Castle in the Clouds

It was another successful Thanksgiving weekend.  To start, Ken and I hosted his family and my dad for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, yams, stuffing, and mashed potatoes.  And pie.  Lots of pie! Despite the pictures below showcasing the grandparents' sourpuss faces, I'm fairly confident everyone had a good time.   Ken's mom and dad. My dad. After dinner we played games.  First, a game or two of spoons.  If you've never played, you should go find a deck of cards and one less giant spoon than there are players.  The dealer gives out three cards to each player (or four, depending on the number of players) and then begins to move the deck around the table one card at a time as everyone tries to get three (or four) of a kind in their hand.  The first person who gets three (or four) of a kind in their hand grabs a spoon.  This prompts everyone else into a mad scrabble to not be spoonless at the end of the turn.  We've broken picnic

Over on Facebook, I'm part of the Fantasy Faction Book Group .  Today someone asked what our top ten favorite books of all time were.  The author of the post encouraged us to post our favorites even if they weren't necessarily in the science fiction and fantasy genres.  I was going to simply post mine but then I realized this is a bigger task than just providing a list.  I want to explain why these are my favorites, why they stick with me in ways other books have not. That makes this blog the perfect place to blather on about this subject. Oh, I've decided that trilogies and series are going to count as one. Also, I'm not sure I can truly order them so this list isn't necessarily moving from least favorite to most favorite even if it appears that way.  These books appear in the order they occur to me, nothing more.  10.  The Handmaid's Tale.   I've read other Margaret Atwood books that I enjoy but this one holds a special place in my heart

The early days. It's easy to look on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat Stories and think that life is nothing but rainbows and sunshine.  But, you know what?  Rainbows are only possible because there's been a bit of rain.  We all have rain in our lives, those moments when we are sad, angry, frustrated, disappointed, or hurt. Today is one of those days.  I am sad.  My heart is heavy with disappointment.  My oldest boy finally had a job that might have turned out to be more than just a part-time gig with crappy hours and low wages.  This job had potential on a small, modest scale.  It would have taken him time to advance and earn a living wage, but the possibility existed.   Now it does not.  He found out today that they were letting him go.  Only, no one there had the decency or professionalism to tell him.  He had to call and inquire because they weren't scheduling him any hours. Two weeks passed before someone had the decency to let him know he sho