Oh, was that November?

This extended absence from the blogging world (I am so 2002) was brought to you by Work – Work®, Keeping Families Solvent Since The Industrial Revolution. And, more miraculously, it has suddenly been actual work, where something gets done, rather than the kind of work that is actually just looking for, bidding for, and trying to get work, which is the bane of the consultant’s existence. Doing it’s the easy part, getting it is miserable.
The absence was also brought to you by Sudden Breakthroughs in Family History®, occasioned by some deep searches of an odd little site that inexplicably has thousands upon thousands of perfectly searchable scans of quite old upstate newspapers; it’s odd because it purports to be a history site for Fulton, NY, but somehow it has resources that the major library networks don’t have. I’m not asking questions, I’m just searching while the searching’s good, and finding all kinds of birth, death and marriage announcements I never had before, as well as the true story of why great grandpa was sent up the river for a while (which is coincident with the true story of how casually the residents of Amsterdam treated attempted murder in those days).
And mixed in with all that has been the usual rush of Nutcracker rehearsals, fundraisers for this and that, and a number of utterly splendid fall rides, and I’ve been up to my ears. Today would be another day for a late ride, but for a freak accident with my achilles’ tendon – and don’t think I’m happy that my figurative achilles’ heel is also my literal achilles’ heel. Much hobbling will be done for the next few days as I try to quiet it down. Tomorrow, after the family tradition of watching the parade on TV while making applesauce, we’ll be enjoying a fabulous outdoor Thanksgiving on the farm of some friends – it’s not quite a reenactment, but I may still throw in some genuine cursing of the Dutch, just for good measure.