Presidential Candidates - #15 Hillary Clinton

December 4th, we traveled to Ft. Dodge, Iowa to listen to Hillary Clinton speak at Iowa Central Community College.  

Thirty-five minutes before the scheduled start, the local campaign manager took the stage to speak about why he plans to vote for Hillary Clinton.  After that we all waited till 5 minutes after the scheduled start when Labor Secretary Thomas Perez arrived with Clinton.  Perez spoke for 20 minutes, and then handed the meeting over to Secretary Clinton.

Presidential Candidates - #14 Martin O'Malley

My family and I had other engagements in Cedar Falls, Iowa on November 15th, so we were only able to make it over to see Martin O'Malley just as he finished his speech and started visiting with the audience.  

O'Malley was friendly.  I told him I'd watched him on the Democratic debate the night before.  "Was that fun?" he asked.  "Yes," I told him, "I'm a Republican, but I think if Democrats are smart they should vote for you because I think you'd do better in a general election than the other Democratic candidates."  O'Malley agreed.  (At the time, I thought he should have been doing much better, since Clinton has so much baggage and Sanders is polarizing.)

Moonlit Eve, Foggy Morn, & Family History

As I've mentioned before, my family and I enjoy excursions around lakes and on trails in the area.  We have three runners in training  (best time so far: one of my sisters ran a 5K in a little over 24 minutes).  Those of us--including myself--who don't run, like to ride along on bicycles.  Below you can find an assortment of photos from various trips.

The trees above are in Deer Park.  For many years the city kept a herd of real reindeer in this park; the past couple years though, Santa has had to look elsewhere to replenish his herd.  

Presidential Candidates - #13 Ben Carson

The first time I met Dr. Ben Carson was at a book signing at Barnes & Nobles in Waterloo.  I bought a book for about $20, stood in a very long line, had the book autographed, got a picture with Dr. Carson, and left.  You can't tell very much about a person from that, so I was very happy when Dr. Carson returned to Waterloo for a townhall meeting.

The meeting was hosted by Concerned Veterans for America.  Iowa director Flora Schmidt opened the meeting at 1:30, and a retired chaplain led an invocation. Next was the presentation of the colors and the Pledge of Allegiance.  CEO Pete Hegseth spoke about the purpose of the townhall meetings and introduced notable people in attendance.  Carson's speech began at 1:45, and was followed by a question and answer session with questions from Mr. Hegseth and members of the audience.

Thanksgiving 2015

My family and I do not celebrate many holidays, but one we do look forward to every year is Thanksgiving.  Grandma brought her specialty, seven-layer salad.  My sister Charity and my mom made turkey, mashed potatoes, and bread rolls.  My youngest sister (who sells pies) made pecan, apple, pumpkin, and raisin pies, and chocolate chip cookies.

I made my super-fast homemade cranberry sauce and carrot salad, opened a can of green beans, a bag of frozen cream corn, and a can of pineapples, and set the table... This time, I adhered to tradition, resisting my e̶v̶i̶l̶  humanitarian urge to set paper plates in an effort to a̶v̶o̶i̶d̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶h̶e̶s̶  conserve water.

Guest Post at C'est La Vie

I was invited by one of my favorite bloggers, Lydia of C'est La Vie, to guest post about what a lady should know about politics and government for her "Being a Lady" series.   Be sure to check out other thought-provoking posts at her blog.

Politics & Government

There are two things a lady should know about politics and government: #1 How to Stay Out of Jail, and #2 How to Vote Responsibly.  Many thanks to Lydia for inviting me to share the depths of my insights as someone who has only been to the police station a couple times, only been to jail once, and has met 14 Presidential candidates so far this election.

Read the rest of the post at C'est La Vie...

2015 Survey & Giveaway Results

Thank you to the 26 readers who completed my survey, and the 10 who joined the giveaway!  Congratulations to Ashley from Precious Moments!  Ashley is our randomly selected winner #1, and she will receive the 10 greeting cards.  Giveaway winner #2 is Paige from Sunday Best and All the Rest!  Paige will receive the Mini Dinner Triangle.  

Question 1: How did you find my blog?