i thank you God for most this amazing day

This past week I've been in Graham at my grandparents for Thanksgiving! Our whole branch of the Pyles family was there (except my sister, wah. MISSUMS!) and it was loud and crazy.

The cousins have a weird tradition of playing charades (we call it "transmography" actually. think calvin and hobbes) Thanksgiving night - and I say it's weird because our charades cards are just... crazy.

Some of my favorite things that were (unsuccessfully) acted out over the weekend:

Man Sitting Down On Meatloaf

Minnesota Forests

Woman Drinking Tea While Running A Marathon

Oz Tries To Catch A Moose

and my favorite, which I tried very very hard to get them to guess...

Sarah Palin Assembles A Bookcase While Eating Cake

That one was super interesting.

Also, while we were out at the farm I attempted to learn how to drive stick, in my grandad's 1975 pickup, and let me tell you it is SCARY! Way scarier than it looks! I killed the engine so many times. By the end I was doing a little better, I think, but I think I'll stick with automatic for now.

Ooooh also, I was down at Fireman's park and a goose tried to bite my face! It was scary, and I felt tiny and completely unintimidating, so... maybe, just maybe I pulled over on my way back to the farm to scare a herd of cows. And maybe it was thoroughly satisfying to see a herd of big animals running en masse Because Of Me.

Sunday after church, on our way out of town, we met the Lunsfords for lunch, which was super fancy!

It really bugs me when I forget to take pictures when I'm out of town or with cool people, because afterwards I want to throw pies at my feet. So... I need to work on that, because I can't imagine pie between the toes would feel... oh yuck that's ... really gross.

Sorry this is so rambly. I don't like big conglomoratory posts like this, but hadn't posted in a while!

"i see nothing in space as promising as the view from a ferris wheel." -E.B.White

when i said carnival before... perhaps i spoke too grandly.

yes, it was small, it only took up about 1/16th of the square.

but really, it is america's largest square, and the cotton candy was lovely.

i named him cal, short for calvin dwight peterson the third.

and him? he is mort, short for mortimer penn williams

america's largest downtown square? nice.

i mentioned Graham, Texas a few posts back... forgetting that y'all may have no mental image of it. so here are some pictures i took over the summer... there was a carnival there that weekend, and i'm trying to hunt down my pictures of that. patience, dears!

(p.s. the last one is my favorite.)

(p.s.s. see? come on... you know you want a 7up mural of your own.

i do. i want one just like this. cause it's cool.)

Go buy some golden socks, weyah famous!

So... I looked up the movie "Sons of Katie Elder" because it was on TCM and I recorded it, and it turns out it's about these brothers from Graham, Tx, which is pretty cool. BUT even more amazing, Graham has a Wikipedia page! I read the page, and there was a section on famous people from Graham... Here's what I found:

"Big Ed" Wilkes - Popular radio personality and recipient of the Lubbock Outstanding Agriculturist Award.

Bob Lilly - Author of photography book, "Bob Lilly Reflections", and Dallas Cowboy's defensive tackle, first inductee of the cowboy's ring of honour.

William McFarlane - Texas Representative and National Security Advisor for Reagan!

Rex Brown - Heavy metal bassist.

and my favorite...

Dean Smith - Won a gold medal in the 52 Olympics, played for the Steelers, he was a stuntman in many western movies and tv shows, and he was a pro rodeo cowboy. He actually recieved a "golden boot award", was named an "all-american cowboy", and he was inducted into the texas rodeo cowboy hall of fame.

I hope you enjoyed this little history lesson.

the farm