Wonderful Thanksgiving Week Part 1

Our Thanksgiving week started with the arrival of our daughter Katie and grandchildren Jack and Libby from New Hampshire followed by our great friends, Tom and Wendy Lincoln, from Connecticut, their daughter and son-in-law from Colorado and son and daughter-in-law from Boston.  Shortly after on Monday, Asheville daughter Margot, her partner Hadley and their dog Brewer arrived.  No, not all stayed in our little house.  The Lincolns were in what is called a “Bluff Villa” here on Dataw with a magnificent view of the marsh and the unit they had comprised of three bedrooms, modern kitchen and living room, housed their family of six for the week.  Asheville daughter housesat for our very close friends the Bergs.  Grandson moved from the sofa bed in his grandfathers office to a real bedroom with its own bath also at the Bergs.  So everyone had space and amenities.  The big news and something extra special to give thanks for was the news that our great friends were going to be first-time grandparents.  This certainly put the icing on the cake for the entire group.  There is nothing in the world like that first grandchild and we are beyond thrilled for the whole family.  This was the only way we could get all of us in one picture, I’d say Hillary did a great job!

Wonderful Thanksgiving Week Part 2

Tom Lincoln organized our Thanksgiving Day Golf Scramble which we played after the younger generation ran a Turkey Trot around the island, followed by a scrumptious brunch at their Bluff Villa.  The runners were Graham, Hillary, Margot, Hadley, Jack, Courtney and Scotty with Libby and Wendy scooting and biking.  John and I were out and walked a good long walk with the dogs so we all got some exercise and fresh air while Katie cooked!!!

We followed this with a wonderful brunch put together by the whole Lincoln family.  Fresh cut up fruit which was delicious and an egg and sausage casserole that even Libby liked.  Lots of coffee and mimosas and Bloody Mary’s were offered too.  This is such a lovely tradition and it was such fun to have all of us there before the big golf tournament.

The teams were gathered in a somewhat haphazard manner and we set off at 11:30.  John and Tom with Katie and Jack led off followed by the defending champs of Margot, Hadley, Graham and Hillary.  They had won the scramble last year.   The defending champs were in front of my group which consisted of me, Wendy, Courtney and Scotty and Libby.   The defending champs made the day extra amusing and especially fun for Libby by putting a surprise on either the tee box or the green.  The anticipation of what we would find when we got to the next hole gave an added dimension to a fun game.  The first such surprise was a ginger snap poised on top of a tee.   Libby thought it was a mushroom at first.  Another was a circle of tees like a fence around the pin on the green.  Another was a pyramid of beer cans.  There was no end to the ingeniousness of the defending champs.  Wendy provided us with her perfect individual shrimp cocktail for each golf cart once again.  We ate that as we played golf, the combination of a brunch and the shrimp kept us going until the “main event” – good thing we have coolers on our golf carts.  In addition, this year we had a trophy for the winning team.  The picture shows the trophy surrounded by the individual shrimp cocktails.  A lot of thought and work and planning went into this event and we can’t thank them all enough for their spirit and generosity.
Lucky for us, Katie and I read the manual for the oven before we left and figured out how to get the oven to turn on at the time we wanted so we didn’t have raw turkey for dinner.  It worked!  The turkey was cooking when golf was done.  We had planned dinner for 7:30pm so we gathered before hand to enjoy a cocktail and to sit around the fire outside.  It was a gorgeous day, in the 80’s and sunny so it stayed warm enough to sit outside in the evening.   We were 13 around the table, which my mother says is an unlucky number, so we included the coming baby to make it lucky 14.  Katie prepared the most delicious turkey (her own concoction), dressing and cranberry sauce.  The Lincolns provided all the sides and Margot and Hadley baked the pies.  A team effort that completed our Thanksgiving Plate.  We have much to be thankful for and the gathering together of these two families over many years is just one of those blessings.

Puppy Update

As of this writing we are exhausted.  Not only from the wonderful festivities of the week but the puppy, Winchester (aka Wyke) has had an upset tummy for two days.  This means being up half the night with a sick dog and going outside with him.  The only benefit is the stars are glorious and very bright with so little ambient light around here.  John and I split the effort but it still means very disturbed sleep.  We are hoping that today things will quiet down and we will get him healthy again.  Our trainer, Natalie, says that puppies will eat acorns and if they get a green one it will make them sick.  We are therefore watching him like a hawk to make sure that he doesn’t eat any acorns regardless of color.  We are very happy with our trainer and had a wonderful one hour session with her on Tuesday.  Wyke is pretty much an expert at the command sit now.  He actually seems to pick up on most things very quickly.  We worked on Recall quite a bit on Tuesday and I was very surprised at how quickly he got it.  She uses a method that works on his instincts to enhance the training.  She says the puppy is actually afraid to be alone at this age.  He doesn’t know there isn’t a predator hiding out there so he wants to be with his pack which is us.  So she had us work on walking away from him and then calling him and then actually hiding from him while calling and when he started to come to us which he definitely did then we put on the praise and lots of strokes and positive reinforcement.  Now he comes pretty much the second you call him but we keep working on it.  We also are working on sitting when we meet a new person on our walks and also sitting and waiting for his bowl of food to be put down.  He has figured out that he will get it just as fast if he is quiet and patient.  He did have fun playing with Margot and Hadley’s dog Brewer once again but I think he is tired now too.

Regroup

So, now it is post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas.  A good time to take a couple of weeks to eat clean and healthy before the next onslaught of holiday meals.  Getting back on track with those healthy smoothies or juices, plenty of water, hide the chocolate and other sweets, drink some herbal teas and get out and walk.  No problem for us, walking that is.  We are out for a good three miles in the morning and usually another mile at mid-day and then again at night with a very short round the block somewhere in there too.  I’d say most days we get in five miles pretty easily.  Another friend here on Dataw, inherited a fully grown dog from her son a few weeks ago.  She says she walks the island twice a day which is 3 miles around so a total of 6 miles, and she has lost 12 pounds doing this.  So, dogs are good for you!!!  John and I enjoy a smoothie most mornings.  I found in our grocery store, a frozen mixed fruit with kale that is for smoothies. I am fine with using frozen fruit.  The fruit is picked at its peak and flash frozen with no sugar added just plain fruit and it is tasty.  The kale is all chopped up into small pieces so you don’t have big pieces to break up.  This is a great way for me to get more greens into John who really doesn’t appreciate salads.  We put 2 cups of  the mixture in the blender with 2 cups almond milk, 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, two tablespoons of a chia seed flax seed mix,  and 1/3 cup of coconut oil.  Mix this until it’s really smooth and enjoy.  It is healthy, low in sugar and has lots of fiber and the fat content is good too.  It keeps us both going all morning long.

Stress and Hurricanes etc.

During the holidays there is always a lot of stress.  Many years ago I started meditating with Deepak Chopra and Oprah and their free meditation experiences.  I continue to do that whenever they come out with a new one but I also bought a couple of my favorites.  You can get them on the website and their latest was wonderful.  Here is the link to the Chopra Meditation Experience.  I just finished Creating Peace from the Inside Out.  Really enjoyed it, you might too.  I did buy it and intend to go through it again over the next few weeks.  My day always seems just a little bit better and calmer when I take the time, about 20 minutes, early in the morning (no problem there), to listen to the words and then meditate.

Being here the last six weeks we have had to deal with a lot of stress.  The cleanup from the hurricane has been ongoing seven days a week from dawn until dusk.  The first major pass by FEMA has happened and we are told there is over 300,000 cubic feet of debris that is being incinerated at the end of St. Helena Island.  Thanksgiving Day was a no contractor work day here so no trucks, no chainsaws, just peace and quiet.  The second pass will come this week and the final pass in a couple of weeks.  The debris piles here are not the size they once were but there is still much to do.  The golf courses are looking very good which has meant that we have actually played quite a bit of golf.  Nice to see things coming back together again.

We will take a trip this coming weekend to Asheville and Knoxville Tennessee to bring some items to our friend Ash who moved a few weeks ago.  Right after that we will come back here and pack up the gang and head to Canada for the holidays.  Rumor has it there is snow on the ground already with more to come.  It’s ok to have snow for Christmas but I will miss the wonderful weather we have been having here in South Carolina.

Start making your lists and checking them twice.  December 25th is less than a month away.

Peace and blessings from our home to yours.