I don’t know what this new year will bring, but I feel hopeful and optimistic. The fog is lifting.

I ran across a post from Roam2Roam earlier today which ends, “I miss the world in my life, I really do… I wish a hand from another dimension would reach out to me kindly caring to know mine.”

It’s a beautiful post, and I promise that after reading it, not only will you want to open a window, but you will never listen to that fluffy pop song “Take Me On” by Aha in quite the same way.

The weather channel claims it’s raining, while it actually looks more like a snow globe outside - big, fat flakes. In fact, we’ve had 5 inches in the last 24 hours (and that’s on top of the 2 feet we’d already received.) We’ve lost power at times, the internet has been off and on, and all our holiday plans have been revised … more than once! I sure as heck have not been able to blog lately, as you may have noticed, (I’ve got a backlog of photos and entries.)

Uh-oh, the lights are flickering again, and I want to get this up before we lose power, so I will cut this short and simply wish anyone who happens by my blog Happy Holidays! :)

This is my last blog auto-update and I realize now that I didn’t upload enough new photos to reach the end of November. Hmmm… Since all my photos are on my laptop, I’m gonna just grab this photo since it’s still on the server.  Why a hummingbird in November? Because  we’ve actually been seeing one lately, so  I’m keeping the feeder  full in case it’s wintering over.

Of course, if I get a chance to use my laptop before this auto-posts, I’ll use a different photo. In fact, if that happens, I will likely delete this entire post and say something completely different - like whether or not I was able to write enough for NaNoWriMo or not. (As I write this I am something like 7000 words down, but who knows?) Ciao for now!

Well, it’s nearly midnight, which means NaPoBloMo time is fading fast… So tonight I’m gonna link to an amusing post by woofmutt. It made me snicker, giggle and even chortle - try it yourself!

We simmered the leftover Thanksgiving turkey carcass all day and even had enough excess broth to freeze in ice-cube trays. That’s a little trick I learned from the lovely Lynelle of Mustard Greens. She’s one of the folks on my blogroll who I actually know in person.

Another dear, wise, smartass, pal recently sent me a link to The Wisdom Project, which seems like an intriguing idea. I wonder when and where the movie is going to show?

Tomorrow we’re heading to a Christmas tree farm. I’ll try to nab a good photo to post here. Otherwise, it’s gonna be auto-post all weekend, since my connectivity has been so sporatic lately. So if you’re reading this and I owe you an email, please be patient! And have a fun weekend in the meantime.

Happy Thanksgiving to any Americans who come across this post, and to all expats celebrating Thanksgiving overseas. It’s always weird to be pining for pumpkin pie when to those around you it’s just another day, isn’t it? This year I’m having the full American Thanksgiving experience: a big family gathering and an excess of great food.

Meanwhile, at the White House, the current lame duck president is expected to grant a full presidential pardon to his annual gift turkey. I’m not making this up, either. You can read all about it here.

As for today’s photo, that’s Vesusius in the background along a popular Neapolitan promenade.

I hate to admit it, but I snore. I’d like to think that it’s a cute little dainty snore with all sorts of redeeming qualities, but really now, a snore is a snore. Or as Gertrude Stein might say, ‘a snore is a snore is a snore.’ (Although I doubt anyone ever asked her.) Anyway, I recently read an article which claims that playing the didgeridoo may help cure both snoring and sleep apnea. I want to try it!

So are you a Night Owl or a Lark? This article has interesting info on circadian rhythms. Lately, I’ve been waking up from 3-5 a.m. It’s annoying, because I know that if I get up at 3 a.m. I’ll be wiped out the next day. Tonight I have some melatonin on the nightstand to take if I wake up, as usual. The kitty, at least, doesn’t mind when I wake up like that. She just purrs loudly and seems happy to have some company during the wee hours.

p.s. Homebody at Heart are you out there? I’ve tried visiting your site, but it says it’s invite only. You can email me at tui [at] mentalmosaic.com if you do see this post and feel like saying hi. I miss you and your blog!

I try to keep my pix fairly small for those who have slow connections. In fact, I try to keep my photos to around 30k. So It’s always interesting how some photos look fine with a lot of compression, whereas others get pixelated and chunky right away. I thought this fish photo would be a tough one, but oddly enough, it handled the compression better than the leaf photo a few days ago.

I notice on a lot of sites that people often put watermarked copyright emblems on their photos. Do you feel that is a good idea? If so, why? Seriously. I’ve had a few emails from people either asking if the photos on the site were taken by me, so I guess having a copyright watermark would clarify things. But legally it’s not required - right?

In other news, I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to make the NaNoWriMo word count this year, but I haven’t given up on the idea. The characters talk to me while I’m busy doing other things, vacuuming, dishes, walking. I even dreamt about my novel, which is a first for me. I hope I can make the 50,000 word limit this year, but who knows? If you’re reading this and you happen to be doing the NaNoWriMo challenge, add me as a writing buddy. Here’s a link to my NaNoWriMo profile to make it as easy as possible. :)

Sometimes it’s hard to know which way to turn, or even if you’re headed in the right direction. Then, of course, there’s Yogi Berra’s advice: “If you see a fork in the road, take it,” and “we may be lost, but we’re making good time.”

Elk, deer and even the occasional bear cross the road right about where those headlights are in the photo above. I thought of this as I walked home tonight. It dawned on me that my sister recently saw a large bear here. Sure, the lighting was lovely when I started my walk, but night fell with a thud.

Luckily, I didn’t see any bear on my way home. I did see 7 deer, though. I wouldn’t have noticed the 7th deer, though, if it hadn’t been chomping so loudly on some grass as I passed by. I tried to take a photo of it in the fading light. Its ears perked up at the sounds my camera made, but the result was too blurry to post.

This time of year, I just can’t stop taking photos of fallen leaves. And after the day I just had, I can’t stop yawning. I *did* meet my deadlines, though, so that’s a relief. See ya tomorrow! :)