Gicle'e discovers the inkjet printer

Gicle'e can't quite figure it out . . .

Thanksgiving at the Morissette's

My brother Ron came down for the Thanksgiving weekend and we decided to just let it be the three of us for Thanksgiving Dinner. Of course, that didn't keep Del from smoking a whole turkey and throwing mulitple slabs of ribs on the smoker!

The meat plus sweet potato fries, new red potatoes and asparagus made for a nice Thanksgiving meal and the company was great. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

These two turkeys have something to be thankful for, and so do I. Actually, I have a lot of things. A wonderful husband and step-kids, my brother Ron joining us for Thanksgiving, my other brother Ken sending his Thanksgiving greetings, a great bunch of friends, a diverse family, a fun yet profound church and pastor, nice neighbors, a good job and smart people to work with, two new darling kitties, the Christmas season and all the beautiful moments and craft opportunities that holds. In other words, too many blessings to count! I hope this finds you also counting your blessings and sharing Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Ashley and Gicle'e

Ashley and Gicle'e discover the bathtub and suds. Ashley's trying to keep cool about the whole thing, but Gicle'e can't resist checking it all out.

Perhaps Gicle'e was weaned too young? I'm amazed that Ashley patiently lets her attempt to nurse. They are both fixed females and are not sisters though they are the same age.

An Autumn Walk in Dublin, CA

Beautiful fall colors. Amazing what you can find under a freeway overpass . . . In honor of my brother Ken. Boo!!

Swallow's nests.

Gicle'e Playing

OK. So, this is my first video ever and of course, it's sideways (you wouldn't expect it to be right on my first try, would you)?! It does show you a glimpse of why there's suddenly so much more laughter in this household. If you look closely, you can see Ashley in the background looking on.

A friend of mine sent me this. I can't get over how much this looks like my two kitties. :)

Here you can see Ashley and Gicle'e together, albeit looking a little guity for being caught lounging on the dining room table! But hey, aren't they cute?!

This kitty finally has a name!

Thanks to so many friends and family who gave us such great, unique, creative suggestions. In the end, the name Ashley seems to be the one that's sticking. Her color is like ashes and it's a pretty name that she seems to be OK with. The kitties are acclimating nicely and getting along well with each other. Since Ashley is about twice the size of Gicle'e (though they're both 4 months old) Ashley seems to be the alpha cat. Nevertheless, she spent most of Sunday hiding. Del and I turned the entire house upside down inch by inch looking for her and finally gave up. We were about ready to name her figment because we were beginning to think that perhaps she was just a figment of our imagination. Then that evening as it was getting dark, she just sauntered down the stairs and into the family room as if it was no big deal. Last night she and Gicle'e entertained us all evening. Gicle'e would hide behind the ottoman and Ashley would wait until the Gicle'e got curious and poked her head out beyond the corner of the ottoman and then Ashely would ambush her. When that happened, it was a sudden wild furball explosion with both of them shooting straight up into the air. I don't when I've laughed so hard.

Newly Adopted Kitty #1: Help! I need a name . . .

So, she's a gorgeous grey kitty. Any ideas for a name? I'm trying to decide between Ashley and Misty at the moment, but could be persuaded by any cool name that signifies grayness, fluffyness (other than the overused "fluffy"), green-eyed-ness, etc. The test is that it has to sound good in the following two-word sentence: "Here ______". As to her personality, she's been hiding under the sofa all day (but then again, this is just day one). That said, when we did pick her up, she snuggled and purred. So, she's basically a shy lover. Thoughts for a fitting name?

Newly Adopted Kitty #2: Giclée

We've named her Giclée (pronounced "zhee-clay"). Giclée is an invented name for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. In this kitty's case, it looks like her fur was squirted with wavy bands of different colored patterns including brown tabby, orange tabby, and pure white. Cool!

Two more views of Gicle'e

What a sweet little girl. She's four months' old and she's very curious and playful.

Look what I found outside my door a couple of days before Halloween! I hadn't had time to get and carve a pumpkin and this looked festive (kind of like a modern art scarecrow). What is it, you may ask? Well, I asked the same thing. It's a gift from my woodworking neighbor . . . made out of guitar-building botched attempts. Check out his blog for the whole story. http://billsguitars.blogspot.com/