We had a lovely Thanksgiving trip to Philly to see stynxno's aunt & uncle. Taking the Amtrak NYC-Philly was a breeze, and everyone had a great time meeting the baby. Dinner was with Aunt Lisa's big catholic family; 25 people for dinner and enough food to feed 40+. Not like family dinner at my aunt's house where there's usually only enough for everyone to have one small plate!

Other than eating and taking a hike in a local park, we did lots of relaxing. Their house has Wifi, so we were able to do a lot of Christmas shopping & Amazon lightning deals on Black Friday :D There are no surprises in this house- we pretty much fill up the shopping cart and let the other person have the honors of pressing the Confirmation button.

I'm really looking forward to one of my aunts moving up to the Philly area as soon as her house in Jacksonville sells! I wish I could convince my parents to move that close...

I'm glad the bunny intro was made, mightshould.

Today I steam-cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, did a ton of laundry and made asparagus soup, cinnamon roast pineapple and Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken - which turned out rather well, even if I say so myself. A friend came over for dinner - it's been ages since we had a catch-up.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'm going for a run in the morning. In the afternoon I'm going to see Silver Linings Playbook.

Things with the new man I'd been seeing since July have fizzled out, but I'm not upset about it - there were a few red flags. If a man reaches the age of 48 without having been in a relationship, there's usually a good reason (or two or three...). But we're friends, and we're having dinner next week.

I have a busy few weeks ahead, with things going on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday each weekend up until Christmas.

I have a sleeping cat next to me. She gave me a shock earlier - I thought she was having a seizure, she sat up and her eyes were flicking back and forth. But she was still asleep and dreaming, with her eyes open. She came out of it and gave me a "WTF are you looking at?" glare.

I recorded the first half of a guitar solo today that far surpassed my expectations of my abilities. The flip side is I need about three days to record half a minute of decent music.

A huge pot of turkey vegetable soup is simmering on the stove. I decided to go with a few potatoes rather than make noodles.

I missed playing online poker so much that I started playing with play chips (all that is available in the US). I just reached the point where I can get away with a stone cold bluff, which on a play chip table is next to impossible.

So far so good. I won a new 24cm braising pan at my grocery store, so I'm currently waiting on some braised beef shoulder with carrots , fingerling potatoes with shitake & chantrelle mushrooms.

Spent Thanksgiving by myself and managed to get some little piddlydink stuff done and started decorating for Yule.

Spent yesterday helping one of my sisters move. Luckily, she got a moving truck that had a liftgate. Unfortunately, her new place is on the 4th floor. With no elevator. :-/ Got home at around 11pm. We started somewhere around 10am.

Spent today going shopping with mom and got some good stuff--more fabric and crafty things, like a shiny new rotary cutter and board (since we used one at the quilting class we took and saw how awesome it was, mom decided to get one) and one of my sister's Yule presents (a container to put her wrapping paper in). Eventually made my way home and finished putting in the side seams for my holiday dance performance skirt that I'm making. Doing the waistband on the curved piece was a biiiiiiiiiiitch, but it's done now and is hanging in the closet until Monday, when I'll give it a final hem at the bottom and fluff it on the elastic. I'll give it a test try on with my leggings and belt then too in order to see if it needs any other adjustments.

We just got home from a few days at the beach with my in-laws. My husband's aunt is dying, and we were able to spend a few days with her along with the rest of the family. It is as close to a good death as I can imagine. She's surrounded by loved ones, and she isn't in any pain. Her filter has come off, so she is saying some hysterical shit. This morning, the praise team from her church came over to sing some of her favorite hymns. When they came through the door and asked aunt how she was feeling, she replied, "They're trying to hold my wake but I'm not dead yet!" Even as she weakens, her sense of humor is strong. The praise team sang all sort of songs I didn't know, but then ended with Christmas carols. The last song was "Silent Night", and we were all bawling like babies two verses in. Fuck cancer.

When we got home this evening, I started decorating for Christmas. Tomorrow I will make cookies and trim the tree. If I am lucky, I will get some of my friends to come over and bring their kidlets to help me. Children are such willing Christmas elves.

Tomorrow night we are going to the Sufjan Stevens Christmas sing-along, which I am really looking forward to. If he sings "Silent Night", I may dissolve into a puddle.

Had a great day today, a Thanksgiving Take 2 with my dad and his GF and her kids, who are all about my age. There were young kids and teenagers and spouses and all of them were really wonderful. This was my first time to meet many of them, and it could not have been nicer. Really a perfect family kinda day, out in the beautiful countryside where my dad lives, and also holy shit lots of amazing food.

I also took this pic behind my dad's barn, and still can't believe I got such a nice shot with a phone.

Thurs: Traditional Thanksgiving with my sister (we're orphans): turkey in maple-bourbon marinade, stuffing, corn souffle, yams and sweet potatoes, potatoes romanoff, Brussels sprouts, coma-inducing chocolate cheesecake. Afterwards worked until 9:30pm on new apple grinder for cider making. Dropped 1/2HP motor on my right thumb and nearly got it out of the way but got 1/4" cut into the meat.

Fri: At doctor's office until 11:30am to get it checked out and make sure I don't get an opportunistic infection (immunosupression by chemo.) Spent rest of day getting parts and working until 11pm getting grinder finished.

Sat: Delivered grinder and one guest to my sister's place. Tested the new grinder and it will eat a cubic ft of apples in less than a minute and spit out what looks like coarse applesauce.

Went 50 mile round trip to pick up stranded friend. Got back to find the first pressing had destroyed the welds on the rebuilt crossbar on the pneumatically driven hydraulic 8-ton long ram cider press. Neighbor Marty came to the rescue and rewelded, sandblasted painted the repaired part. He delivered it in time for 12 people to have lunch. Marty is hero of the day (as well as a damned good heavy fabricator.)

After lunch, got the press going. Made 39.5 gallons of cider and cleaned everything up between 2:30 pm (it took a while to recover from the lunch coma) and 5:30pm. The new grinder substantially increased the efficiency and production rate. Digital movie footage documents the grinder build and the pressing process. Will edit and post asap.

Sunday: recovery and cleanup at sister's house.

Monday: off to Swedish Cancer Center in Seattle to see oncologist and figure out next phase of cancer treatment. I'm approaching the end of benefit from first line treatment and have been offer a choice of continuing with it, doing no chemo for a while for better quality of life, switching to a second line drug or participating in a clinical trial.

I don't have enough information on risks, side-effects and benefits to make an informed decision, but lean toward the clinical trial. This is because I have a very rare type, there is only palliative treatment, the trial is a long-shot at a very good result and it gives me a chance to help others.

When diagnosed a year ago, nobody expected me to live this long. I currently am less symptomatic than a year ago, even though the tumor has eaten about 1/2 of my right lung. So this year's cider pressing was a special treat because I didn't expect to make it this far and instead, I'm doing way better than anybody expected.

So there was a lot to give thanks for this year.

(((((warbaby))))) Rock on.

It's a weird kind of existence, ain't it.

Aww warbaby

(((((((((Warbaby)))))))

((((warbaby)))) Keep us posted if you feel so inclined.

Great to read your words there, warbaby. Rock on.

Admiring your spirit, warbaby.

39.5 Gallons in about two hours. That's Imperial gallons. Torchwood will never go metric. Spent most of today cleaning up the odds and ends and putting stuff away.

Now I want cider.

Spent my weekend worrying about way too many things that are outside of my control. On the up side, got to see a number of my favorite people and some epic hugs were distributed.

(((*.bunnies)))