Music and Muffins

                           I love all the activities we have at our disposal at our apartment complex.

       Yesterday we had "Name That Tune". It was fun. The theme..... 1960s television show themes.

A brief portion was played of each tune and we had a sheet with 3 choices for each tune. We circled which one we thought it was. I must have watched a lot of tv back in the '60s 'cause I only missed 2.
If you are curious about what I missed... click on the picture to enlarge it. I put an X on the missed ones.

             If you don't give a hoot.. that's fine. I'm not sure I'd be all that interested either. 😀

Before I left for the Name That Tune get-together, I decided I had better stop procrastinating and finally bake up the rest of the cranberries I had left over from my Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. It's amazing how long those little buggars will last in the frig!

The recipe didn't call for baking powder and I think that was a mistake 'cause they were a bit heavy and didn't rise like they should. But, they were sure tasty. I ate 3!!! Good Grief!! But, like I said, they weren't very big. hehe.

                           I drizzled them with glaze. Makes for a pretty and yummy muffin.

                                                    I think I will go have me another one!

Caught In The Flood of '51

                                                     Memory Monday

I have decided to go pretty much chronologically with these memories. Why? I don't know. It just seemed easier to me. And, guess what, that way I won't forget what I've told you and what I haven't.

So, in the last Memory Monday post, we got married. In this post I am 4 month pregnant, back home in Alabama with my Mama. Elbert is soon going to ship back to Korea and he didn't want me alone when the baby was born. Their departure date is delayed so he wants me to come back out to San Diego for the 3 or so weeks until he leaves. He misses me.

So, yes, I pack a bag and get a train ticket.

                                                     Guess what!

The Mississippi River is flooded, certainly the southern most part and the tracks are covered and the train can't run that route!

The Mississippi River reached flood stage at St. Louis, Mo., on June 29 and remained above flood stage for 32 days. Friday, July 13, 1951 still stands as the single greatest day of flood destruction in this area. (info from internet)

I get on the train and it heads for Chicago. Now, I am in Alabama needing to go due west but I can't get there from here so we head straight north.

picture from internet - much like the train I was on.

In Chicago all the trains are taken, all the modern ones anyway. So, what do they send around for us to load onto? A train with a coal engine and the cars have no air-conditioning. It's July and we are having to ride all the way to California with the windows open! Oh Lordy help us. Well, I'll just pretend it's the Old West!! Hopefully, there won't be a train robber come riding up on a horse!! Oh, sorry, that just happens in the movies.

The dress I wore on the train to San Diego

We chug along, smoke and bits of cinder floating into the windows and onto the passengers. The Fourth of July arrives and we chug on, passing yards with flags flying and people cooking out. And, finally we pull into the train station in San Diego. I am tired. I am dirty.

There my sailor is!! I can't believe it. He grabs me -  dirty, smokey me. It didn't matter. We were just so happy to see each other.

I did not have a ring to give Elbert when we got married. He had one for me. You gotta remember, his Mom had just passed away and we had had little time to prepare for our wedding.

And, for those of you who wanted to know why his Dad didn't sign Elbert's marriage license... I think he was overwhelmed, having just lost his wife and now he's left with 8 kids, all underage. He had to be depressed, scared, worried. No time for his oldest son to be getting married.

Anyway, back to San Diego... I pull Elbert's new gold wedding band out of my purse and I slip it on his finger.

Engraved inside the ring was "til death do us part".  

The Iron Bowl

                                 Let me tell you about SEC college football...

             There's nothing like it. I swear! Okay, I won't swear... but I promise. How's that?

The IRON BOWL is Saturday. What's an Iron Bowl you are asking... it's not a Bowl game at all. It's the rival Alabama/Auburn game. And, those two teams... oh my. Let me tell you, there's fierce loyalty amongst the fans on both sides. To some it's fighting rights.

I happen to know. You see, my family is split right down the middle. My son couldn't be a bigger Bama fan and my husband and I were/are fans as well, not as big as Mike but we always want Bama to win.

On the other hand there are my two daughters... dyed in the wool Auburn fans. Not sure where that came from. None of our family went there.

My son went to U of A in Tuscaloosa. My husband graduated from U of A in Birmingham. So, we got a reason to cheer for Bama, right? Roll Tide Roll.

I will be watching the game alone. Maybe that's best. hehe. Hubby is gone now but I can still hear him yell "Yabba Dabba Do" every time Alabama would score. I'll be doing my own cheering. Nobody to hear me but then again nobody's against me, either. Hmmmm....

Two/Too Many Thanksgivings!

                                                              Today is Thanksgiving!

                                      I've spent the day all by myself. That's fine with me.

I think I am still stuffed from the two Thanksgivings I've had already and just decided I didn't need another one.

Last Saturday we all gathered on the Eastern Shore at my granddaughter's home. That was quite the feast. I'd never had pheasant before so now I can mark that off my 'bucket list'. It was good. And, of course, we had all the traditional dishes. I took my homemade cranberry sauce. Easy-peasy on this old grandma!

                                     Some of the group keeping eye on the food in the kitchen.

And, some gathered around the table. 

Now isn't this a beautiful pumpkin pie? Wish I could claim it but it was daughter who made it. 

We can't have Thanksgiving without sweet potato casserole.

And, how about his cute little turkey? It's butter... to go with the rolls of course. 

                Then on Tuesday night we had our Thanksgiving dinner here at our apartment complex.
                                               
Here's just a portion of the crowd. You can bet on a crowd around here if there is food involved. hehe

My Plate

Look at all these desserts. And, the bar was completely full of veggies, turkey and stuffing so the olives and deviled eggs had to hang out on the dessert table. 

Not a bad place to hang out, I'd say. 

This is some of the food. The staff did the turkey and the residents provided all the rest of the food. We've got some pretty doggone good cooks around here. 

So, don't you think I was wise to just hang out at home today, maybe have some soup or something. What do you eat after Thanksgiving ... leftovers or something entirely different? 

Happy Thanksgiving

Crazy Hat Day

Have you ever heard of Crazy Hat Day?

Me, neither but we had one here yesterday.

I fretted over what kind of hat to make. I got on Pinterest and found a few ideas but when it came time to make my hat... I just grabbed some fall foliage out of a vase and stuck it into my straw hat and ta da...

Most of the participants weren't very inventive but here's a few pictures of some of our group.

Can't wait for Crazy Hat Day next year!!