My friend Elke

I have a new friend, Elke. She is remarkable. She's a walking history book. She lived in East Germany when it was closed. Her mom snuck back two times under barbed wire to get some things from home, but basically they closed the door of their home and walked away. They rode in freight cars in the freezing cold and her mother's fingertips were open sores with frostbite. Her dad was an inventor, a physicist. I'm walking over to her place tonight to see her feed the birds. She gets a ton of birds over there.

She's highly in tune with nature. Even to an extreme, if that is possible. A bear once licked her on the cheek then walked away! It was a very big bear.

I'm making German chocolate cake tomorrow for Thanksgiving. This year we received three whole invitiations for Thanksgiving. That's never happened before! It was nice. I'm making candied yams too and husband is making mashed potatoes. I think I'm going to enjoy the holiday. There is a distinct possibility of this occurring. Highly unusual.

Late last night I dropped a line off to Ernie, a friend of mine from high school. Can't wait to hear back from him! He writes the best letters as I remember. We wrote each other a few times in the '80s, then lost contact. Or was it the '90s? He plays guitar, but he also played the drums in high school band and you know the guys who play drums are always the coolest. We girls would say "Ooooh, look at Ernie." Hehe! High school.

I must go wax my arms for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday now.