The month of November was unusual in the sense that nothing extraordinary happened; I don’t mean bad or exciting extraordinary, just anything out of the ordinary. And, it doesn’t seem that we lead mundane lives. 

On Thursday, November 16, we attended White Christmas put on by the HSV Players; they did a good job, and on November 30 we attended the HSV Big Band Christmas concert—these folks are really good!

The Maumelle grandkids provided a marathon watch session with 4 different games on Saturday, November 18. We were pretty tired when the last one was over at about 4:30 PM, having arrived for the first one at about 8 AM.

Mid-November saw Kay decorating for Christmas. She really enjoys both the process and the look, and works really hard. This is the first holiday season in at least 35 years that I have not felt depressed and just wanted it to be over with. As we age, there are not too many holiday seasons left!

Kay stays quite busy with Naomi Circle (church women’s small group), PEO (a philanthropic women’s group to aid and assist women), pickleball, golf, and a few never-ending medical appointments.  

I have been easing back into pickleball (4 or 5 times a week) and golf (occasionally)—oh, I bought a new pickleball paddle, a Selkirk LUXX, and absolutely adore it. The carpeted court at Balboa Baptist Church and I had a run-in, and the carpet won. This is about the 4th time one knee or the other has been scarred.

My responsibility as chairman of our church’s Board of Trustees also keeps me busy. And, I have been working on a special project for Kay every spare moment, and have been slowly getting the motorhome ready for its annual trip to Arizona. This included all new batteries (one chassis and two house); and I’m getting too old to lift the heavy rascals.

Also, I began “experimenting” with sourdough, making English muffins, cinnamon rolls (the cinnamon rolls were a bit dense), and blueberry muffins. The blueberry muffins were the best either of had ever eaten. Not over eating these tasty delights will be a challenge, particularly with a new diabetes diagnosis! 

As far as photography, the camera lay idle for most of month, with the exception of Tuesday, November 21, when Dan and I went to Creek Natural Area for a shoot. I did print a mount a bunch of photos during the month.

We had a great Thanksgiving with most of Kay’s family at Ron and Cheryl’s. As always, the food was abundant and delicious.

And, that’s a wrap for November 2023.