CYBER ASSISTED THANKSGIVING

We have three main family get togethers per year Independence Day Reunion, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. At times we are splintered, like this year.

Traffic was sane for the two-hour drive to Virginia’s, and in time to see the turkey come out of the oven for a  turn over from breast side down, to breast side up.The smells greeted us on the driveway before we entered the house. Now that alone is a special joy.

It takes three people to turn an 18 pound hot bird safely.

Virginia did the first basting.

Doug was teaching the boys to play Risk, a game of armies and geography.

Jim and I  set out the snacks, quite a bit lower in fat  from former years;  dilled green beans, crackers and cheese, a bit of salami, chips and Texas caviar.

We brought a new game, LCR, a fun and fast-moving dice game. Non-stop table games in shifts went on all day between snacking and tending the bird. Virginia taught us two new dice games, Threes and High Or Low. Both, challenging and easy to learn. We like to choose games the whole family can play in which the kids are equal to an adult by age seven.

Close to dinner time, eleven year old Owen peeled the potatoes. Two days before, both boys cracked walnuts from my tree for the walnut pie that Cedric is famous for. When the boys were too little to reach the table, it was their job to grind the cranberries in my old-fashioned hand grinder. At some point Owen discovered peeling potatoes and opted for that job on his own.

The turkey rested for 40 minutes while the previously tenderized in the microwave beets and sweet potatoes were roasted in the oven, green beans stir fired, the gravy made, potatoes mashed, and the salads put together.

Doug carved the turkey.

The table was ready with three different kinds of cranberry sauce, but Cedric, who gets teased by his wife and brother-in-law, loves canned cranberries over the fresh any time.

Cranberries we all love at Thanksgiving;  the more the merrier.

With the magic of electronic communications, we still managed time with each other. Ken & Laurie spent Thanksgiving at home with their sons since Stewart, away at college as a freshman, came home for the first time in three months. It was comfortable talking with family members on the screen. Kristanne, too, connected by phone from Southern California.
A walk to the park in friendly California weather, the desserts and conversation until bedtime.  We all expressed our thankfulness for each other, and we realize how fortunate we are.
And I am  thankful for my cyber friends that follow my blog and give me input on my daily scribbles and photos. You put up with my rants and let me know when I’ve pleased you. Without you, my blog would not exist. Cheers to all of you in the blogging community.

GETTING READY FOR THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is a major production at my house. I cook for at least two days ahead of time and enjoy nibbling and preparing the fattening, special foods I rarely touch at any other time of year. Think sour cream, creamed cheese, gobs of butter, rich pies and deserts. Yum. I avoid those foods except on special occasions, and that special occasion is about to happen.

 I take out all sorts of favorite recipes, then move along and sometimes discard one and opt for another. I cannot prepare them all, though I'd like too. We will have smoked turkey, two kinds of potatoes and gravy,  Italian stuffing, and artichoke stuffing, stuffed mushrooms, spinach souffle, corn pudding, pickled pineapple, kale salad, hippy broccoli, three types of cranberries, paella, sweet potatoes in broth.
New this year is a Spanish tortilla, made with 3 eggs to 3 potatoes. And, we haven't had roasted pepper salad at Thanksgiving. I debated between roasted red pepper dip and the salad. Decided on the homemade humus for dip instead. Well, the list is making me drool and its time to get at it.
I already made two crustless pumpkin pies, but normally the deserts are up to the guests to bring. Virginia's pear tart and Doug's berry pies. Oh, my. Haven't even started on the snacks. Its going to wonderful.
And, its not only about the bounty of food. We do reflect on what we have to be thankful for. We have so many cultures in our country and Thanksgiving is a true American holiday that everyone enjoys and it doesn't upset anyone. And, that's something of great value.

We've been without the wood stove for three days with the temperature lowering to 22 degrees. The chimney sweep came yesterday and cleaned the stove. Nice to have the house really warm again.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.

ABOUT THE GUEST OF HONOR

Modern turkey farms aren't as bad as they used to be. Our family camped near La Grange when our kids were young and you could smell the turkey farms miles before you came to them. Should have been enough to turn the appetite away from turkey. It didn't, though.

In the 1980's I did an article about a turkey ranch on Highway 4 near Farmington. I was impressed at how clean it was. Ranchers feed people economically and turkey raising doesn't use up the resources that beef and pork do. Except for their feed. Corn raising produces a blight on the earth from the massive amount of fertilizer used to grow corn.

Now I choose to shop my turkey at a free range turkey farm. No smell. The birds are lively, clean and happy, given their short future. I'm sure they are corn fed.
I'm supposedly getting wiser. I know the day is coming, in my lifetime, when population demands and resources, already feeling the strain, are going to produce a new way of living with less meat, or no meat in our diets. My vegan friends are adamant the time to change is NOW.

I'm reminded of two things, when Native Americans hunted, they always thanked the animal for its contribution to their health and blessed its spirit. And, I'm reminded of a man who was way ahead of his time. He said:

The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.
Leonardo da Vinci
I thank my turkey for being the guest of honor at my table tomorrow but I'm also wrestling with my conscience about eating meat and see myself moving closer and closer to vegetarianism.

A MURDER OF CROWS

In our travels, we see a variety of interesting birds. Ever present is the corvid family of crows and ravens. I was never sure of the difference between a crow and a raven, but I know now. Very little. If its huge, its likely a raven.
I listened one morning to raven-speak, while four of them squawked in one timbre and two others called to each other, over the chatter, in a distinctly different tone of voice. I wondered, do males sound different than females? What could they be saying? I tried taking pictures of them but small digitals don't do a great job on birds. (Blame the camera, right?)

Anyway, it brought to mind the old English ditty that I no longer recall but it begins, a murder of crows, an unkindness of ravens, a scold of jays, a cast of hawks, and so on. What I found when I tried to look it up, not a ditty, but venery. Old language forms for things in a group. I was quite amazed at the variety, many familiar as in a school of fish, a pride of lions, a string of horses.
From just the birds I could identify having seen on this three month trip came these interesting group identifiers: an ostentation of peacocks, a colony of gulls, a charm of goldfinches, a wedge of geese (flying) a gaggle of geese (walking), a siege of herons, a convocation of eagles, a raft of ducks, a cote of doves, a nide of pheasants, a company of parrots, a parliament of owls, a murmuration of starlings, a descent of woodpeckers, a flock of turkeys.

A flock of turkeys? Oh, I was so disappointed. A simple flock of turkeys for a bird that is huge and colorful with wattles wriggling down its face, blue feet, and a distinct gobble? Surely the ancients could have come up with something better than that?
I guess they didn't have turkeys in England. I propose we coin the group noun for turkeys a gabble of turkeys or a gossip of turkeys. Hmm, they didn't have parrots, either.
Antiquarians over the years have added to the original list to include: an army of frogs, a mob of emus, weyr of dragons, a huddle of penguins, a barren of mules, a shrewd of apes, a glint of goldfish, a cloud of gnats, mischief of mice, a bloat of hippotomi, a tower of giraffes, a parade of elephants...
Gosh, this is fun.
Then others, with tongue in cheek, chose to define a clutch of mechanics, a tedium of golfers, a drunk of bartenders, a wince of dentists, a shrivel of critics, a scissors of hairdressers, omigod. Its so easy and fun to play the game.
But living creatures aren't the only groups. Cynthia Helms mother defined her jewelry as:
a twinkle of diamonds
a glitter of emeralds
a burst of rubies
a sparkle of sequins
a shimmer of sapphires
a dazzle of topaz
a bed of pearls

James Lipton published the ultimate book on venery entitled An Exaltation Of Larks, The Ultimate Edition. I'm going to buy it.
But, before I sign off, a murder of crows is called a murder because a huge number of crows can attack and actually "murder" a cow or other large animal. In the dark ages, supposedly, they would put offenders in a "crow cage", where the birds could peck the miscreant to death. Arrggh!