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I have a wonderfully crazy, off-the-wall, funny, and incredibly talented family.

I was reminded of that this past weekend when my husband, kids and I traveled down to Greene to celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  We try to do this every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year was a little different from most, in that it was the largest of these gatherings we have ever had.

By the time everyone had arrived for dinner, there were 21 of us:  my 84-year old father, four of his five children (with the exception of my brother Jim), all 7 of his grandchildren, and assorted wives, husbands and significant others.   Most notably, it was first time ever that Dad was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of his grandchildren.

As close a family as we are, you can totally understand that hosting that many people in my sister’s home for dinner would probably have led to fist fights.  So she very wisely arranged with her good friend Bonnie Cobb to “borrow” Bonnie’s Restaurant in downtown Greene for the evening.  Everybody brought a dish to pass, which led to a very eclectic, non-traditional Italian/American/summer-barbecue-themed Thanksgiving buffet, including all sorts of beverages, appetizers and desserts, stretching from one end of Bonnie’s counter to the other.

And over in the corner, patiently awaiting the end of dinner, sat a pile of instruments.

You see, when the cousins get together, without question there’s going to be a jam session. All four of my nephews are super-talented musicians who play a variety of instruments. Put them in the same room with their cousin Sean and his fiddle, mandolin and cajon, and what resulted was an hour-long post-dinner bluegrass, Irish and classical music concert. Sean’s friend Sarah King, the other half of Barry’s Crossing, even set up her keyboard to provide backup and vocals.

But the evening would not have been complete without stepping outside to participate in the family’s annual tradition: stripping off our socks and shoes and walking barefoot in the snow. Fortunately, snow had been falling all evening and about two inches of the fluffy stuff was awaiting our toes.

We have been honoring this tradition in my family for, well, going on 75 years or more now.  This was the first time, however, that my father has been with us when we’ve done it.  And 84-year old trouper he is, he tramped out into that snow with the rest of us, grinning all the time. It’s stuff like this that makes my family unlike any other.  Here’s hoping that your Thanksgiving family get-togethers were as memorable. On to Christmas!

This is my family. After the family photo, they broke out spontaneously into “Hooked on a Feeling.” No one knows why. Click to see the video.

And if you’re at all interested, click on the photo to see a short selection from the jam session that broke out after dinner.

Last year on Thanksgiving Day I wrote the following blog, with the conviction that it’s the simple things in life for which we should be most thankful. In today’s world, which seems to be getting more materialistic by the minute (as evidenced by Black Friday extending to Black Thursday), I think that message is more important than ever.

So I’ve decided to post that blog again, with a few updates:

I am thankful for:

My husband, my kids, having a nice home and enough food for the table, my cats, my karate family, my job, friends at my job, good neighbors, good health, my family’s good health, my terrific in-laws, my father, my siblings, the color and crunch of autumn leaves, flowering trees in the spring, rain on the porch roof, Easter baskets, Tiny Tigers, line-dried laundry, lilacs, Christmas Eve snow, sunshine, Friday summer nights on the porch with a beer, sunsets, thunderstorms, warm summer rains, starry nights, blankets in the winter, fires in the wood stove, weekends, Christmas lights, writing my blog, hugs, leaf piles for jumping in, crisp new sheets, the summer breeze that comes in my bedroom window, daffodils, baby giggles, holding hands with my husband, memories of my mother, picnics, camping, hot soaking baths, the WOFs, fog in the valleys, puppies and kittens, spooning, Christmas trees on Christmas morning, cinnamon buns right out of the oven, my mother’s banana bread recipe, reading a good book, the sound of crickets in summer, strangers who return my smile, warm apple pie…

and … watching Glee with my daughter, my new Barry’s family, baby snuggles, naps, after-dinner walks, sleeping in, “Caledonia,” my kids (I know that’s a repeat, but they continue to make me proud), hiking, fuzzy pajama pants, rainbows, my cat keeping me company while I write…feel free to add your own.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

I don’t often pay much attention to the various jokes or YouTube videos that are forwarded to me from my email contacts.  Most of the time I delete them without even opening them.  So it is VERY unusual for me to not only read one of them, but consider it so on the mark that I want to actually share it with my friends.

In this case, that means all of you. Given the median age of my readers (I don’t actually know what that figure is, but suspect the majority of you will not be shopping for prom dresses this spring), I thought you might enjoy the following, which my brother emailed me a few days ago. If you’re anything like me, as you read along, you’ll be saying, “Yup. Right. Uh huh.”

21 ADULT TRUTHS

1) Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch three consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

2) Nothing feels worse than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

3) I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

4) There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5) How the **** are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6) Was learning cursive really necessary?

7) Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8 ) Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9) I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind-of tired.

10) Bad decisions make good stories.

11) You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12) Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.

13) I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14) I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15) I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16) I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Light than Kay.

17) I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

18) How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?

19) I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front.

20) Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

21) Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

And I would like to add just one more, if I may. When you’re over 50 years old, and you type the number 8 followed by a parenthesis, you MEAN to type a number 8 followed by a parenthesis. You do NOT mean to type a smiley face with sunglasses. 8)

Earlier this week I came across a very interesting column by Craig Wilson in USA Today. In his column, Wilson discussed marriage, sharing housework, and loading dishwashers. All three topics are, of course, deeply intertwined.

Specifically, Wilson cites a study from the folks at Bosch, a high-end dishwasher company, which found that 40% of couples fight over how to load the dishwasher.

I found that statistic very interesting. For starters, I don’t understand the concept of arguing over how to load the dishwasher. Seems to me, the simple answer is, “You don’t like the way I do it, do it yourself.” Problem solved.

But that aside, I agree that every dishwasher presents infinite options when it comes to loading.  Do you put the small plates with the large ones, or next to the bowls? Which way do you face the bowls? When should an item go on the top rack instead of the bottom? Where do the long utensils go when they don’t fit in the silverware caddy?

There are so many potentially wrong decisions that I don’t even try to help load the dishwasher at a friend’s home, and I don’t want people to help me with mine.

What I really liked about Wilson’s column, though, was how he touched on my two biggest dishwasher pet peeves: 1) do you place silverware face down or face up, and 2) do you have to pre-rinse the dishes?

To me, both answers are clear.

1) Face down, obviously. If you put spoons and forks in the caddy face up, you have to touch the goop on them as you do. Put knives in face up and you risk impaling yourself when you reach in to add that last fork from dessert.

2) Don’t rinse. That’s just redundant, like vacuuming the house before the cleaning lady comes.

I wish Wilson’s column had gone one step further and found studies showing the actual percentage of people who put their silverware face down (the right way) or face up (the wrong way).

And don’t even get me started on toilet paper.

Misty or not, the Adirondack colors were more than spectacular.

So here’s what I learned at camp this weekend:  Asses like applesauce.

No, no, no — we’re talking about donkeys.  Apparently, according to my new friend Jen, the donkeys that live in the general vicinity of Las Vegas like eating applesauce out of single-serve containers. Through a car window.

As you can imagine, there’s a whole lot more to the story than that, but I won’t get into that here. Suffice it to say that was just one of dozens of stories I heard at Camp Gorham last weekend, most of which made me laugh so hard my belly hurt.

The occasion was YMCA Camp Gorham’s Women’s Adventure Weekend, a women-only, action-packed, stress-free weekend where participants could climb a wall, hike a mountain, shoot some arrows, ride a mountain bike, or just sit back in an Adirondack chair overlooking the lake and read a book.

There were about 60 women there, most of whom were from Rochester, several from Webster itself. So I saw a few ladies there I already knew. But the real fun was meeting so many new people and making so many new friends. It’s amazing how quickly strangers can become friends when you bunk with them for three days and hear them cheering you on as you hold on for dear life to the top of a 25-foot telephone pole.

The women of Birch Cabin, and my new friends.

And yes, I did finally get up on top of that pole. And I climbed the climbing wall and rode my first zip line. I kayaked on a lake that was so calm its surface reflected the mountains like a mirror. I went mountain biking and sang goofy songs around a campfire. And in the evenings, I relaxed in front of wood stove in a cabin filled with new friends and laughed till my belly hurt.

It was darn close to being the best weekend ever.

Oh, and aside from that fascinating fact about donkeys, camp also taught me that:

* It IS possible to survive without TV, computer or cell phone for an entire weekend.
* Sleeping in the top bunk is still fun, even as an adult.
* The air smells better in the Adirondacks.
* No matter how much it rains, the autumn Adirondacks colors are awe-inspiring.
* Being able to change into dry socks and shoes is one of life’s simple pleasures.
* It’s so quiet in the woods up there that you can actually hear the autumn leaves as they fall through the trees.
* When you put … another beverage … in a Styrofoam coffee cup with a coffee cup lid on it, it looks just like coffee.
* In Gaga, double-touch isn’t the same as two-hand touch.
* It’s possible to knock an archery target over forward.
* Adirondack chipmunks have some serious attitude.

Photographic evidence that I did stand on top of the pole. Then I jumped straight out to try to grab that trapeze. I was unsuccessful.

I also learned that in Eagle Bay, NY, throwing your sneakers over the power lines counts as entertainment.

Just before the school year began a few weeks ago, one of my Webster Thomas colleagues posted an interesting comment on Facebook. When I read it, I immediately realized that it had some validity.  Now, two weeks into the new school year, I recognize how wise it really was.

The comment said something to the effect of, “It’s nice to get back on a school schedule because you can start looking forward to the weekends again.”

How true that is, at least for me. During the summer, when I don’t have my regular school-day schedule to keep me grounded, I kind of flounder.  You’d think that having all sorts of free time would encourage me to get a lot of things done.  Instead, it encourages me to be lazy, to spread out all my tasks throughout the day — or week — so that things never seem to get done.  And when I don’t have to get up and go anywhere every morning, one day is pretty much like the next — even Saturday and Sunday.

But when school is back in session and I’m back at work, I have to get focused.  I accomplish in a few hours after school what might have taken days over the summer. Laundry. Housekeeping. Cooking. Ironing. All because I simply don’t have the time to putz around.

And of course, being so focused during the week means the weekend’s relative freedom from workday time restraints is that much sweeter.  So by Tuesday, thoughts of the upcoming weekend are already helping me get through the workday.  This week, for example, I’m already looking forward to enjoying some music and lifting a pint at my favorite pub on Friday night, wandering around Village Days on Saturday to snap some photos, and putting my feet up in front of the Bills game on Sunday.

And if I have the time to get some housework done, I might just do that as well.  But on the weekend, laundry and ironing are on MY terms.

If you tend to get a bit bored while pumping your gas, I recommend you take a closer look at the warning sticker on the pump for entertainment. I had occasion to do that yesterday as I was gassing up at Delta Sonic. The grammar nerd in me could only laugh at some of the things it said. Here are the two worst:

“Turn off cell phones or other electronic devices while fueling. Leaving them in your vehicle.”

and

“Do not fill a containers that is inside or on a vehicle.”

There’s a lesson here: Kids, learn proper grammar in school. You’ll need it for pretty much every job — even a job writing stickers.

* * *

I was also at BayTowne Plaza yesterday, and noticed that they finally put some blacktop down on the north side of the plaza in front of the old Tops store.  That finally allowed them to re-line that area, greatly improving the very confusing and contradictory mess of driving lane markings that was there.  Even so, the lane configuration they have chosen still defies explanation, and from what I saw, people are still ignoring the lines and driving wherever they please.

Do you think the people who designed this lane configuration were the same people who painted the lines at Plank and Empire?

I’ve been writing this blog for more than four years now. It has taken me that long to realize a funny truth: The amount of time I put into researching and writing a particular blog is inversely proportional to the that blog’s popularity.

Case in point: A few years ago I wrote a three-part series on Baywinde resident Buddy Gorman, who was the last surviving member of The Bowery Boys, a group of actors who starred in a popular series of films in the ’40s and ’50s.  I spent several hours in conversation with Buddy and many more hours writing the series.

I think maybe a dozen people read all three. (If you want to be #13, click here.)

In contrast, about six weeks ago I posted a blog about hanging laundry.  The idea came to me while I was … well, outside hanging laundry. I spent literally 30 seconds planning it (“OK,” I said to me, “what am I going to blog about tomorrow? Hm, how about hanging laundry?”)  It took me another 5 minutes to actually write it.

It was what I consider a throwaway blog, little more than a placeholder created on the spur of the moment.  Yet it became one of my most popular posts. The D&C chose to publish it in the print edition. Readers posted comments (which doesn’t happen very often). Three separate people have stopped me to tell me how much they liked it.

I’ve always been a little hesitant to post personal blogs like that one. I kind of consider them cop-outs, when I don’t have what I would consider a “good story” in the pipeline. But I might have to reconsider that perspective, because my readers really seem to like them.

Which leads me to another idea I had, which I pull directly from Ann Landers: Do you have a favorite Webster blog? Something that maybe you have hanging on your fridge or on the wall of your business?  Is there one in particular which made you laugh or cry?  If I get some responses, perhaps I’ll re-post some of your favorites.

Or is that a cop-out?