Fridays are Golden

We've had a great week around here.  The weather has been quite variable, as it often is in late autumn in the mountains.  We have had some sunny days and we always  take advantage of them.  In fact, one of our primary reasons for retiring here had to do with the weather.

Ellie runs free on a recent outing.

 Our Lucy is a very "needy" dog.  She will often lie on the wood floor and thwock her tail for attention.  And yes, she wants you to come to her rather than for her to get up and come to you.  If the tail thwock does not get results, she comes over to my husband's chair and puts her sweet head on the arm of the chair.  That works every time.

It's pretty hard to ignore that pleading face.

Lucy prefers to play on her own terms.  She often signals that by picking up an old rubber tug the girls love so much.  She brings the tug to you and quickly runs away when you reach out your hand.  She thinks that is a great game.

Come on, Dad.  Try to catch me!

 When Lucy tires of the game she takes the tug with her, usually to her bed.

If I don't bring this with me they might just throw it again.

Time is flying, isn't it?  Thanksgiving is next week.  After that the Christmas season will really ramp up.  I love Christmas in a big city.  So exciting, so much fun, and so many things to enjoy.  But I have to admit, I now prefer Christmas in a small town.

Regular readers know how much I love our small town newspaper.  We eagerly wait for the publication on Mondays and Thursdays.  The paper does not have comics, but our "Letters to the Editor" section rivals any comic pages for giving me a laugh.  The sports pages cover only the local college, high school and elementary school sports.  (For instance you would never know that the Green Bay Packers are still undefeated if you relied on our local paper.)

Small towns in the North Carolina mountains still have Christmas parades.  They are not Holiday parades.  Only the larger towns have Holiday Parades.  Nearby Asheville has a Holiday Tree.  A photograph in their newspaper today gives the caption that the man is stringing the Christmas lights on the Holiday Tree.  You figure.

Our neighoring town of Rosman (smaller even than Brevard) had a newspaper article about their upcoming parade.  I found it amusing.  Here it is:

The Rosman Christmas Parade will be held on Sunday, December 4, at 2:00 p.m.  Line-up and registration will begin at 1:15 at Rosman Elementary School.  Parade rules are the same as previous years:

1.)   No ATVs

2.)  No one dressed in a Santa Suit

3.)  Candy must be thrown out of the roadway for the safety of everyone.

I love the simplicity of the parade rules.  Why add all the political rhetoric?  Just keep it simple and easy to understand.  I think we all should look at our own lives and try to simplify things this holiday season.  As someone said, "In a hundred years it won't matter.  It hardly matters now."

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE!