the food, the tables, the guests

Last night we were (almost) all together for an early Thanksgiving feast. Alex had shoved the couch and chairs into the dining area and set up two lovely long tables to accommodate 13 of us for the usual fare.

Everyone pitched in with the cooking: Pete did the turkey and stuffing, Alex handled the brussel sprouts ~ Miss Brussel Sprout, USA ~


and gravy, Andrew did the mashed potatoes, Mr. C made two pumpkin pies, Cait and Mike (the "almost" in the almost all ~ they had to return to Bozeman on Saturday morning so missed out but we were together for dinner Friday night) made an apple-cranberry-walnut pie, I baked breakfast breads before I left home. Peter's mother, father and brother joined us. Kaley, Rob and Ruby are out from Connecticut and were there too, recovering from a 4-day assault on Disneyland.

Both grandchildren were in attendance. Andrew is on the left; my brother-in-law, Tom on the right.

And the beauteous Emily, home from boarding school for the Thanksgiving week, with her mother.

I first met Ruby five years ago, at a similar celebration when she was 8 months old.


She is now a kindergartner, frighteningly articulate, very funny, and still curious about the necklaces I wear ~ my travel talismans.




It is so wonderful to have still have a small person in the family.

On Friday, Cait and Mike flew over from Bozeman to see everyone. Their visit was very short ~ just over night ~ but sweet. They flew back yesterday morning, fearing they might get snow-bound in Salt Lake if they waited another day. Good thing they went; bad storms on the way home, snow-buried cars at the airport. It was something like -2º when they finally landed on the last flight, but clear and sunny this morning with a temperature of -10º. She gave a quick report on the results of the Delta Non-Rev Challenge and her team's accomplishments.

"I was able to get a tiny bit of info from my co-worker when we landed about the Non-Rev Challenge results, but more facts coming your way. Out of 44 teams, we finished in 21st place. There were MANY teams that completed the entire list, and the top 5 teams had point scores of something like 2800 (compared to our paltry 790). We won for BEST BLOG (yeah!!!!) and we won for BEST TEAM PHOTO (our photo at the wind turbines with all of Candy's props, cowboy hats and the American Flag). We won special recognition for our ABOVE AND BEYOND tasks, especially the photo of me with Michael Keaton and Peggy with her llama. But I'll get more info soon, as all this was captured in a 5 minute quick conversation with Peggy."

I especially like the part about "Best Blog!"

Today is going to be a clean-up-the-hotel-room-and-get-packed day. We'll mosey over to Alex and Pete's for lunch ~ looking forward to turkey sandwiches ~ and a visit. Back to the hotel for reading and resting, then with them again for an early dinner. We'll be out of here sometime late tomorrow morning to drive down to La Jolla for two days. It has been such a lovely time together. I am deeply thankful that everyone is well and thriving and that we could spend this time together on a happy occasion.

Speaking of reading, Kaley (who is a buyer and manager of the children's and young adults departments at an indy bookstore in Guilford, CT) gave me this book, "The Blind Contessa's New Machine." I am looking forward to it. I'll let you know what I think.