And now the holiday season is in full gear ...

November blitzed by and all of a sudden Thanksgiving was here. It seemed like we were just celebrating Halloween and suddenly the stores were infiltrated by Christmas decorations and goodies. Then people were talkin’ turkey. That’s because 2018 is one of those years when the first day of the month began on a Thursday, so that means Thanksgiving Day is earlier than usual.

It also means you have lots more time to get all those gifts without a mad dash at the last minute.

So relax.

Put your feet up.

Sneak in a little nap.

Then have another turkey sandwich and some of that pie if there is any left.

A little mirth about girth.

So, did you indulge to the max yesterday and need to wear your turkey pants again today, or did you slip right back into those jeans without a hitch? I heard a story on the news earlier this week, that for the first time, the sales of yoga pants surpassed that of blue jeans! Well, they’re a lot more comfortable, especially around the holidays with all the goodies that are coming your way.

Did you shop ‘til you dropped?

I was reminiscing with Shelley, a fellow blogger, about Black Friday the other day. I haven’t been to the mall on Black Friday since around 1982 or 1983. It was my first and last time at Fairlane Mall. People shuffled along inside the mall, a throng of bodies, and you almost needed to put your personal blinker on to shift over to the right, or the left, to get to your desired store. That was before any stores were open on Thanksgiving Day, and, in those days I think the earliest the stores opened on Black Friday was 9:00 a.m. The bargains are out there and we get advance notice online and in e-mails from our favorite stores, so the deals are there for the taking. We’ve come a long way haven’t we?

Turkey Day trotting.

I did a little trotting around Council Point Park yesterday. I HAD intended to go to Bishop Park and Dingell Park down at the Detroit River too, but the cold and blustery temps kept me away from those venues. I awoke to temps in the “teens” and by the time I got home from my little trek, it was 23 degrees F. It was blustery and some of the water was ice-covered and there patches of snow that had not budged from our last mini-snowfall on Tuesday morning. Up to today, there had been no sun to melt that snow, so it wasn’t going anywhere.

I treated the squirrels to walnuts and walked six miles. I came home with frozen fingers because I took a slew of pictures which I’m going to divide into two days. The first is today and tomorrow I’ll include some more nature-type pictures. I did not want you to overdose on too much squirrel cuteness at one time!

Wing-Nut.

Here in Michigan we have our professional sports teams just like any other state or country, and, though I’m not what you’d call a sports fanatic, I do try to keep abreast of how the Tigers, Lions, Pistons and Red Wings are doing. In 2018, we got new coaches for our baseball, football and basketball teams, but the Red Wings coach has been around since 2015. So, are we Michiganders any different from other fans who love their teams when they’re hot, and scoff at them when they’re not? The die hard Red Wings fans are called “Wing-Nuts” and at Council Point Park, I could not help but notice that one of the memorial trees has been decorated for Christmas. The holiday décor sure stood out, even on a gray day.

As you see, not just one, but two Christmas wreaths are on this memorial tree. The wreath up top piqued my interest as it was full of Red Wings ornaments. I’m guessing that Brian Skinner was either a Wing-Nut or enjoyed hockey. I Googled around to see if I could discover any info on this gentlemen, but all I learned was that he passed away suddenly at age 41.

I’ll bet Brian loved hockey and the Red Wings and he’s probably smiling from up above at his Winged Wheelers, don’t you?

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch in August 2013 by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net