Thanksgiving

 We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday yesterday… E and her crew were out of town, and we missed seeing them a lot, but B, K and J were here and we had a wonderful, relaxing day. 

I forgot to take any pictures, of course, but B took a few pictures of M with her new rescue dog and I especially love this one. 

Now it’s on to the big Christmas push.

 I have to say I’m not looking forward to all the Christmas “extras”, (shopping, cooking, more shopping, more cooking, oops forgot something… which means still more shopping), but I am looking forward to the joy, memory making, and happiness of the season. 

Mother Cabrini Shrine

After making a few trips up to Lookout Mountain over the past year or so, snd becoming familiar with the area…R decided she wanted to climb the steps up to the huge statue of Jesus at Mother Cabrini Shrine. We’d visited the shrine before but never made the trip up to the top… I knew M wouldn’t even try because of his anxiety around steps, and I didn’t feel right leaving him behind. 

Yesterday though I decided we’d just give it a try. M was unusually agreeable to going and I reassured him over and over that he didn’t have to climb the steps… he could wait in the car, climb part way and wait for us on one of the benches along the route, etc. Incredibly he didn’t argue, or insist we go somewhere else, so up we went. 

M did end up waiting below while R and I climbed to the top (300+ steps) and he did fine… The trip up was definitely worth it.. the view was SO beautiful, and it was peaceful, serene, at the top. It felt like a holy place. 

We stayed long enough to say a prayer for the family of a dear friend of ours who passed away last week then made the trip down. 

I’m pretty sure we’ll do this again.. After seeing the stairs and the photos I took from the top, M has decided he might like to try going at least part way up next time, and R definitely wants to go again. 

It was a lovely way to spend the day… 

Nighttime stroll

 The kids and I decided to take a walk after dinner..

It was already full dark when we left the house and the moon was amazing… big and full on the horizon. 

We found Jupiter and Saturn in the southern sky, and looked for… but didn’t see… the Milky Way. 

I tried to get a picture of the moon, it was so beautiful…

…but didn’t have much luck. 

M did have fun with the flashlight, making scary faces at us. R and I didn’t want to bring the light, surprisingly, it seems easier to see without it…just letting our eyes adjust… but M was nervous about being out in the dark. We ran into nothing scary however, except one poor deer who thought she’d found a lovely private spot to bed down for the night but ended up frightening M to pieces (and frightening her to pieces at the same time!) when he mistook her for a mountain lion. 😂

Sunset

 I never get tired of watching the sunset….

Jack-O-Lantern fun

 We didn’t see E and family on Halloween… but we stopped by for a visit today and a couple of the grandkids showed off their pumpkins. 

Yes, he really carved it out enough to fit on his head! 

And little T was so proud of her pumpkin. I just love the expression on her face…