In places where shoe removal is the norm, people have socks that are clean and in good shape, and/or feet that are clean, and it makes sense.

In places where it's not the norm, asking people to remove shoes can result in embarrassment and/or nastiness.

I have a pair of backyard shoes to deal with mud, grass stains, and potential dog poop. Those don't get worn throughout the house. Otherwise, it's shoes-optional.

Funny you should say that, Miss C. I thought the same a year ago when I had to animate a walkcycle. :)

Not bad, even surprisingly witty, but unfortunately that Mother of Triplet Dragons above has already won Halloween.

I'm Australian and I doubt I could even name half the states in America. I could pick out California, Hawaii and Florida without any problem and probably get Nevada, Louisiana, Vermont, & New York at least pretty close to the right place.

I have to admit, that it's only in the Google Maps era that I've ever really looked up US states and I was totally surprised that Texas is down the bottom. I'd always expected it to be at the top of the USA, probably because in Australia the further north you go, the warmer the climate is. That and the fact that almost everything I know about Texas I learned from watching Dallas. :)

I read the story a-GAIN and a-GAIN, but I never saw any mention of hockey sweaters under the denim jackets...
So, it's not most Canadian it could be, only the most Canadian all week -

It looks like Hard Tack. If that's true, the mouse can have it.

Love the photo of Warren Beatty and Shirley Maclaine!

superfetation, meaning two babies are conceived at different times, born on the same day yet - medically speaking - are not considered twins.

Honey is the chicken ready yet? Just a minute sweetie, I'm getting the bucket and the rope. You better lock the dogs up in case some flies out, like last time.

When I was 12 and in Boy Scouts, my Mom taught me to hand-sew so I could sew on my patches. I hated it, with a passion I now reserve for grammatical errors and Star Wars sequels. It didn't help that my Mom was a perfectionist and she would rip out my work if it was just a little bit crooked. But I persevered and got my patches on my uniform. 9 years later, I made about $500 in a week or so sewing patches on my fellow sailor's uniforms before a huge inspection, a requirement for us to go on liberty. Once I went on liberty myself, I bought my Mom a really nice present.

(Oh, and I still do some sewing but I now help run a knitting shop. Yay threadwork.)

My mother-in-law mention that especially during the 60s and 70s that a lot of women abandon anything associated with "traditional women" crafts like sewing and knitting as an attempt to separate themselves during the women's movement, which meant that, indeed, there was a whole generation that never learned these skills or gave them up. At the time it probably seemed a reasonable reaction, but I suspect it was a real loss to a lot of their own mothers' connection with their daughters. Subsequently, a second generation never learned the skills either and rediscovered them all and how to use them to assert individuality over the last 15 years.

Sounds like everyone wants to eat well at after-funeral gatherings! All of the stuff listed here sounds good. I would say that the casserole is pretty much a given across American middle class after-funeral gatherings. I grew up in Texas and that pretty much sounded like the same kind of casserole we ate that someone brought to grandfather's after-funeral gathering at my house.