Thanksgiving 2014

     It's funny how little things can remind you how fortunate we are.  The afternoon before Thanksgiving the waste drain out of the disposal became clogged and stayed clogged despite some valiant efforts by plunger and Liquid Plumber.  When Durelle remembered that the dishwasher empties first into the disposal, she began to imagine Thanksgiving without either appliance and exclaimed,"Well, there goes Thanksgiving!"  Conveniently, a local plumber showed up in a couple of hours and fixed the problem for 75 bucks.  I reminded everyone that we have had dozens of memorable Thanksgivings without benefit of those two handy inventions.  Just this year our son, Mark, and his family did it without power in Nashua, NH.  A couple of Weber grills and a turkey fryer handled things with only a little inconvenience.  Later, the memories around the fireplace playing cribbage and visiting will last longer than those inconveniences. 
     The Cloutiers, as well as those who are so kind as to check this space from time to time, have much for which to be thankful.  Cindy did not work today so she was able to join us for most of the day.  I did our turkey on the Traeger grill, but everything else was just as we have done it for many years.  We did set everything on the kitchen island and served ourselves buffet style for a change.

     That yellow bowlful in the foreground is not scrambled eggs.  It's Yukon Gold mashed potatoes.  Needless to say, there will be bountiful leftovers, sandwiches and eventually turkey soup.  Baxter, of course, found all this activity very exciting.

     The overnight lows were in the thirties, but the sunsets in our back yard have been very pleasant.

      So, it is most appropriate in these troubling times, that we pause to observe everything that is right.