Thanksgiving In Kansas City

Bella and Her Happy Family

 It's 7:00 here in Lees Summit, a suburb of Kansas City and I am sitting in my son Tom's living room, enjoying a coffee as everyone else sleeps. It looks like a cloudy day, with a high in the upper 50s, a good day to smoke rather than fry a turkey.

Thanksgiving Morning In Missouri

Yesterday's eight-hour drive went faster than we thought. We left Dallas by 7:15 and hit heavy traffic on Interstate 75 for the first half hour and then it thinned out, especially when we got on #69.  We avoided the major interstate although most of the way was on divided highways through Northern Texas and much of Oklahoma until we got to Joplin, in the south of Missouri, still a couple hours from Kansas City. We were slowed down occasionally by a town, some tiny, others like Muskogee. It drizzled the first hour, then stayed overcast until we entered Missouri when we got some sun. 

Oklahoma

Cloudscape

Abandoned Barn

We arrived at Tom's at 3:00, just about eight hours after we left Dallas. What a relief to get out of the car and hug family, knowing we won't have a long drive for another few days. Marlena was home from school, so we were happy to see her along with Tom, Mary, and Mary's Dad, Frank. Tom brought in our bags and we were settled in their living room, ready to catch up on their lives, especially Marlena's life in the Phi Mu sorority house. Mary and Tom had a huge pot of tomato sauce simmering and earlier had made meatballs so dinner was ready. And while we were relaxing with a glass of wine, Mary and her Dad fried up some eggplant for our dinner. Everyone seems good, Marlena loves school, and Tom and Mary are excited because they just closed on a piece of property and will be having a home built in the next year or so. 

With Marlena

A Couple Of Cuties

Dinner was our Kansas City favorite, Mary's pasta sauce, spaghetti, and homemade meatballs, with fried eggplant for the first time. We were all hungry but hardly made a dent in the pasta and meatballs although the eggplant was practically gone. We had tiramisus for dessert from Costco and they were pretty good. We then relaxed, watching the TV occasionally but catching up on our travels and their lives.  Tom's been busy with work and was on the phone quite a bit during the afternoon.  All of us were tired by 9:30, especially Evie and me so we went downstairs to our bedroom and fell asleep almost immediately. 

Crazies

We can't wait until later this morning to see their son Nick and his bride Aundraya who live nearby.