Thanksgiving

As I have said in every blogpost about this most American of holidays, Thanksgiving is ALL about family, football and food . . . but not necessarily in that order.

As for family, it was bittersweet as it would mark our first Thanksgiving since both Bill and Florene Gardner passed away.

They were missed.

Of course, the joy of sharing little Kevin's first Thanksgiving was fun.

We also had a chuckle as we watched Vanessa waddling around with "a baby boy to be named later."

As I said, bittersweet but . . .

"THE DOCTOR WAS IN THE HOUSE!!!"

GOD THIS WAS GOOD!!!

My sister Linda has become one of America's great Thankgiving Day chefs, PERIOD!!!

This turkey was her best ever and, no, I have no idea where those two missing strips of bacon went.

Linda with her sous chef Michael

Everybody tends to crowd

into the kitchen on this day

The Tables were set . . .

. . . and the food was ready!

The food was incredible and I didn't overeat for once!

As for family, everyone took their turn in meeting the Tank for the first time.

With Great Granmother Chuny

With Uncle Mike watching

the Cowboys nose out the Dolphins

With our niece Lauren

This makes them???

Meeting my sister Marilyn and Aunt Katie

Thursday was over and we can't begin to say how much fun we all had.

Steve Swindle

Steve is a former player of ours from days together at Thousand Oaks H.S. in the early 1970's.

One of the nice things about this four day American holiday weekend is the chance to visit with friends. Steve stopped by our house to drop off an autographed copy of a new novel by Barnaby Conrad.

The book is titled "The Second Life of John Wilkes Booth" and I can't wait to read it after I finish my current tome.

It is truly a small world as Steve has come to know Mr. Conrad personally and as a youth I devoured Conrad's book "La Fiesta Brava."

This was Conrad's quintessential book about the controversial world of bullfighting.

For me, it was the mini-bible for a Spanish tradition that both my Grandfather Evaristo and Father Jorge loved. Their passion for bullfighting which was passed on to me, was fueled by Conrad's book and one of my goals for this summer is to witness a corrida in Madrid's Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas.

I have read La Fiesta Brava more than once.

After watching the Lions-Packers, Cowboys-Dolphins, Ravens-49ers and Texas-Texas A&M games on Thursday, we needed more football on Friday!

Let's see now, on Friday we were able to tune in to the LSU-Arkansas, Pitt-West Virginia, Colorado-Utah, Cal-Arizona State and Houston-Tulsa games. WOW!

Today, we had to say goodbye to Kevin as he headed down to Orange County as Jenn and Andy introduced him to even more family before heading home to Las Vegas.

But first, we went to Cronies Sports Grill for breakfast to enjoy their famous Breakfast Burrito. It was good as usual and we even ran into our good friend Debi Murphy and her son Ian.

More introductions.

With Michigan Fan Debi Murphy

Hey, it's Saturday, that means COLLEGE GAMEDAY!!!

First up was on the old TV for us today was Michigan-Ohio State followed by Oregon-Oregon State.

I am about to sign off before the Apple Cup game between Washington and Washington State. If I can still watch more football, it will be Notre Dame-Stanford and UCLA-USC after we beat the Cougars!

Meanwhile, in high school football this weekend . . .

2011 Western Division Playoffs

Quarter-Final Playoff Results:

Culver City 51 - Righetti 28

Santa Monica 29 - #4 seed Ventura 24

#3 seed Chaminade 31 - San Luis Obispo 27

#2 seed Arroyo Grande 49 - St. Francis 28

Semi-Final Games:

Friday, December 2nd

Santa Monica (11-1) Ocean League #1 at

Culver City (9-3) Ocean League Wild Card

#3 seed Chaminade (10-2) Mission League #2 at

#2 seed Arroyo Grande (11-1) PAC-7 League #1

Are you serious?

They are all related to me?

REALLY?

Great Granndma Chuny with Kevin

In a somewhat unrelated matter,

GO DAWGS!!!