YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OVERSUGAR

In a nearby town (Clare, for you locals) there was a bakery that was about to go out of business.  A group of policemen bought it and changed the name to Cops & Doughnuts.  It's been a smash hit, and the owners - all active duty policemen - are now considering franchise opportunities.   They sell T-shirts, mugs and other items with slogans such as "D.W.I. - Doughnuts Were Involved," and "You have a right to remain glazed."  But baked goods are the top sellers.  The No. 1 seller is Felony Fritters, along with Night Sticks.  Day-old baked goods are called Parolees.  The restrooms have been decorated to look like a jail cell, with memorabilia from Michigan's famous 1920s band of bootleggers and hijackers known as the Purple Gang.  The gang invaded Clare and is thought to have used a tunnel under the Cops & Doughnuts shop for its shady activities.

Dee and I visited it when we were in Clare this fall.  It's nothing fancy, but it has a fun atmosphere and they have all the decadent goodies you could wish for.  You just never know where a good idea is going to come from, do you?  I love small towns.

A DIFFERENT SET OF USUAL SUSPECTS

Thanksgiving at Richard and Barb's house was wonderful as usual, but we had a different cast of characters this year.  Ken and family are usually here but they're in Mexico until June.  Barb's sister and her family from New York State, who usually come for Christmas, came for Thanksgiving this year. Here's the rundown.  Pay attention.

Connie - Barb's sister
Scot - Connie's husband
Brittany - their daughter
Sammy - their son, who I think is 5
Jarad - Brittany's fiance
Ben - Scot and Connie's son
Bob and Dee - Scot's parents
Alyssa - David's girlfriend who came for the evening

The regulars, or irregulars if you prefer, were Richard, Barb, David, Catherine, Doris, Sam and Lois and Roxie the Perfect Dog (except during thunderstorms).  Got all that straight?  Now we can proceed.

Richard does a job on the turkey.

Sammy waits patiently at the kiddies' table. 

Ben, David and Catherine.  Someone should have told the teens, "No shoes, no service." 

The hungry horde waits semi-patiently.

We probably need to change the name of the kiddies table to the teens table.  This is Brittany, Sammy, David, Catherine and Ben.

Everything tasted great!  Bob, Dee, Doris and Sam dig in.

The evening's entertainment included a tour and explanation of Richard's mini-plant for his bio-diesel business.

Sam-the-chemical-engineer-emeritus looks it over.  He was among the ones who understood it.

The Pictionary crowd.  NOT a quiet and sedate group.

The Senior Sofa.  Bob, Dee and Doris.

David wondering why his team is being so dense.  Maybe because they don't appear to be paying attention?

It was a great day.  What I appreciate most about these gatherings is that no matter what family members are present, we all get along.  We're so blessed by the families our sons married into.  All of them, without exception, are people we enjoy being with.  When we used to visit Ken and Tammy in California, her family welcomed us and made us feel right at home.  All of Barb's family are wonderful people.  We always look forward to times with our extended family.  My heart goes out to people who dread the holidays because they have to be with family.  How sad.  We look forward to holidays mostly because we get to see the people we love most.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!

We're going over to Richard and Barb's this afternoon for a 5 p.m. dinner.  I think there will be 15 around the table(s)  as Barb's sister and her family are in from New York State.  Barb always does a great job on Thanksgiving dinner.  No doubt I'll take a few pictures during the day and they'll appear here soon.

Albert Mohler has an excellent piece on giving thanks here.  He says it tons better than I could ever hope to do.

Here's a couple of laughs from my favorite couple, Earl and Opal.  Lately Earl has taken to wearing sweatpants, and Opal isn't happy about it.

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THE MORE WORDS THE BETTER, RIGHT?

Number of words in:

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - 272
The Declaration of Independence - 1,458
The Constitution of the United States - about 4,500
House health care bill - 400,000

The country has been governed for over 200 years on 4,500 words and we need 400,000 for a health care bill?  Can anyone spot a problem here?  I thought at first it's because so many current politicians are lawyers, but a bit of research reveals that 35 of the 55 founding fathers were lawyers.   Lawyers then could turn out a ruling document of 4,500 words that has stood the test of time, but today's bunch need 400,000 for health care reform?

(Sigh.)

Yesterday I got word that one of my best friends from teenage years died on Sunday. (Marsha, it was Lois Guhl.) She had battled a rare form of blood cancer for many years.

We were very close all through junior high and high school, and she was my maid of honor. We had grown apart over the years, as she wasn’t one to keep in touch if she didn’t see you on a regular basis. I’ve always been sorry about that because it would have been such fun to "see" her children grow up through letters and pictures, as other dear friends have done over the years, but it wasn’t her style. But I remember all the good times we had over a period of several years. There were five of us who hung out together, but Lois and I had a special friendship. Lois was older than I by four months. We met in 7^th grade, having gone to different elementary schools. In junior high we sat near each other in home room because it was done alphabetically - her name starting with G and mine with F. We hit it off right away. She lived some distance from me at the time, but about a year later she moved to the next street over, and we were together all the time. Such good, giddy times we had ... were we ever that young? We never lacked for things to talk about. Everyone should have friendships like that, and I’ve been blessed to have several in my life.

Marsha, Lois’ obituary is here, if you would like to see it, and a shorter one that has her picture is here. For some reason they have her maiden name wrong in the long one. McCord was her mother’s maiden name.

It’s all served to bring back a lot of memories of good times shared with a friend.

Here's the Gang of Five from the neighborhood in 1952.   We ranged in age from 14 to 16. Lois is far left, and I'm next to her.

Here's the same group in the same order when we got together in 2001.  I think this was the last time we were together.  Amazingly, and I'm sure you'll all agree, we hadn't changed since 1952.

Lois as my maid of honor in 1959.