Week 48 – Not Too Late

We have had a quiet week here on Jenny Lane. The only project that was done was the hooking up of dimmer switches in the two new rooms and the hooking up of the tv to cable and making the plugs live on the fireplace wall. Reducing the number of extension cords that are in use. With any luck, the tv will be attached to the wall this coming week and I can stop worrying about it falling over or getting cracked like the last one. I need it to be safely installed in its permanent home. The Bonus Room, which is now being referred to as The Family Room, is working out just perfectly. Jack and Libby have migrated there to watch their “weird” movies and to hang out together without the grownups getting in the way. John, Katie and I are able to watch our boring (to them) movies or television news upstairs. Our timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Everyone needs his or her own space and this is proving to be successful.

Cooking This Week

Of course we were cooking this week. It was Thanksgiving after all. We managed to split up the jobs among the family. Each one doing what they seemed to love the most. We had ordered our turkey from a local farm stand. In the long run it was well worth it but this was not your 49 cent a pound turkey which my dear friend told me was available at her local store in Florida. We have always enjoyed picking up a Bon Appetit or Gourmet Magazine and cooking the recipes that they share. However, this time we used Yankee Magazine. Katie brined the turkey in a molasses based brine. I made the stuffing with brown bread and homemade cornbread and sausage. We had brussels sprouts with candied walnuts, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with cheese crackle, cranberry sauce with bourbon and pies made by Libby and Jack. Seemed the cooking was never ending but it was so much fun. John and I polished silver even getting out the candelabra from his mother. Everything looked gorgeous and tasted wonderful.

Sharing With Friends

We couldn’t share a meal with friends this year for obvious reasons. Covid kept us home but we have become very sophisticated users of Zoom. For many, many years we shared Thanksgiving with family friends, The Lincolns, from Connecticut. We would gather in South Carolina, sometimes sharing a house but more often they would have their place and we ours. We would gather on Thanksgiving Day for brunch at their place and then go out and play a family tournament of golf. Wendy would cook shrimp and deliver it to the golf carts and we had lots of beer and Bloody Mary’s or Caesar’s. Everyone could participate and we even have a trophy for the winning group. Tommy would make up the teams and they were usually a really good mix of young and old and golfers with non-golfers. At the end of the day we would celebrate with a big dinner together at our house. We were all missing our family and friends this year so we decided to do a Zoom brunch together. We had family from all over, Colorado, North Carolina, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It worked like a charm and was just so wonderful to see and catch up with each other.

Walking Not So Much

I sort of took a bit of a break from the walking this week. It was so much fun at home and being together that we just stayed put. A mere 18 miles from Sunday to Sunday. Need to ramp that up to work off the extra calories from all that Thanksgiving food and drink. I did have a good walk with Kate and one with Jack and Katie.

The big news of the week was that our new dryer arrived. We have been without one for over three weeks and it hasn’t been much fun. We put up clothes lines outside as well as in the laundry room. The weather wasn’t really all that good for drying clothes outside but we tried valiantly to make it work. Ultimately bringing things inside and hanging them up in the laundry room. I don’t think I ever appreciated the dryer as much as I do now after being without one for so long. A family of five has a lot of laundry even though we told Jack to do his before he came home he still had quite a bit.

A Visit With Edie

One very special thing that happens most weeks is that Edie calls to have a visit with us. Usually I am still in bed, she gets up earlier than I do. Anyway, Bean and I were watching videos of her and then she called. Bean is fascinated and reacts to her noises with intent. We had a lovely visit and Bean couldn’t take her eyes off her. Dogs are very perceptive. I just love this picture.

Christmas Is Coming

Since we are here for Christmas this year we decided to do a little decorating. Lots of outside lights as well as inside. We have a live tree in the living room and will put up another tree in the family room. We have decked out the outside trees with white lights, blue lights and colored lights and hung a big wreath on the barn door of the garage. We are going to make the best of it and try and bring as much cheer in and out as we can.

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