Thanksgiving

 Last day of November already. We had a nice, safe, intimate Thanksgiving. Doug and Pam thought it too risky to come in from Chicago, where COVID infections are rising, so Hilda and I chatted with them on Zoom in the morning. Hilda enjoyed seeing their faces.

I was much relieved to be cooking a small turkey this year. I also felt prescient to have purchased said turkey last Thanksgiving. I usually get two so I can have Thanksgiving Observed in February when we all need something to cheer us up. I didn’t get to it last year, though. First I was in Florida; then we were quarantined. And now we’re quarantined again, wondering if this would have happened if we’d done it right the first time. Anyway, the label on the turkey gave the use-by date as April, 2021, so no worries there. I started it on it’s back and flipped it after an hour. It was, if I say so myself, perfect.

A perfect turkey

I also made the traditional pumpkin pie.

The traditional pumpkin pie

And cute little deviled pullet eggs.

Pullet eggs garnished with scallion. So cute!

Hilda made mashed potatoes. I pulled a casserole of Brussels sprouts, cheese, and bacon from the freezer and made a small pan of dressing. Here is a picture of Terry making his plate.

The full spread

We worked on a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in between dinner and dessert. By Sunday, I was down to the white part. I had to sort the pieces by shape and try each one until one of them fit. I know why I don’t do jigsaws more often. I never get anything else done.

Finished jigsaw. The white part was HARD

Yesterday morning, I saw a red-bellied woodpecker eating one of the apples that was still on the tree. I’d never seen that before.

Red-bellied woodpecker pecking apples, not wood

It was a beautiful day. Hilda and I walked down to the creek. Wave after wave of sandhill cranes flew overhead. It seemed late for their migration. I thought I’d missed it and was happy that I hadn’t. We had a few flakes of snow this morning, blown by a wicked north wind. Sigh. Winter is upon us.