Autumn Poetry

Yeah. Don't ask. 

Congratulations readers, for making it through yet another week. Work was certainly a bit hectic with loads of files to be completed. Terry stayed occupied at work as well, with busier days. The weekend has come along though and all is amazing in our lives. 

It is Saturday already and we wait impatiently (in my case), for the Oregon Duck football game later this evening. Our beloved team is up against the USC Trojans, in Autzen Stadium. I find myself biting at the bit a little more than usual and I don't know where this anxiousness is coming from. USC is typically a good team, but we have beaten them before. Who knows? Maybe this weekend will be the crazy flip-flop week where the underdog takes the win. Hope not, but you never can tell. Stranger things have happened. Anyway, here we are. It's happening, tonight at 7:30 PM. 

Speaking of football, the injured Cal player from last week's game, Jaivian Thomas, has returned to California after his head injury. He was not moving arms or legs after he was tackled during the game. I was concerned he had a head or neck injury. After the medical teams at nearby Riverbend Hospital examined him, it was confirmed. His head slammed onto the hard surface of the field, leaving him unable to move. Apparently he is home and safe as of last Sunday. We wish him nothing but the best and are happy to hear he was not injured more than he was. Of course, no injury would be the best scenario, but a deep sigh of relief comes from us after seeing him lay motionless. Scary. Football is always a good sport to watch, but nobody likes to see the injuries. 

Thursday and Friday were actually uneventful overall. Of course, sweet man and I had a great time together but the day was spent at home for the most part. Roseburg finally opened the doors to a favorite grocery store. WinCo Foods opened on Monday, November 6 but I chose to avoid it at all costs. WinCo is my favorite food shopping resource or was in Eugene and Springfield. After noticing Roseburg didn't have that as a grocery outlet choice, I was disappointed. I'm still getting used to the balancing game in this new city. There are some things I have to give up in order to remain happy here. One of those things was to get used to paying a king's ransom for food.  

Why am I so addicted to WinCo? The store is so much cheaper than Safeway, Albertson's, Fred Meyer, and even a store called Sherm's Thunderbird. If I wanted to save any funds at all, I would drive to Walmart and shop there. That store has its ups and downs in terms of groceries. Greed raises its ugly head throughout all stores during this time, that's for sure. To save any money at all is a blessing. 

But Monday, the angels shone a light down on this little city. Lo and behold, there was WinCo. Angelic chorus inserted here. I didn't go on Monday simply because I knew the crowd would be unbearable. Tuesday rolled around and then Wednesday. It was starting to entice me more with each passing day. On Thursday, Terry wanted to go check it out. He was just as in love with WinCo as I am once we were through! It's a great store and the prices are awesome! Sweet man wanted to bow down in praise to those at the checkouts to show them how much we were feeling happy about the choice to put the store in. Now I have a place where I can find all the fun stuff for my cooking and baking enjoyment, without handing over a first born male child, of which I do not have. Love this store! I'm an easy date, for sure. Doesn't take much to make me happy. 

Friday, November 11, 2023

Here we are on Friday already. Terry is a navy veteran. The local Denny's was hosting a free breakfast for all vets, so it seemed like a good idea to head over and let the man eat. And eat we did. Terry was offered the vet breakfast special that consisted of two large pancakes, bacon, sausage, and an egg. He ordered a side of rye toast which he loves. I threw in my order of scrambled eggs with cheese, two slices of bacon, two of sausage, hashbrowns and toast. Great breakfast, especially since we don't typically eat during the morning. 

Bring on the food! Welcome home, sweet veteran. Welcome home. In fact, welcome home to all veterans around the country. 

My sweet man was sure enjoying the sweetness of the syrup on those pancakes! It was a good breakfast and we spent some time making each other giggle as usual. It never grows old. 

Once home we received a reply from Mallory. Mallory's birthday is over the weekend, so we had invited her over to receive her gifts and let us indulge her for a day. She arrived and of course, Togo jumped on her immediately. He knows that is "his people" and loves it when she comes over. Togo can lay on her and get Mallory to pet him for a very long time. He knows how to work it. 

Both of them were smiling. Mallory is bundled up because it is very chilly outside. We both froze in the wind flowing through the patio area as we chatted with Terry. Finally gathering our senses and smarts we were born with, we headed into the house. The cold didn't wear off right away. I sat with my jacket on and Mallory kept her blanket over her legs and hoodie on covering her upper torso and head. We had the heat on, but it took a while to get that chill out of our systems. It's flat out cold!

All three of us decided to go to Arby's for dinner to feed Mallory for her birthday. While Terry ordered my French dip, I lay claim on "our" table before anyone else could. We giggled about how much dog hair we had on us after Mallory dropped a Togo hair from her hoodie that landed on a curly fry. Terry asked if she brought her own dog hair for the food and suggested that we may want to let management know that we had "Dog food in our hair." This resulted in a round of laughter and a correction of that statement by hubby Mac. 

The sunset on the drive there and while dining was gorgeous. I tried to get a few shots but you will have to excuse the poles, cars, signs, billboards and the other annoying things you get in pictures when taken in the city. 

As you can see, the drive to the restaurant was under dark, cloudy skies. But the sun was sharing that last bit of beautiful light before it faded into the night. 

Of course, the WinCo billboards are up all over town. The excitement never ends in a small city. 👌👍👏😀😉😏😐Happy, happy, joy, joy (insert sarcasm here). 

I did want to catch the last little bit of sun. This was taken from the Arby's window. 

On the way to the restaurant, Terry drove me through the Roseburg National Cemetery to see the fall colors and any deer that may be out and about. No deer but there were signs that fall was definitely here. 

Our Friday night didn't end until we finished watching American Pie upon our return home. None of us had seen the movie for many years and it is one I always laugh through. We laughed, hugged, and said our goodbyes, sending the birthday girl of 35 years of age off for home. 

But the night didn't end there. Terry and I cuddled together on the couch for another episode of Castle, our favorite murder mystery. We were whisked away into the depths of hell as murder novelist Richard Castle and his muse, Officer Kate Beckett of the NYPD tried to locate a killer who would confess to his or her crimes of murder, torture, robbery, and all the nastiness the human condition holds for those who are incapable of holding their anger or hatred at bay. Good episode, as always. 

Terry shut the TV off. We sat on the couch together, in silence, surrounded by fur babies. Somehow, during the next few moments, we found ourselves in a conversation about spirituality, organized religion, and our history of both. Neither of us belong to a church now but we were raised in churches. Now we are both spiritual people who rested peacefully on the ideology that people do not need a leader, pastor, preacher or any type of middle man to speak with God. We also do not judge those who enjoy the social interaction of a congregation each day when the church members gather. Good for that too. Our beliefs are not guaranteed to be correct but we definitely feel that closeness to God, the angels, and all that entails and that is all that matters. 

Anyway, not to get into a religious chat here, we had a good, thoughtful talk about all of it. A chat that ran us into early morning hours. I was fading fast. Sweet man wanted to take Togo on his walk, as I took Jasper on his, then off to bed. It was another day of feeling closer to my husband. We said, "I love you," to each other at least six or seven times today and meant every word. My heart sings for joy each time I think about the fact that I actually married this man, my soulmate, my partner, my love. It is still all new and exciting to me but as time goes on, I feel a closeness with him. I fall in love more every day. I love our lives, our home, and I just love us.  

Before closing this post, I would like to announce that Terry has once again been offered a place in the San Diego Poetry Annual for his poem, The Anniversary. Congratulations again, sweet man! I'm so proud of you!