..... Thanksgiving day dawned a sunny and a crisp 34° with predictions of remaining sunny with a high of 65°. It was destined to be a beautiful day. Jere & I watched the Macy's Day Parade while downing several cups of coffee. Around 10:00 Jere got an "Oh Shit" text from the computer system at work, which meant he had to go into the office and diagnose what the problem was and bring the system back online. So.... He headed east and I headed south to pick Peter up for Thanksgiving at Bill & Betty's.
Peter and I then stopped by and hung out at DU for about 30 minutes waiting for the monster system to come back to life. Another 30 minute drive to Collierville delivered us to Casa Mullis, about an hour later than planned. BUT ... we were actually first to arrive. While munching on appetizers of yummy Buffalo Chicken dip, Fruit, and various crackers/chips/nuts, 5 more players arrived along with Tina. (Sorry no player names or pictures - this was a private "family" gathering - as they say "What happens at Thanksgiving-stays at Thanksgiving). Everyone went back to the food at least for seconds (some thirds) then settled in around the TV to watch football and fall into the traditional Turkey Coma. It was a wonderful, relaxing day and gave us all the chance to get to know these great guys away from the normal around the rink/after game parties settings.
After delivering Peter back home to join up with the rest of the team to hit the road for the away game Friday night in Columbus, we headed back to Casa Jackson and after feeding the herd, I fell into my "coma". Man, I was TIRED !!
Thanksgiving .. Part Deux ...
Saturday was spent with our hockey family on the Albro farm. John, Reba and the pseudo-grands, Nathan, Elizabeth-Ann (Sam), Gracie, Owen & Lily along with Anisha, RJ & Angela (my other pseudo-grand), Jordan, Aunt Cathy, and Paula & Mike (Friends of the Albros). There was so much food and many recipes are needed !!!
This is only the part of the food offerings that were prepared by Reba (except the Banana Pudding which I believe Jordan's grandmother crafted) and Anisha whipped up the delicious Loaded Potatoes. Aunt Cathy provided some wonderful spiced apple slices, fresh fruit & cheese and a delightful Pistachio salad (which is a MUST HAVE recipe). Paula brought some melt in your mouth home made yeast rolls - something I am DEFINITELY not good at making !!! . I provided Cranberry Sauce, Cranberry Celebration & Cranberry Slaw (see where my mind was !) along with what was left of Homemade Ravioli (an old family recipe) and several Pumpkin Pies in a jar, especially for the kids.
RJ (ever in his Dallas Cowboy's garb) & Anisha worked their magic and produced a masterpiece turkey cooked in their Oil-less fryer,
While waiting on the bird to get done, we spent time eating appetizers and trying to referee John and Anisha with their never ending banter ... some of their meeting of the minds make my head spin & sides hurt from trying to keep score and laughing so hard ... I think their "lively discussions" most times end in a draw.
Mike, a friend of John & Reba, is retired from the US Navy, and I REALLY enjoyed talking to him and hearing his stories about his travels around the world while active. If I remember correctly, during his 19 year stint in the Navy, he visited all but 9 countries IN THE WORLD. Imagine that !!! He had wonderful stories about Hong Kong, Egypt, and Australia to name a few.
After gathering around the huge island of food and sharing what each of us was thankful for, John said grace and the attack on all the yumminess began. We all settled into the Albro's newly decorated dining room.....
... to enjoy wonderful food and fellowship. There were many times that the conversation died down and all you could hear was the gnashing of teeth and clinking of flatware on plates. The food was all so amazing.
After dinner we all gathered around the TV to watch our hockey guys take on the Columbus Cottonmouths at their rink at the Columbus Civic Center. The guys were down 0-1 until Dion shot one past Loewen at the 5:59 mark of the 3rd period. 33 seconds later Quaile slammed one in to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. 3 minutes later, the Cottonmouths got a shot past Adam which tied things up till the final horn and sent the game into overtime. Just 23 seconds into a 3 on 3 overtime, a snake slammed one past Adam, giving the Cottonmouths the 3-2 win.
Both teams are due to tangle on the ice again Saturday night here at the Landers Center. Update below.
On tap Saturday was the final regular season game for our University of Memphis Tigers.
This year is the FIRST TIME since 1971 (YES! That is 43 years !!!) that our Tigers were in line to win their conference, the American Athletic Conference ... they went into the weekend 8 - 1 (8 - 3 overall) with 2 of the 3 losses being match-ups between UCLA (PAC-12) & Ole Miss (SEC) and the first time since 2008 they have been bowl eligible.
We got to the M Club Tail Gate tent (Jere is alum) and the fair was Grilled Chicken, Baked Beans, Slaw, Rolls and various cookies along with soda, wine & beer (you can't have a football game without beer ! )
At 2:30 the Seniors took the field in a ceremony to honor them and their perseverance through the previous 3 years of all the disappointing losses they endured. Exciting times at Tiger High !!
Then at 3:00 the guys won the coin toss and kicked off to the Huskies, and while I will not bore you with the play by play details, just let's say OUR TIGERS WERE AWESOME !! Final score 41-10 !!!!! AAC Champions and the guys are going Bowling !!! There are still 2 match ups in our conference that will determine what bowl bid they will win and if they will share the championship. Cincinnati & UCF are both 6-1 in conference standings. UCF is playing East Carolina on 12/4 and Cincinnati is playing Houston on 12/6. Both games could go either way which both wins would put the Tigers in a 3 way split for 1st, and while it would be wonderful to have sole possession ... hey, it's been 43 years so sharing the title isn't all that bad.
Here is a pretty cool video "diary" that the ACC put together of UofM Football's winning season.
After the presentation at center field of that beautiful trophy, Jere and I made a mad dash south to the Lander's Center to see the second match up in 2 days between our RiverKings and the Columbus Cottonmouths. We were quite late and did miss all but 1 minute of the first period, but as the guys took the ice in the second, they seemed some what sluggish. They were missing passes, not getting shots off accurately (I remember at least 2 clinks where the puck hit the metal frame of the net & bounced out instead of in) and just not playing cohesively. Peter was in the net and while he stopped 17 of 20 shots (which he said was more like 32) that #@%&!! of a female goalie for the Snakes stopped all but 2 of our 44 shots (which was probably over 50) ending in a another disappointing 3-2 loss.
November is also known as MOVEMBER. According to Movember United States the Movember Foundation challenges men to grow moustaches during Movember (formerly known as November), to spark conversation and raise vital funds for its men’s health programs. To date, 4 million moustaches have been grown worldwide.
Jere always sports a mustache and goatee and I would slap him silly if he shaved it off... While I loved his mother, though extremely challenging she could be, without facial hair he looks JUST like her !!! And I don't need daily reminders of the meeting of mine & Hazel's minds.
The whole hockey team took the Movember challenge. Peter has anxiously been looking forward to November 30th so he can take a razor to his! Last night we took a final snap of him to memorialize his Movember 2014 challenge. Stay tuned for a pic after the great shave!
SUNDAY ..... ahhhhh .... a day of rest !!!!!
After such a busy, fun filled weekend, I really look forward to vegging out today and STITCH, STITCH, STITCH. I have not put needle and thread to fabric all weekend so here is a quick snap of Mira's Halloween Fairy when she was put away on Tuesday.
Check back tomorrow to see how much she progresses. However, I may just crash and burn and sleep all day in the La-Z-Boy!
Till next time,
Cindi
11.30.2014
Peter and I then stopped by and hung out at DU for about 30 minutes waiting for the monster system to come back to life. Another 30 minute drive to Collierville delivered us to Casa Mullis, about an hour later than planned. BUT ... we were actually first to arrive. While munching on appetizers of yummy Buffalo Chicken dip, Fruit, and various crackers/chips/nuts, 5 more players arrived along with Tina. (Sorry no player names or pictures - this was a private "family" gathering - as they say "What happens at Thanksgiving-stays at Thanksgiving). Everyone went back to the food at least for seconds (some thirds) then settled in around the TV to watch football and fall into the traditional Turkey Coma. It was a wonderful, relaxing day and gave us all the chance to get to know these great guys away from the normal around the rink/after game parties settings.
After delivering Peter back home to join up with the rest of the team to hit the road for the away game Friday night in Columbus, we headed back to Casa Jackson and after feeding the herd, I fell into my "coma". Man, I was TIRED !!
Thanksgiving .. Part Deux ...
Saturday was spent with our hockey family on the Albro farm. John, Reba and the pseudo-grands, Nathan, Elizabeth-Ann (Sam), Gracie, Owen & Lily along with Anisha, RJ & Angela (my other pseudo-grand), Jordan, Aunt Cathy, and Paula & Mike (Friends of the Albros). There was so much food and many recipes are needed !!!
This is only the part of the food offerings that were prepared by Reba (except the Banana Pudding which I believe Jordan's grandmother crafted) and Anisha whipped up the delicious Loaded Potatoes. Aunt Cathy provided some wonderful spiced apple slices, fresh fruit & cheese and a delightful Pistachio salad (which is a MUST HAVE recipe). Paula brought some melt in your mouth home made yeast rolls - something I am DEFINITELY not good at making !!! . I provided Cranberry Sauce, Cranberry Celebration & Cranberry Slaw (see where my mind was !) along with what was left of Homemade Ravioli (an old family recipe) and several Pumpkin Pies in a jar, especially for the kids.
RJ (ever in his Dallas Cowboy's garb) & Anisha worked their magic and produced a masterpiece turkey cooked in their Oil-less fryer,
While waiting on the bird to get done, we spent time eating appetizers and trying to referee John and Anisha with their never ending banter ... some of their meeting of the minds make my head spin & sides hurt from trying to keep score and laughing so hard ... I think their "lively discussions" most times end in a draw.
Mike, a friend of John & Reba, is retired from the US Navy, and I REALLY enjoyed talking to him and hearing his stories about his travels around the world while active. If I remember correctly, during his 19 year stint in the Navy, he visited all but 9 countries IN THE WORLD. Imagine that !!! He had wonderful stories about Hong Kong, Egypt, and Australia to name a few.
After gathering around the huge island of food and sharing what each of us was thankful for, John said grace and the attack on all the yumminess began. We all settled into the Albro's newly decorated dining room.....
 | ||
| Sans Furniture |
After dinner we all gathered around the TV to watch our hockey guys take on the Columbus Cottonmouths at their rink at the Columbus Civic Center. The guys were down 0-1 until Dion shot one past Loewen at the 5:59 mark of the 3rd period. 33 seconds later Quaile slammed one in to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. 3 minutes later, the Cottonmouths got a shot past Adam which tied things up till the final horn and sent the game into overtime. Just 23 seconds into a 3 on 3 overtime, a snake slammed one past Adam, giving the Cottonmouths the 3-2 win.
Both teams are due to tangle on the ice again Saturday night here at the Landers Center. Update below.
On tap Saturday was the final regular season game for our University of Memphis Tigers.
This year is the FIRST TIME since 1971 (YES! That is 43 years !!!) that our Tigers were in line to win their conference, the American Athletic Conference ... they went into the weekend 8 - 1 (8 - 3 overall) with 2 of the 3 losses being match-ups between UCLA (PAC-12) & Ole Miss (SEC) and the first time since 2008 they have been bowl eligible.
We got to the M Club Tail Gate tent (Jere is alum) and the fair was Grilled Chicken, Baked Beans, Slaw, Rolls and various cookies along with soda, wine & beer (you can't have a football game without beer ! )
At 2:30 the Seniors took the field in a ceremony to honor them and their perseverance through the previous 3 years of all the disappointing losses they endured. Exciting times at Tiger High !!
Then at 3:00 the guys won the coin toss and kicked off to the Huskies, and while I will not bore you with the play by play details, just let's say OUR TIGERS WERE AWESOME !! Final score 41-10 !!!!! AAC Champions and the guys are going Bowling !!! There are still 2 match ups in our conference that will determine what bowl bid they will win and if they will share the championship. Cincinnati & UCF are both 6-1 in conference standings. UCF is playing East Carolina on 12/4 and Cincinnati is playing Houston on 12/6. Both games could go either way which both wins would put the Tigers in a 3 way split for 1st, and while it would be wonderful to have sole possession ... hey, it's been 43 years so sharing the title isn't all that bad.
 | ||
| Coach Justin Fuente with trophy |
After the presentation at center field of that beautiful trophy, Jere and I made a mad dash south to the Lander's Center to see the second match up in 2 days between our RiverKings and the Columbus Cottonmouths. We were quite late and did miss all but 1 minute of the first period, but as the guys took the ice in the second, they seemed some what sluggish. They were missing passes, not getting shots off accurately (I remember at least 2 clinks where the puck hit the metal frame of the net & bounced out instead of in) and just not playing cohesively. Peter was in the net and while he stopped 17 of 20 shots (which he said was more like 32) that #@%&!! of a female goalie for the Snakes stopped all but 2 of our 44 shots (which was probably over 50) ending in a another disappointing 3-2 loss.
November is also known as MOVEMBER. According to Movember United States the Movember Foundation challenges men to grow moustaches during Movember (formerly known as November), to spark conversation and raise vital funds for its men’s health programs. To date, 4 million moustaches have been grown worldwide.
Jere always sports a mustache and goatee and I would slap him silly if he shaved it off... While I loved his mother, though extremely challenging she could be, without facial hair he looks JUST like her !!! And I don't need daily reminders of the meeting of mine & Hazel's minds.
The whole hockey team took the Movember challenge. Peter has anxiously been looking forward to November 30th so he can take a razor to his! Last night we took a final snap of him to memorialize his Movember 2014 challenge. Stay tuned for a pic after the great shave!
 | ||
| Peter DiSalvo - 11.30.2014 |
After such a busy, fun filled weekend, I really look forward to vegging out today and STITCH, STITCH, STITCH. I have not put needle and thread to fabric all weekend so here is a quick snap of Mira's Halloween Fairy when she was put away on Tuesday.
 | ||
| 11.25.2014 |
Till next time,
Cindi
11.30.2014
