My expanding girth, my increasing bulk, my encroaching planetutdinous waistline.

We start this post with a reference to our overnight trip to Texas. We went down on Monday, met with friends who were putting us up overnight and went to Cracker Barrel for dinner before our meeting.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cracker Barrel here's a picture.

It is a restaurant and store. Usually when we eat, we browse at the store which is their intended idea. Tonight we didn't have time, as we had to get over to the Sheraton DFW for a BOFCI meeting.

Things went very well at the meeting with excellent information that was applicable to business people across racial, gender, age, economic and cultural lines.

Since today was the American Thanksgiving, we started cooking when we got home yesterday afternoon. On the menu was homemade mac & cheese.

The next thing on the menu was stuffing, with onion, nicely spiced and baked separately from the main dish.

What would a holiday dinner be without gravy? Giblets, finely minced and added to the gravy, with a chopped boiled egg, and cooked until thickened. Yow!!! I'm a big fan of the gravy.

Here we have collard greens, also cooked with onion, red bell peppers and heated. Delicious and good for you because they have high fiber content.

So to the main dish. Scooterchick went with duck this year instead of turkey. It was stuffed with cut apple which itself was spiced. It came out perfect, juicy and delicious.

Here's Tracy with a full plate, ready to tuck in. After all that cooking we were ready to tackle this meal and really stick our boots in it. Delicious.

Here's a picture of Scooterchick going after her food like she's mad at it. She is an excellent cook, and I love to eat. We finished eating by about 3, had the leftovers packaged and the kitchen clean by about 4:30 and I couldn't even get near the Sweet Potato Pie util about 8:00. I was stuffed like  a Boa after swallowing a peccary. I had to become one with the couch and wait until my stomach reduced to  a manageable size and I could contemplate pie with cool whip.

After the kitchen was cleaned, I took out the garbage. I noticed the crepe myrtle had changed color and wanted to catch a picture of the sun sinking on the upper branches. Soon all the leaves will be off and it will be time to head back to the Great North Wet.

Now, with my girth reduced to a more human and less sideshow size, I retire. Bon Soir!