These are a few of my favorite things!

Stacey, So happy for you and yours this thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for. Take good care of little Charlie-girl, the news is warning that pets get too cold, but I'm guessing she sleeps with you. Such a darling little dog. She seems whiter now, did you bleach her fur? Or is it just the picture?

Awwwww......so many thanks, Send! Thank you....yesss....she's gorgeous still.....

Each of your memories have brought back some good memories of my own, so thanks everyone! We never got to go 'over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house' in the snow, but we sang it anyway.

All of your memories have reminded me that I also had some good memories of the past, so thanks for that!

If I forget, most happy birthday to your Mom on Monday!

BLACKDOGMINA, Nice memories, great looking Mom. Could not post on your wall just now, did you change it? Did the trolls come after you?
Hope you are good. That was such a nice post to read. Just started wondering where you've been, and here you are!

GardenArtist, fast forward 60 years, and if anyone dares talk about their old facebook comments, they will be drummed off fb with: THAT WAS IN THE PAST. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. THAT IS NOT HOW I REMEMBER IT. DON'T TALK ABOUT THE PASSSSTTT! THE PAST IS IN THE PAST.

Blackdof, those are fantastic memories! I have so many, they would be hard to list them all! My parents immigrated to the US from Wales in 1950, followed by all 4 of he siblings and their families, also my Nana's sister, her 5 kids and their families. To date, there are more than 60 of us, all products of that generation, tho all of the oldies, have now passed away. It is amazing to think that we all could well have been Brits, if only they had stayed in Wales! It was amazing growing up with all of those British customs, and because this New World was so fascinating to them, it was important to them that we did it all and saw as much of the western US as they could possibly see and do. Usually in caravan style, one car after another, to the Oregon Coast, California, into Mexico, with all of our Aunties and Uncles, and cousins. Every year, a new adventure was planned, and nearly every weekend, it was a new park, or camping, and we had a ball growing up! Oh, and they all immigrated to Seattle, and lived here their entire lives, amazing really! I do still have family in Wales. My Dad's brother, his wife and my two first cousins, who each have 3 kids themselves. I am now hearing murmurs, that they all will be coming over, for my daughter's wedding, God help me! Lol! They are Awesome, so I can't wait!

Been meaning to share this....guess it's on my mind right now because Mom's B'Day is Monday....she'll be 94! For her Big 90th we sibs threw her a magnificent party....delicious and plentiful food catered by her favorite restaurant, her favorite live band playing everything from showtunes and Big Band to the Beatles, Eagles.....custom B'Day cake decorated in her favorite colors....it was grand! The very BEST time! I am so glad we did this because less than a year later all the horrible medical crises started. But what I wanted to share is this: Mom's been happily retired in SW FL for almost 30 years. I was still working FT living 1800 miles North....knew I couldn't put this big affair together long-distance so googled party planners and found the most magnificent young woman. Kirsty (who looked 25 told me she was actually 42, married w/4 kids...lol) did a magnificent job. We started working in August for a late November party. Kirsty and Mom were like 2 peas in a pod....both little energizer bunnies. Kirsty spent hours and hours w/Mom (and me via phone, email, skype). The very BEST thing she convinced me to do was to let her produce a DVD (from Mom's numerous photos), along with soundtrack and captions, of Mom's life up to 90YO.....it's the most wonderful, fantastic, FAVORITE thing, and not just for me. The party room in Mom's condo had a large flat screen TV.....we played the 4 minute DVD in a loop thruout the party. Everyone was mesmerised watching it.....there's Mom's Grandparent's w/their baby daughter....Mom's Mom....in 19th C Ireland! There's Grandad in hat and goggles and big fireproof gloves sitting in his new open air car circa 1910! There's Mom, looking impossibly young and innocent, in the backyard modeling the coconut shell top and grass skirt that Uncle Ray, her brother, had sent her from New Guinea where he was stationed during WWII.....Mom and Dad walking down the steep steps of the church after their wedding, looking only at each other w/big smiles, the train of Mom's beautiful dress billowing out behind her.....all of us kids from birth to B'Day parties, Holiday events, graduations, weddings.....Mom and Dad in retirement.....Mom, still strong, independent, engaged in life after Dad passed.....one of my favorites: Mom and Dad in a Ballroom Dancing class (Mom's idea, of course!) Looking so cute....Dad w/long sideburns and big open-collared shirt...lol....remember the 70's?!
Anyway.....so very sorry to be so long-winded but obviously I do feel passionately about this very favorite thing! Urge all of you to consider it....it does not have to be terribly expensive and it can be a wonderful little family time capsule. I still bring my copy every time I visit Mom. Her ALF has several little private lounges w/wide screen TVs. Sometimes its just me and Mom....sometimes w/good friends, my sibs....to this day, everyone is still fascinated....we play it over and over and Mom still recognizes everyone....she'll point at the screen and call out people's names....don't think she remembers from time to time having seen it before BUT.....that's all good.....it's like a sweet new surprise for her everytime.

What movies? Were there movies at the drive-in?

Glad and Stacey - aha! So you don't remember the movies or the bad speakers, but I'll bet you remember the BFs, right?? I don't think we ever forget those first boyfriends and our entry into adulthood.

Stacey, I had forgotten about the swings at drive-ins. I do remember those were special nights out with the family though, as were the times Mom packed a picnic lunch and we went to a state park. There was a special, tantalizing fragrance and sense of bonding with nature as we crossed the bridge in our little rubber slippers, waddling with our inner tubes around us, and began to smell the water

I still remember baked beans eaten at a picnic bench in sands at the end of evergreen stands. Some smells like the baked beans, hot dogs and hamburgers just evoke certain memories like picnics.

You have some great memories of your family, loving, warm, caring and together.

And it seems like we all remember the drive-ins. It's a reminder that the younger generation never experienced that excitement, as it was for us.

But maybe they can get excited about staying in touch with family via SmartPhones and Facebook......I'm so excited! Today I shared a photo of myself with my cousin on Facebook!

Years ago there was a movie titled Bladerunner, in which the star Harrison Ford fell in love with a "replicant", an artificial life form virtually indistinguishable from humans except that they had no ability to create or retain memories, functions which only humans had.

While a lot more complex than just this distinction, the fascinating aspect about memories being created and retained as the difference between the two races holds a lot more meaning than just science fiction. Scientists used to exclaim the complexities, especially when addressing mammals such as elephants which also form memories and linger over a deceased member of their herd's bones. It was amazing to me that they knew who their former friend was by smelling the bones. We aren't the only species that creates and retains memories.

Fast forward another 60 or more years when young people today have family gatherings and discuss their Facebook postings as family memories. Or maybe by then family gatherings will be obsolete and everyone will communicate through wireless devices - they might not even see their families anymore....no "over the river and through the woods", no hugs and kisses, no cuddling the little ones.... I'm glad I won't be around then.

Starbucks have drive-throughs, and the new donut store too! What we need is a drive-by, drop-off granny-care. Instead of daily, or regular day-care, it is without appointment, on your way to the store, a shorter duration, and then you just pick her up on your way home.

Remembering drive-in movies! Would be great to take our grandmas today, it would be easier so she couldn't get out in public, but still get out to a movie.
Bring back the Drive-ins!!!
Imop, technology is partially responsible for isolating people more and more.

There is still a drive in near my town, but last time I went (ages ago) you listened over the radio, no more speakers.
As teens my girlfriends and I used to load the car up for movie nights, there was a boy from our class who earned extra $$ cleaning peoples windshields, everybody seemed to know each other. Of course we brought in booze and our own popcorn...cheap night out! The first time I saw Rocky Horror was at the drive in, can you picture a bunch of giggly girls dancing The Time Warp around the car LOL!

Holidays were always incredible in our family! My Dad had always worked in managerial/buyer type positions, the Manager of a large variety store, when I was under 12. He was given so much from the salesmen. With them knowing that he had 6 kid's on one salary. Every Christmas, when All of the presents were opened, then my Dad would emerge from his bedroom with even more gifts, saying THIS IS THE LAST YEAR, that he could do this, as he Never knew hen that gravy train might end. But ya know, he continued this ritual til the end of his life, always ending Christmas with just a few more little presents, that he had picked up cheap over the year! He was such a terrific Dad! So loving and kind to everyone! I only wish you all could have met him. He was that lovely! My Mom too, but gosh, she worked so damn hard, raising 6 kid's! I don't know how she did it! But we always had great holidays! And Music, Music filled our home all year long, but especially Christmas! My Dad had an Extensive record collection, mostly Big Band. And alot of Christmas! Great Memories!

Oh ,I Loved going to the Drive in! Our Dad would load up the car, all 6 kids in the station waggon! Playing on the swings, under the big screen, before the movies started! Eating Homemade popcorn, and flasks full of hot chocolate! Falling asleep in our PJ'S, and Dad. Carrying us into the house after falling asleep during the movie! Then years later, Going to the same drive in, with boyfriend's, and making out during the entire film, what was that film anyways, Lol! Good Times!

YES, GA! I'm sure it must have been at least 100 years ago! The speakers not working was definitely a pet peeve. But once you are in high school, going with a boyfriend, speaker? Who needed it!

More favorite things....reminiscing and remembering old times and cultural aspects now seen only in museums....

A photo on the Weather Channel website reminded me of the days of drive-in restaurants. We ordered through a microphone type set up, then a woman in a short skirt roller skated out to bring the meal, usually great big hamburgers and thick milkshakes. Ted's Drive-In restaurant was one of the favorites.

Anyone remember the fun of going to outdoor drive-in theaters? Of getting popcorn at the refreshment center, hoping you could find you way back to your car amidst rows and rows of cars, and hoping that the microphone thing that fit inside the window was one that actually worked?

If you were a child perhaps you fell asleep during the movie. Mom and Dad brought pillows and blankets, and you napped through the last feature.

And the previews, and news in black and white at indoor theaters? The smell of all that popcorn, the sense of excitement as the lights dimmed and the movies began?

It seems like that all took place a hundred years ago.

Mina, your description creates a lovely, poetic vision of the first snow. You've accurately sdescribed my feelings as well. I would also add that there's a wonderful freshness in the air; it smells so clean, even with the faint fragrance of wood burning in a fireplace somewhere down the street.

I'm having visions of living in a log home in a rural area, surrounded by forests of pine adding their exotic scent to that of the fresh winter air. A fire, even an artificial ones, creates warmth inside. Folks are either cuddled up in warm quilts or huddled up with their pets. It's so, so peaceful.

Even when the power goes out, it's still peaceful.

The first snow of the season....everything so hushed....all the tree branches covered....big white puffs on the evergreen branches.....like living in a snow globe or.....the middle of a big bag of cotton balls.....lol....easy for me to say since I could stay home today....8-14"....Winter Storm Warning....dropping temps....ice and power outages....oh, shame: how quickly a fave can turn into a major peeve!
View off back deck at twilight....still a fave!

Cheese strings. Yes, I admit it, I like cheese strings. Seriously, it just tastes different than plain cheese and you get to play with your food!

I also googled mackerel sky. I was rather surprised because this is the cloud formation that made me think it looks like a tractor drove over the clouds. Now I have a new reverence and the meaning of these clouds.

Jude, I googled mackerel sky - it's stunningly beautiful, as if designed by a talented painter and painstakingly transferred to canvas. The clouds are so proportionate, as if measured mathematically. Just letting my mind wander, I'll bet some scientist has figured out an algorithm to define and predict placement for those kinds of clouds.

I haven't seen too many of that kind here. Someday I'll spend some time learning about clouds and how to interpret them - they provide so much calm, beauty and diversity.


Glad, what happened to the dibble? I hope you aren't giving up on bulb planting, especially since now is the time when we dedicated gardeners are out rushing to get in the last 200 or bulbs we bought before the storm predicted for tomorrow.

Other favorite things:

Connecting, bonding instantaneously, with someone you've never met over topics in which you both have passionate interests.

Yesterday a woman in the dentist office asked me if my father was a pilot. She saw his B-29 hat on the cloak rack. She related that she had seen the inside of a B-29, including the cockpit, at a military museum and was fascinated by its complexity. Her father was WWII Navy man. We quickly began chatting as if we were old friends

A few months ago I was waiting for my father at one of the VA clinics, indulging in a favorite indoor passion of browsing through gardening magazines and drawing sketches whenever something inspired me. The woman next to me began a conversation, she too being a dedicated gardener.

The path of our discussions segued into hypertufa creations, which I told her was something I planned to do to create my own pots and other plant holders. She offered a caution; a neighbor spent a lot of time making hypertufa creations, ended up with severe respiratory problems. I suspect she didn't use a mask when working with the cement.

It was otherwise a very pleasant conversation, but it was also a caution to be careful when working with Portland cement, something I would have done anyways. But it was sad that a dedicated gardener suffered the side effects.

(BTW, this woman had also brought her father for treatment, so we also spoke a bit about our fathers and their service.)

No more dibble.

MMMM GA I Love what we over here call a mackerel sky when the clouds feather in a similar pattern to the fish. I used to live in an area where the sky was red every night ....shame it was the steel works not nature!

Favorite things....watching the fascinating cloud formations, especially the blend of dark blueish grey clouds lightened by adjacent silvery clouds, and sometimes set off by pure white clouds as fluffy as cotton.

Thinking I might have a new profession - trimming trees for the rangers so I can get some pines cones for free.

Or maybe I can go out to a tree farm and ask for the branches they throw away when cutting trees for the holiday season. The aroma of all those trees would probably put me into a frenzy.

Pam, when I brought the pines into the house, they had been washed first outdoors in warm or hot water- I don't remember which because water that's too hot will cause the scales to open, and I didn't want them opened too much. Then I baked them in the oven at a low temp to kill any other unwanted guests.

I can only guess how upsetting it must have been when all those little critters started exploring your house! That did happen once when I brought in some juniper branches to decorate the kitchen table and after a while noticed little red spiders crawling all over. Yuck.

I suspect evergreens for sale have been sprayed, which I really wouldn't want to do.

However, Hope, are you extending an invitation to visit your Pines? (hint, hint!)

To bad your not next door to me, we have Canadian Pine! We could keep busy!

I brought pine cones in the house one year from our yard. And they were full of nasty bugs! Back out they went! Now I pick them up and let them sit in the garage for awhile

Hey, its almost christmas. There are bound to be some pine boughs for sale, if you're cheap like me there may be some freebies trimmed from the bottoms of the trees.