She likes scrapple. She willingly puts it in her mouth. She likes it plain. No applebutter. She is offended by the presence of applebutter on her scrapple. The next plain piece she receives is scrutinized on both sides before being placed in her mouth.

She likes mashed potatoes. She willingly puts it in her mouth. She likes them untainted. She spits out the pea hidden in a spoonful of the fluffy pile. She scrutinizes the next spoonful searching for a hint of green before allowing it in her mouth.

I am writing of my daughter and dinnertime.

Another Thanksgiving with my father's family. There were 20 of us. The table has grown to accommodate us all. My daughter wanted mama or daddy at first, but by the end of the night she was tooling around not worried about the whereabouts of her parents.

My cousin's husband is a developer and recently bought some land with lake. He mentioned selling off some of it to specific people. Two being us. But sometimes you can't take him seriously. So, we won't hold our breath. Thought it would be great if he did offer us a parcel, not that we could afford it.

The dinner was wonderful, many yummy dishes. The stuffing was tasty, with almonds. My grandmother made her tangy cranberry holiday salad. My cousin made her apple and pumpkin pies. Everyone went on and on about my husband's pumpkin bread. They thought it delicious. He thought when he tried the first bite that it was a flop. I made sure everyone knew he made the goodies. He even got requests for the recipe. He spiced it up a bit. He likes to do that to recipes.

We went home with full bellies and happy hearts.

Preparations for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Thursday - bread. My husband made two loaves of delectable pumpkin bread, one of which we tested. I am making two loaves of white bread using my ever trusty bread machine.

Friday - pies. One apple, two pumpkin. And pie crust from Pillsbury, a great invention.

Saturday - turkey, stuffing, gravy. A turkey breast, boxed stuffing, homemade gravy.

A boat load of family for which I am thankful.

Yesterday, my family went for a little walk. Though, for our daughter, it could be a rather long walk. She likes to make it longer by stopping to discover whatever there is to discover - a small leaflet, a twig, a step to go up, a sound to which she must listen. Sometimes we end up carrying her. We let her discover some things.

We went to get our mail. In that 50 yard walk, we must have seen over 100 geese, comprising over 12 different gaggles.

Our walk went something like this: We'd hear them and look up pointing them out to our daughter. Keep walking. We'd hear them and look up pointing them out to our daughter. Keep walking. We'd hear them and look up pointing them out to our daughter. Keep walking. We'd hear them and look up pointing them out to our daughter. Sometimes several gaggles would fly by at once. And they all were flying in the same direction - west. We wondered about the direction, and I suggested maybe they needed to hook up with some other geese, before they headed south. I know when my aunt drives home, she goes west before turning south. As we neared our front door, some gaggles flew by without honking, and to my amazement we could hear their wings as they flapped. It was short whooshing sounds.

Creation never ceases to amaze me.

My daughter likes her pacifier. We are slowly trying to weaning her off of it. She still gets it at bedtime and cartime, but is without it most other times. Unless of course she's tired, then anything goes. (Not really but to keep our sanity, sometimes we would like "anything goes" to be true.)

We left the house today with a binkie, thinking there was not one in the car, but there was. My daughter will gladly suck on one while holding one. And then for variety, she'll switch, taking the one out and putting the other in. Well, today she had two with her. As I was driving, I heard a strange sucking sound coming from behind me. I look in my rearview mirror, and there she is - two binkies in her mouth. I was cracking up and wishing for a camera.

Back to food shopping, laundry, ironing, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom. All my main tasks for the week.

I have gotten quite good at removing stains. Mostly trial and error. I don't like the error part. Just this past week I successfully got an Italian olive oil stain out of a shirt that had been washed and dried twice. Secret: Dawn, it takes grease out of your way (overnight.) I still have a stain on my jeans that I am still working on. Three or four times now.

While I was away, my daughter learned to walk all on her own. I missed it. I'm sad about that. But what a precious sight she is. Toddling about. Still not completely sure on her feet. Her face and shins attest to that.

In fact the day after I got back, she fell on her face and got a nose bleed and some cuts on her nose. Looked like rudolph.

She is a smart cookie that girl. On Monday (I know exactly which day, because I have my meal planning chart to consult) we were eating scrapple. My husband likes apple butter on his meat and thought maybe our girl would to. She handed that piece right back to him. The next piece she was offered, apple butter free, she inspected carefully on both sides before putting in her mouth. She also had to inspect a spoonful of potatoes before eating it, when the previous bite had an offending pea.

She is quite a girl.

I guess you could say I am back into my Mommy role.

I missed my girl and husband very much when I was in Italy. Though I had a good time, it was hard to not be with them.

Rome was full of history, architecture, and columns. Florence had an art flare. Venice had water.

Rome - colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum, Pompeii, metro

Florence - art museum (David), duomo, many steps, bus

Venice - island tour, Doge's Palace, bridges, water bus

Does that sum it up? Not really, but can I say it all?

Ah yes, one more piece of advice about Italy. Beware of crossing streets in Rome. It could be hazardous to your health. Even our guide book warned us. You cannot assume "walk" signs will give you the right or way, you must walk out confidently, glaring at drivers. They will stop or at least swerve. Now Florence was much better with the right to walk when the walk signs were green. And Venice, well . . . remember, it's a carless city. Here you just need to remember to cross a canal where there are bridges, and you'll be fine.