And One That Didn't

Though he did go to a good home.

Meanwhile the most snow I've ever seen for Thanksgiving since I came to WNY, shows no sign of relenting.

From this......

 ... to this..

...it seems, in just a blink of an eye.

Turkeys in the Snow

The ones that got away? Happy Thanksgiving, lads!

Turkey Day Snowed Off?

Yikes - possibly!  That's what everyone around here is saying. Today's the biggest travelling day of the year in the US, in preparation of course, for Thanksgiving tomorrow and the east is blanketed in snow, with much more to come.

I heard the ominous sound of scraping this morning and saw hubby at his first shovelling session of the winter

Our guests coming from Ohio have cried off for today and hope to risk it tomorrow morning, when the weather forecast's marginally better. So they've managed to dodge the cooking but have promised to do the washing up. And we can all blame a certain young family member for praying fervently for snow all week so he can get on the bunny run at the ski resort.

He may be in luck. The ski resort is rubbing its collecting hands in glee. Open for Thanksgiving! Oh the sweet bleep of the cash register!

Some turkeys might be in luck too.

RIP Bill Foulkes

He of the "flabbergasting" winning goal for Manchester United against Real Madrid in the 1968 European Cup semi-final. Ah blessed memories!  He was the sort of dour, steady player people just took for granted and a defender of course, in the days when defenders knew their place. But that goal was arguably the most important in the club's history. Modestly, he said he'd just happened to be in the right place at the right time and got that perfect pass from Georgie Best. How to explain all  that to Americans? Hubby still can't get his head round the difference between the Premier League, the Champions League, the Capital One Cup, the FA Cup, the World Cup, oh, I don't know......And in a country where football players all have college degrees, they would find it puzzling that Bill was a former miner.
  He did, though, have some management stints in America - in Chicago, Tulsa and San Jose. I wonder what they thought of him?  Another sign of the times - he doggedly started playing again, taking on the team captaincy because there wasn't anyone else left who could do it, just a few days after surviving the 1958 Munich Air Crash. And he got no counselling. Those were the days.

Mobile Phones on Planes...

No, No! No!!, No!!!, NO!!!! NO!!!!, Pleeeeeease NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Aren't things miserable enough?  A platinum Flying Turkey, engraved and mounted, for the sadists, or, in hubby's favourite expression, miserable creeps, who want to bring that in!

Autumn Memories: Riding to the Pub

 I'm looking out of the window at the first, big, blasting blizzard of the winter. The wind's been howling, the trees bending and the snow falling. It doesn't take more than a few minutes for the weather to get serious around here.
  Time, I think, for some memories of a sunny autumn. On this particular day my friend Annie and I rode Ellie May and her daughter, Riis,  to the pub. We didn't actually hitch them outside, which would have made for a great photo but here they are in a friend's paddock.

Saddles off and enjoying a bite of their own lunch. Cognoscenti may notice the English saddle on the right - my obliging friend keeps it specially for me, as a I remain a stubborn purist.  I pulled her leg about the Confederate flag saddle-cloth, "So you're a racist redneck then?"
 "No I am not! (I can verify that), just a proud southerner!"  She hails from Alabama and we had an interesting conversation about self-determination.

It was a fabulous day, the hills still holding some autumn colours, apples still clinging to the trees to the great delight of the horses, the high meadows shimmering in the sun.  A day to sit outside in the beer garden, a day when you couldn't imagine winter just around the corner.

 Of course it wasn't really a pub in the English sense but it would do.

Western New York Idyll:November Walks

    It's getting colder and the "I wish I was in Florida!" vibes are kicking in. But there's a beauty to the bitter days here;  the lake at the top of our lane with patches of ice.

The dried, dead wildflowers.

The sudden tang of woodsmoke on the air and distant shots - it's deer season.Last week's early snowfall has almost gone - for now - though some still frosts the roadsides.

 and the shadier parts of the woods.

The beauty of the bare trees against the sky.

 And after the rain, a little waterfall.

 Some autumn gold still left

 And a deep silence

 The sun on the lane

 and vapour trails

 A bite in the air and a babbling brook

Were winter only always like this!