The walking stick

I have my walking stick. It's cherry, about five feet tall, and fancifully turned toward the bottom. Now that I have it, I don't need it--which is just what I expected. I carry it up and down the driveway, walking with assurance, and never put it to the ground. But that's because I know I have it. I had it in the car this morning when I went to the office (don't need it there), two groceries stores, and the bookstore. I was a little embarrassed about it, not being used to it yet, so devised other ways to cope. I'm an old master at finding ways to get around my fears, but I hope some day I'll be comfortable enough to take it to the grocery, the bookstore, restaurants, etc. I think it's kind of interesting looking. Maybe it sort of goes with the daisies on my VW convertible.
I came home and cooked, which is always a pleasure. Tonight I'm entertaining my neighbor, Sue, and her parents who are visiting from Canada. I warned her it would be a "down-home" meal but I don't know if she's prepared for meatloaf. Still, it's a recipe I found in Texas Co-op Power, a magazine I write for sometimes, and I've been wanting to try it. You cook the meatloaf, in the oven, in your iron skillet--and it has more seasonings than I usually put in meatloaf (okay, okay, I left out the bell peppers!). I also saw a recipe for mashed potatoes topped with sauteed mushrooms, which sounds terrific to me, so I'll do that--only serve them separately since others may not think it sounds as good as I do. I made homemade tomato sauce for the meatloaf--was easy and smells like it will be really good. And I'll do Christian's bacon-and-vinegar green beans--shhh! don't tell I'm doing them for someone else. For an appetizer, I'll do the pesto-cream cheese in a crescent roll shell that Jordan had commanded for Thanksgiving, and since I'm firmly told these are not dessert people, we'll have cheese and fruit. I sort of like my menu, if I do say so myself.
I've also made and frozen two potato casseroles to take to my brother's the day after Thanksgiving--and Thanksgiving lists from all the children have sent me back to the store three times after I did my "big" shopping. The other nght I dreamt I spent $1470 in the grocery store--it wasn't quite that bad, but bad enough (no wonder grocery stores are one place where I feel off balance!). And I still have to get the turkeys on Wednesday. We'll roast one--I have to have it all ready for Jordan to pop into the oven, as she's squeamish about touching raw turkey--and Brandon will fry the other.
I'm looking forward to a very happy holiday. Jordan thinks my recent attacks of anxiety may be related to the approaching holiday--she may be right--so her advice is to sit down, enjoy my family, and quit washing dishes. I'm going to try.
Meantime I've made a pass at a rough draft of an article that was just assigned (yes, Texas Co-op Power) and am loving the Deborah Crombie mystery I'm reading. Wish I'd read them in order. This is one of the earlier ones, I think. And I know my mystery is percolating in the back of my mind. It's just that having killed off that one character . . . well, where do I go next?