Oh my. Went to Destin to shop and was stalled by the parade. It was 75 degrees and WAY too many people for me. Quickly purchased what I went for and escaped north across the bay bridge. It was worth the toll to get away.

Found a grand new series on Britbox called Line of Duty. Very sharp writing, great cast. I am only on episode four of the first season and already want to recommend it to you. I am so intrigued by their vernacular.

Successful trip around town Christmas shopping. Got everything on the list except for one item. I even remembered wrapping paper and tape. I shopped at locally owned stores, no Amazon. Grateful for the friendly clerks who helped me. One even offered to carry my purchase to my car.

Hurrah for my grandson who earned his orange belt in Taekwondo tonight!

That sad feeling when the series you have been binge watching ends. I enjoyed Scott & Bailey on Britbox. Gritty characters, interesting cases, good writing. Plus it is nice to visit another part of the world.

The People Shout Hurrah! I received some very good news today. Good Karma found me at a particularly low point in my day.

I purchased a Christmas gift for myself today. A new tire! I found a large nail in the old one. Luckily it was found without an incident on the road.

The family narrative that we are editing now has so much information scribbled into the margins that we had to look away for a minute. This is why we made previous executive decisions to stop margin scribbling and random meanderings. The view from the window is dark and dreary, so back to work.

Black Doves was intense, and I am excited to see a second season is on the way.

Aggravated with myself because I have stashed about ten pages of research into the wrong book. I am walking away from this section before I decide to redo that whole part.

Made a stop at Panera for a bagel and hazelnut coffee when I was coming home from doing errands. This treat was for my breakfast in the morning. Well, then. I drank the coffee because it was so cold outside. Then that bagel was yelling at me from inside the bag. So I ate it.

That orange chocolate will no longer be a threat to work productivity. It has disappeared.

Looking for the stapler and found orange chocolate stash in the drawer. Lost all train of thought. These Hillmans are not going to sort themselves out, let's try to move on. 😎

Saw a guy in full Santa outfit on a motorcycle with a large sleigh mounted on the bike cruising down the Florida highway with Good Cheer.

My son was texting me about how cold it is & has 4 blankets covering him. I hadn't realized the cold until he mentioned it, then I needed a blanket. Struggled to get one out of the chest, and I swear I have never seen this blanket before. Heavy duty, Viking category. I am in Florida. What is this? 🤔

One of the descendants has requested a word search game with family and Christmas words. So, the staff happily complied with a 57 word puzzle for the next holiday party. You want to play with words? You came to the right place.

Everyone back in place? I hope you found a moment to be grateful for something, no matter how trivial. We live in harsh times. I believe it will get worse before it gets better due to current president. However, I am thankful for my descendants who entertained me over the holiday. Now back to work.

One of the staff conceived a new breakfast idea using up Thanksgiving leftovers. Chunk of celery topped with dab of cream cheese, kalamata olive, and sprinkle with fried onion topping pieces. It brings you to a Certain Level.

They asked me to make another bingo game, this time with animals. I have 100 separate images copied for tiles ready to print. They also asked for more gag gifts along with some "higher level" gifts. They also came up with many more bonus cards. What a fun way to spend the morning.

My homemade bingo game was a great success. The grandson won the roll of toilet paper and thought it was hilarious. He would not trade it even for candy. Then he drew a happy face on it and put it on his desk. What a pleasure indeed to find ways to make my sons and grandson laugh together.

The heavy bowl of cranberry salad smashed into the chocolate pie on the way to my son's house. I bet they will still eat it.

Then we reach the moment when the day arrives and we must go into the world where there are other people. Wishing you a tranquil and pleasant Thanksgiving. May your smiles be genuine. May you have extra dessert. May you find a peaceful journey back home.

My neighbor tried some of the apple tart and really liked it. I think it is a little overbaked but I like the crunchy parts.

Apple and cinnamon puff tart.

My first experience with puff pastry and not the best offering. Pumpkin and cream cheese pinwheels, strawberry puffs, and pineapple and cream cheese rollers. I warned the neighbors that the condo is not on fire, it's me cooking.

Choices of paprika levels on deviled eggs tomorrow. It didn't want to come out of the shaker, then there was a landslide, next two eggs were zapped with paprika. I tried to shake a little better on the next round, then did some very lightly so it will look like I did this by design. Food Art.

Tip of the day: While you are preparing your make ahead Thanksgiving dishes today, reserve a small portion for yourself and you can have your own little holiday treats today for supper.

Two words: Onion Rings. Three words: They were delicious. Four words: Crunchy outside, tender inside. Five words: Onion Rings lifted my level.

Fell through a YouTube Tunnel for a bit before I can get some work done. Motivation to write today is slowly arriving. The fairy ran the tinkly bells to cue the staff. One poured more coffee and we were off and running levels again.

I am not a James Comey fan because of how he treated Hillary, but I am glad his case was dismissed. Just shows the incompetency of the current administration.

The puff pastry was buy one get one, so there is gonna be a lot of puffing going on round here.

EVERY old woman in 50-mile radius joined me at Publix this morning for holiday shopping. Focused on their groceries, oblivious that anyone else wanted to use the same aisles. Stock boys were frantically trying to reload shelves. They had one regular cashier who was doing his best. Whew, made it home

I appreciate all your nature photos. Please keep posting them. It is so hard to process all the hate and cruelty from the politics and when I see your trees, mushrooms, flowers, animals, all of those beautiful things, it restores me. Please send Good Karma into the world.

I watched so many Kevin videos that now I want to "do something" with puff pastry for Thanksgiving. I have never made puff pastry before but want to make small apple and pumpkin tarts. Ok, I admit I am going to buy the puff pastry. How hard can it be to fill it with stuff and bake?

Autumnal Loop around Pensacola Bay with two giraffes, one swooping black hawk, a dozen skeletons or so, and plenty of long bridges. I am curious why so many people leave the skeletons up all year long. It was a Good Day.

The neighbor drove away with his loud talking friends and weapons of fish destruction (fishing poles). Their pulsing music echoed off the condo buildings. It was a Good Day for the Neighbor.

How long have you been staring out the window? It's not about how long it appeared I was staring out the window, but the places where I traveled in my mind while I was staring out the window for possibly a very long time.

Grandson told me that I am a very good typist because I use all my fingers and don't look at the letters. He said he has to just use one finger at a time. I told him that I learned how to do it, and so could he.

Watched a video of guy making blueberry mojitos. Oh man. I want one. I was introduced to fabulous mojitos in Las Vegas over ten years ago, but they did not contain blueberries. Think about blueberries and mint muddled with the rum. Please, Kevin, bring me one. If only YouTube guys were real.

I live in the middle of very large USAF bases and am used to the sound of constant air traffic. But just now somebody did a very low flyover that sounded like the condo was under attack. Oh. Wait. Here he comes again from a different direction. Now a deep rumble from different plane. 😬Another one!

I treated all the staff to a cranberry limeade for their progressive work on the third game category.

Thanksgiving bingo game completed, tiles are laminated, 11 bonus incentives for rounds, 35 prizes wrapped, and grandson gave positive approval at preview last night. He said he can't wait to steal prizes from his dad and uncle. This was a silly project, but I had fun making it.

35 gifts prepared for Thanksgiving Bingo.

We ride at dawn! Wait. That is a little early for me. When do you think you would be ready? Noonish. We ride at noon!

Clouds in the morning.

I am creating a Thanksgiving bingo game for the family, reminding me of old timey traditions of our family gatherings. I will print out the artwork and make cards. Plus wrap numerous fun gifts for "dirty bingo gift exchange".