Silvie Ruth is getting ready for the Thanksgiving road trip. She has collected most of the balls into one dinner dish and says that packing is an art, really. Red Dorothy spends a lot of time at the den door and leaves me worried notes about not forgetting the Ball Park Turkey Franks, as she is the lean and mean Chow and really doesn't care to get involved in the turkey skin that has slowed up Pete and Cleo's ball game. I for myself have looked up every possible location that 'Walk the Line' is showing in Portland, Oregon because if for some crazy reason we miss the 5 pm showing at Pioneer Place, I want back ups in place. I also am thinking about my godson, The Most Fabulous Child in The Universe, and how wonderful it will be to see him watch the Christmas Light Parade in his new hometown of Redmond, Oregon. My other godson, The Most Seriously Wonderful Young Man in The Universe, will be calling soon to set a rendezvous at Costco sometime today, where we will ravage the aisles for food for the food drive at his school, the school all of the children here at Bellemaison attended and amazingly, were able to graduate from. His homeroom class will collect food for 4 families, assemble the food into individual family packages, then deliver the food themselves and visit for a few moments with the people whom they seek to serve. Powerful guys, these godsons of mine.

I am also thinking about the patrons of the Women's and Children's Free Restaurant here in The 'Kan and hoping that the week will bring them enough food to feed their families, with some laughter and hugs thrown in, as that's what's been a really good thing for us here at Bellemaison over the years. I think, too, of the recently paroled convicted felons, and wish beyond wish for their successful reentry into the community, a place that they don't completely understand but yet has been so good to me and my children and family. I have always noted that at any given time, as you stand on the corner waiting for the light to change, there will be someone on either side of you with less, or more, and reconciling these differences will be critical in leading the kind of life you really want to live.


JBelle, with much love and gratitude to you all for all you have been and continue to be for me
Bellemaison
The 'Kan EWA