This Past Week

What day is it? Ah, Sunday night, eight minutes until Monday. Yes, I stay up late - writing, editing, playing my turns in Lexulous and Words With Friends.So Thursday was Thanksgiving, and our small family was missing one this year. My 80-year-old father-in-law opted out; he hadn't been feeling good all week anyway, but I believe the hour-long trip to Westerly (wait, you say, we live in Rhode Island - but anything over ten minutes is a long trip to us) was daunting to an old man tethered to a portable oxygen tank (by the way, if you're still smoking, please stop).  We were six in total, but what a lovely day. I hope every hungry child had a full belly on Thursday.The weekend brought Small Business Saturday - did you participate? American Express had a terrific incentive for cardholders. I registered my card and found a listing of participating retailers in my area. And as much as Sweet Twist in East Greenwich is a favorite, I chose to do business in my town, West Warwick. The businesses in town could really use a boost, so I visited the Matos Bakery and stocked up on all kinds of wonderful Portuguese food, mostly for Jim. Sardines, hot red finger peppers, and pickled herring. Quince jam and honey. And the best Portuguese sweet bread. Spend at least twenty-five dollars and Amex credits back twenty-five bucks to you. Seriously, unless you absolutely have to go to the big-box stores (and I know, sometimes you have to), consider patronizing the small businesses in your area.Finally, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) winds down this week. I'm at over 61,000 words (still plenty of editing to do), so I'll "win" the challenge this year. It's been a blast, mostly because I planned and plotted my story ahead of time.November is mostly browns and grays around here, which suits me just fine. Advent begins next week, adding the light of one candle in the midst of darkness.