould not be you, Niagara - nor you, ye limitless prairies - nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,

Nor you, Yosemite - nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyserloops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,

Nor Oregon's white cones - nor Huron's belt of mighty lakes - nor Mississippi's stream:

This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name - the still small voice vibrating -America's choosing day...

                                                     Walt Whitman, 1884

From our house to yours.  Go. And. Vote.

Autumn really arrived as I left my office for the last time today.  An impatient wind and sharply colder air.  On our drive home the skies were a leaden landscape, the kind of brushstroked shades of charcoal that herald winter.  Against the dull gray of the sky, the brake lights glowed vivid red.   It's been a cool fall, but the trees are late to change this year.

I'm heavy lidded and heavy headed and I have a miserably busy week coming up.  All-day meetings tomorrow and Wednesday, evening meeting tomorrow night and all-morning meeting Thursday.  All that and a head cold.  I am, predictably, already in my jammies.  So rather than just missing the posts (and feeling all of the ensuant guilt), I'm giving myself a bye-week.  Taking a pass on posting until I get through this quagmire.  I have some posts bottled up, but all of the October-themed entries (like an Oktoberfest party and our visit to Busch gardens - where we learn that Callum was really born into the wrong family) will have to wait until nearer November.  Catch you on the flip side.

I've been waiting ages for a Saturday like we had this past weekend.  Blustery and cold, all of us cozy and lounging.  There was reading (Harry Potter #4 for Callum and #1 for Neel) and knitting (baby sweater done, except for the seaming).

There was playing.

And house-guarding.

And wondering why the rest of us weren't as invested in house-guarding.

I followed the boys from the quiet of the living room to MarioKart in the family room, soaking up the sound of the rain and the time together.  And about that house-guarding?

That's better.