Adina and I arrived at our new home early in October and began the monumental task of unpacking. We dived in and packing material flew everywhere. Our furniture was already in place, thanks to our granddaughter, Kelsey, who met our moving van while we were somewhere en route between Wisconsin and Washington State.
A surprise came a week later when I had gall bladder surgery. I hadn't had any warning signs. I got wonderful care at Legacy Hospital in Salmon Creek. Complications kept me down for most of the month. Adina was a brick, an advocate. She made many trips to the hospital. After I got out, we both rested from our ordeals.
Now we are healthy again. Our house is mostly put together. We still have some of the smaller pictures to hang and we want to go through the 1800+ pictures I took on our cross-country journey and choose some of them to hang. That may not happen until after the first of the year as I have another project that is taking my time now.
The gas man came and turned on our gas fireplace so we are enjoying its cheerful warmth. We placed our pioneer woman in front of it next to a hunk of obsidian and a bit of driftwood, our minimalist display honoring the women of the west.
I picked the pioneer woman up in a gallery in Jackson Hole, WY years ago. I wandered into the gallery looking for black and white photographs of the west. Other statues dotted the space but they didn't interest me. Then I saw the pioneer woman. I asked about her and found that the price was way out of my reach. As I turned to go, the proprietor said, "If you like her, I have one in the back room where I keep my seconds." I followed her and found my pioneer woman with a small chip in the back of the base. I could afford her and when I left the store, she went with me. When I got home, I mixed paint and touched up her ouch. She traveled with us to WI and now she is back in WA, a most well traveled woman.
Over our fireplace in a place of honor, we hung our large picture, "Woman on a Horse" by Carol Grigg. She has graced our living room for many years.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. Our son and his wife, granddaughter and her fella came here for the feast. We had a great time, lots of laughing and joking. Pete found a football game on TV and that made most of us happy. Our new dining room table was set and ready for our celebration, set with our best china and crystal.
When we went to set out the feast, we had a couple of glitches. Adina pulled the 20 lb turkey from the oven. It had browned nicely and everyone drooled as they looked at it. It probably looked like every other turkey, but this was special. It was the first time Adina and I had cooked a turkey in 12 years.
Pete got his special carving knives out and prepared to carve the bird. Kelsey and Omega were watching, ready to snag any bits that fell by the wayside. Everything was coming together nicely.
That put us all in the kitchen, laughing and talking. Adina and Deb worked at the stove where Deb was making gravy. We were all looking forward to this feast!
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| Adina and Deb work on the gravy while Pete prepares to carve the turkey in the background |
We are still getting used to our new stove and Adina had cooked the turkey on broil instead of bake. It was an easy mistake. We had put Kelsey and Omega's beautiful green bean casserole and Adina's cornbread in above the turkey to broil and, oh yeah, we burned the top of both of them.
We put the turkey back in to bake (on bake). Then we sat down to a fabulous dinner (without the turkey). There were too many dishes to mention but it was great. We tidied up and sat down to watch the game, visit and eat Deb's pumpkin and apple pies. And wait for the bird to bake.
A couple of hours later, we pulled the turkey out and Pete carved off most of the white meat. We ate some, nibbling as he carved, then sent a lot of it home with the kids. It was a great celebration, the first time we have shared a Thanksgiving meal in 12 years. There's nothing like a loving family.
Sunday, we'll go to church. We are enjoying our new church. It is less than a mile away but, now that the leaves are mostly off the trees, we can see it's swooping roof line at the top of the hill, peeking through the fir trees. Our church has an outdoor labyrinth paved with stones to make it accessible.
Today, we're going to strip the turkey carcass, boil it up and make turkey broth. Later, we plan to go for a little walk later, just in the neighborhood. It is good to be in a place where we can take walks outside all year round. It's sunny today, the air all sweet and golden. The temperature is nearly 50 and the sun gives off some real warmth. About half the leaves are off the trees making it easier to see the fir and cedar that surrounds us.
Many of our days are grey. It's the Pacific Northwest, so we get a lot of rain, mostly in the form of mist. Some days we live in a cloud. This week we had a Wisconsin rain, that kind of pounding rain that keeps you inside. That cloud was probably lost, maybe made a wrong turn at the Rocky Mountains. Still, many days we see at least some time of sun.
Next week we'll go up to Seattle for five days. Adina has a nursing conference to to attend on one day, It'll be the first time we've gotten up there to see Adina's parents since we arrived. We'll have a belated Thanksgiving feast and a good confab.
That's the news to date.
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