“I haven’t even finished eating all of my Halloween candy!”
The morning is cloudy, even a bit grim. It is in the mid 50’s, warmish for November, but the next few nights will be winter cold, down to the 30’s. I’ve put the blanket on my bed, a surrender, an acknowledgement to winter.
My kitchen floor is covered with muddy paw prints. Clumps of dog hair fly into the air when I walk down the hall. I ignore it all. My sloth instinct is strong.
When I was a kid, we always had turkey for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and at no other time of year. We ate turkey for days. We started with the big bird on the holiday, then, for supper, we’d have open turkey sandwiches with gravy and the rest of the fixings on the side. Sandwiches were next. The bread was always toasted, and on the turkey was usually stuffing and cranberry sauce and mayo or butter. I loved those sandwiches. Turkey salad, made with the meat my father stripped from the bone, was the next incarnation. The last of the turkey became soup made from the carcass. By then we were trukeyed out.
I had an aunt who was a nun. For most of my childhood, we saw her once a year, an obligatory visit. She lived in Connecticut. We were always dressed in our church clothes for the visit. We stopped once on the way. I remember the building was brick and close to where we were going. We went to the bathroom where my mother made sure we were all nun ready. The visit never changed from year to every year. We sat in the parlor. When she joined us, she looked formidable in her habit. Her questions seldom varied. She wanted to know how school was and what our favorite subjects were. During the visit, another nun would arrive with cookies and soft drinks. At some point we’d walk to the school to see my aunt’s classroom. That was it, the whole visit. I always thought once a year was too often.
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November 10, 2023 at 3:30 pm
Hi Kat,
Today is cloudy with a high of 63°. The rain has moved to the Northeast.
We always had turkey for Thanksgiving. I remember my mother buying the frozen butterball bird and defrosting it in the sink. The only part of the bird I like is the dark meat. We didn’t have that much for leftovers because my mother never bought such a large bird. However, we did have enough for sandwiches for a couple of days over the holiday weekend.
If we went on a road trip it was usually in June to visit my mother’s family in New York. My father was only concerned with making good time on the road. We usually stopped early to allow my sister and I to go swimming in the motel’s pool at our first stop in Springfield Missouri.
I remember both my sister and I would get motion sickness and my father would have to pull over to the side of the road so we could throw up. I wondered why my kids never became car sick on road trips. The reason, I believe, was that both my parents smoked while we were driving and my sister and I were relegated to the back seat and had to smell the foul smell. My spouse and I both stopped smoking before my kids were born. Living in Texas in the 1950s required that our car had to have air conditioning, I think the air conditioning at that time just recirculated the cigarette smoke in the car.
November 10, 2023 at 9:50 pm
Hi Bob,
It was a damp day, chilly even though it was in the 40’s. I went and bought a few groceries. Now the larder is full.
My mother bought a big bird. There were six of us so we needed enough turkey for the big day and all those leftover meals. I remember how wonderful the house smelled all day while the turkey cooked. I never got tired of it
I think I would call that trip to Connecticut an ordeal. She was really a stranger to us as we only saw her that once a year. I think she found the visit awkward. The stop was just to make sure we were presentable after the long ride
I also got car sick. I think I was the only one. Both my parents also smoked but that didn’t affect my sibs. I remember throwing up a little out the window. My father had his window down. He told my mother he thought it was starting to rain. I didn’t say a word.