The Morning After (Thanksgiving)

Mary and Her Boy

Bella, Tommy and Marlena

Mary and Tommy

Mary with her Dad, Frank

Up at 6:20, to a partly cloudy sky, some sun and cold, thirty two degrees, quite a difference here from Chautauqua where it's forty seven.  A cold front came in last night and though it's going to be in the thirties most of the day, it will be sunny.  Our favorite kind of day, cool or cold and sunny!

It's hard to say anything original about yesterday, just another Thanksgiving, of prepping for dinner, a walk, lots of food and eating through out the day, football of course, family, both ours and Mary's, and by the end of the day, that feeling of having eaten too much but happy nonetheless.  Most people agree with me that Thanksgiving is the best, none of the commercialism and pressure of Christmas (I know the grandchildren will disagree), just family and great food.  Half of the fun is the preparation of  the turkey and all the sides, if it's done as a family.  I am sure it's no fun if you have to do everything yourself. It starts with buying all the stuff for the big day, which Mary and Tom had done early in the week.  Then, Evie brined the turkey, and fried and simmered  the turkey innards on  Wednesday.  Fortunately, Mary's Mom made the pies and green bean casseroles, so we did not have to worry about that.  About noon, Evie put the turkey in the oven and made the fresh cranberry sauce (so easy, just sugar water, fresh berries, orange juice and a  boil for five minutes). Mary's parents arrived about 1:00 and we sat around talking, watching football, nibbling on pupus, and just enjoying the afternoon until about 3:00.  Then we all got to work.  Tom and Nick cut the potatoes,  trimmed the Brussels sprouts, and Evie braised them. Mary got the rolls ready, and Evie took the turkey out about 3:30.  Mary had already set the table and Marlena had made name tags out of her colorful duck tape.  Tommy and I watched the video on or to carve a turkey.  Tom, then, carved for the first time and easily took the bird apart in stages, plating it perfectly on a platter.  Mary mashed the potatoes, Evie pulled out the dressing and organized all the food on the kitchen counter.  I did some thing, too, filled the wine glasses with some Presecco.

Rose, Evie, and Mary

We filled our plates and sat down to enjoy all the hard work from the previous day or two.  Everything was great, of course, the turkey moist, the sides tasty, the gravy the perfect cover for the potatoes and stuffing and lots was left over for late in the evening.  We talked about our memories of Thanksgiving past, which was fun, and then Mary's Mom got going, regaling us non stop with stories from her youth.  She had all of us, especially the grandchildren giggling and wondering, could this have been true.

The Boys

We held off on the pumpkin pie and cheese cake for about an hour, then gave in though we were still full.  Nick, having been seduced the previous night by a tin roof, passed on the pie and made himself another tin roof with the last of the Blue Bell ice cream.  Later in the evening, he had his pie and cheese cake.   That boy can eat, constantly.  Pumpkin pie always tastes so good, especially with Reddi whip and I always wonder why we don't make it more often, any time of the year.

We sat around talking, playing some scrabble,  the kids Words with Friends on their IPADS, with Evie, her sisters, and their cousins.  Mary's parents went home around 7:30 and round 9:00, we would, one at a time, sneak out to the kitchen, for a roll, another piece of pie, or a turkey sandwich, a bite of dressing, the best part of the day, probably because we feel somewhat guilty at doing something we know we should not be doing...over eating, but it's so good.  Many of us had that uncomfortable feeling of having eaten too much when we went to bed around 10:00 but we were still happy with the great day.

Tom's House, early Morning

Today, we hope to go to the Country Club Plaza, Kansas City's amazing shopping and restaurant  center, about as nice an area as I have seen in any city.  It was the first shopping center in the US designed to accommodate shoppers with automobiles. All the buildings have a Spanish flavor, designed by J. C. Nichols and modeled after the town of Seville, in Spain and was established in 1922. It's about four miles south of downtown Kansas City and covers 55 acres.  The Kansas state line is one mile to the west.  The Plaza is named in the Project for Public Places list as one of the top 60 of Greatest Public Places.

A View from the Country Club Plaza

Turkey Day in Kansas City

Mary Prepping Dinner

Marlena in the Morning

Tin Roofs, ice cream, chocolate sauce, Spanish peanuts

Lee Summit Morning from Tom's Front Door

It's still warm here in Lee Summit but by late afternoon, the temperature will drop and tomorrow will be in the twenties, more like a Thanksgiving day.  I was up early, around 6:15, partly cloudy, around 44 degrees outside.   It''s now 8:15 and all are up except Nick.  We are on our IPADS or computers as we watch the beginning of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Yesterday, we mostly relaxed around the house and baby sat, as Mary went out shopping, Tommy worked in the morning, and golfed with some friends in the afternoon, as it was a perfect day.  I had bad morning.  When I walked outside, the radiator was leaking, again, after getting it supposedly fixed last week, twice.  I took it in to Honda and they called late afternoon. I need a new radiator and pipe which leads to it.  Only a thousand bucks to fix it!  There goes the family Christmas presents.  And they said they may run into other problems because it's so rusted from the salt and winters in NYC.  Also, they don't have the parts so I won't be picking it up till next week except I will be in Scottsdale, thus I won't get it for ten days or so.  When do you know when it's time to stop putting money into a older car?  A good question.

We did walk the creek yesterday with Marlena and her friend, Ella, and we had a picnic as well.  The girls love walking it, exploring the nooks and crannies, making a fort, jumping from rock to rock.  They even took their shoes off and dipped their feet in the water.  Even Bella came along but she seem a bit frightened in the woods.  Her environment has mostly been a house and front yard, so a walk in the woods is scary.

Tom got home around 5:30, and we started making dinner.  We had teriyaki pork chops, cooked outside, with salad and rice,  cheese bread, and grilled asparagus.  We all watched a movie Evie and I really like, called Summer Eleven, about four girls the summer before their entrance to middle school.  We watched it first with Marisa, then with Hayden and Halle. Everyone enjoyed it, I think, even Nick.  Mid way, we took time out to make tin roof sundaes, with Blue Bell ice cream, a brand my good friend Paul Storey always talked about.  It's made in Texas, but it's available over many states in the mid west.  My verdict...good and expensive.

I also took lots of pictures yesterday, but when I put my memory card in my computer, none of the pictures turned up except for twenty pictures of the Blue Bell ice cream carton.  So, there will be a dearth of family pictures on today's blog.  I still have no idea what happened to the pictures.

A Bright Sunny Morning in Kansas City

Decorating cookies, with Marlena and friends

My Favorite Western Store

Being Silly

The Cookies

A Bradford Pear at Dawn in Tom's Back Yard

A clear morning here in Lee's Summit, a suburb about twenty miles south and east of Kansas City.  I am the first one up, as usual but Nick, my grandson has just gotten up.  He has his freshmen basketball practice at 8:00, so he's up and getting ready to go.  Because of the shortage of gym space, they have been practicing at 5:30 AM the last couple of weeks.  Eight o'clock must seem like a cake walk.  It's forty four degrees, quite warmer than the twenty eight in Chautauqua.

We drove into KC from Effingham yesterday, between five and six hours, depending on whether we stop or not.  We have a must stop at Kleinschmit's Western Store in Higginsville.  For some reason, I like this store, 19,000 pairs of boots, lots of country western stuff, my style.  I looked for a cheap pair of jeans, none however came in a 37 waist.  So I picked up a cool(so I think) Carhart sheep lined vest, just the thing for winters at the lake, burgers at the Seezurh House, prime rib at the Rod and Gun.  I miss it already.

We got to Tom's around 2:00, unpacked and waited for the family to arrive, Nick first, then Mary from shopping, and finally Marlena at 4:20, awfully late for school, as it gets dark around 5:00. I worked with Nick outside on their driveway b ball court, on his shot and moves.  He's getting good and finds out today if he has made the A team.  Marlena had two friends over, Ella and Morgan, the same two as last year, for cookie decorating.  They really enjoyed it this year, lots of laughter and silliness but the cookies ended up looking fine.

Sprint Arena in KC

With Nick and Friend at Kansas game

We had pizza for dinner, the kind you buy premade, then bake at home and they are quite good, just like New York pizza, or at least like Chautauqua, New York pizza.  Around 7:15,  Tom, Nick, his friend Mark,  and I drove downtown to Kansas City, to the Sprint Center, where Tom had tickets for the Kansas//St. Louis University basketball game.  We have gone to this tournament the last three years and have seen some really good teams.  Kansas won with a struggle and they are a fun team to watch.  The only thing I hate is the time outs, seemingly endless as a twenty minute half becomes over an hour with all the stops, thanks to television.  We left the gym about 10:30, got home about 11:00 and went to bed, all exhausted from a long day.

Kansas City, Here We Come

Night Sky in Effingham

Having A Brew at the Lone Star

Yep, Effingham

Evie's  Favorite Inn

Well, it's early morning in Effingham, IL, that's right, Effingham, after a ten hour drive yesterday from the lake. It's still dark out side, no view then, but Morning Joe is on the Tube, we both have our coffees, so some things don't change.

Fortunately, it was a pleasant drive for the lake, decent weather, not much traffic, especially when we traveled through the two big cities, Columbus and Indianapolis.  The ride is quite boring, mostly flat once you get into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. lots of farmlands though.  It's amazing to look out over these vast fields, into the horizon, miles away.   We got to our Hampton about 4:00, earlier than we like, but because of the time change.  We relaxed in our room, surfed the net, watched a few scenes from Fargo, a Coen Brothers flick we love, then went to the Lone Star for dinner.  We usually meet someone interesting at the bar but it was empty this Monday night.  Perhaps it's too close to Thanksgiving.  We did have a couple of nice drafts, two really good sandwiches with fries, and ended up talking to the bar tenders for awhile before heading back to our room, about 7:30.  We went back to our room, snarfed some free chocolate chip cookies, watched TV, read, surfed the Web, played Words With Friends and went to bed.  I am reading my first Ian Fleming James Bond since college and it's quite enjoyable.  This one, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, is mostly fun because it's set in the early 1950's.  It is set mostly in New York City; Bond has just taken a BOAC plane, a sleeper across the Atlantic.  He's about to go off to Saratoga for a fixed horse race.

Effingham, IL., Ho!

7:04

Sunday at 4:20 PM

Sunday Dusk

Up nice and early, to get ready for our excursion to Kansas City.


Yesterday was another great day, though we tended to let it slip by, a short hike in the morning, no kayaking as we were consumed with getting everything ready for winter, for our trip west.  We both worked inside, packing, cleaning, and I also spent quite a bit of time outside, cleaning the car, packing, turning the compost and covering it, putting our tarps over some of our chairs, hanging bird feeders, so they are ready when we return in December.  It was so nice outside that I wanted to get everything done while the weather was good.  I even put away the lawn mower; Evie's sure to have withdrawal.

Despite the nice day, we saw no one down her on Woodlawn,  as our neighbors decided to stay home and get ready for Thanksgiving, like us. And the lake was very quiet, usual for this time of the year but because of the weather, I thought I might see other kayakers or fishing boats. Just before noon, I returned some books to Smith Library, mailed a couple of letters, my only trip off of Woodlawn for the day. At  3:30, I starting putting my bags in the car, in between football games,  and it was already starting to move towards dusk.  I cannot get used to the shortness of the afternoons.  It seems like we just have had lunch, relaxed for a bit, and it's already time to start thinking about dinner, perhaps a glass a wine.  I guess that's not so bad.

Dinner was easy but good, chicken, salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, some brownies for dessert.  We were able to get the car mostly packed last night, so we have little to do this morning, other than close up, put a few things in the car, and we are on our way.  It looks like fine weather out that way so we look forward to the ride.

A GERMAN REQUIEM: PHILIP KERR

This is the third Bernie Gunther novel I have read, a series written by British writer, Philip Kerr.  All are set in Germany, the first two before WW II, this one in 1946, just after the war has ended and Berlin is still being fought over by the three powers.  As the novel opens, Bernie has just returned from a Russian prisoner camp to Berlin, a city on the brink of  destruction, as the three powers vie for the control.  The Germans are the losers, called Krauts by the Americans, are seemingly disdained by all three powers.  Bernie gets pulled into the conflict when he is asked to prove that an old friend, Herr Becker, an ex SS agent, is not guilty of having killed an American soldier, Colonel Linden.  He goes to Vienna, where the crime took place, at the behest of not only Becker, but also a Russian Colonel who seems just as interested in the case. And when he starts snooping around, another American by the name of Belinsky also attaches himself to Bernie.  AS the plot thickens, Bernie finds out that numerous Nazis big wigs, have faked their deaths and are now living under assumed names in Vienna.  They are all part of a group of Germans intent on restoring Germany to power and keeping out the Russians. And, most interesting, the Americans are allies with this group though Bernie does not realize it at first. When he gets caught up in this Nazis organization, he almost loses his life, assuming that Belinsky and the Americans will come to save him.  How wrong he is, and he ends up fighting his way out, saving his life, but ending up in the hospital.  Herr Becker ends up being hung and Bernie learns the truth about the powers.  None are to be trusted, even the Americans.  He also learns how women, imagine that, are often at the heart of these struggles, for revenge or because of jealousy.  For some reason, this was a slow read and I had a hard time remembering what happened earlier in the novel, even names.  He is an expert at creating the atmosphere of post WWII Germany, one reason for reading the book.  He reminds me of Alan Furst, who also sets his novels in pre WW II Europe.

Frosty and Sunny Sunday Morning

A Huge Ball of Orange at 7:14

7:14

Kayak Afternoon

Long Point 

Cauliflower Pizza at McClures

A bright and shiny morning, the sun filling the living room with light, forcing me to move to another chair.  It rose over Wells Bay, a huge ball at the horizon, moving towards the winter solstice.  Frost covers the ground and car's windshield and it's 25 degrees outside, a high of fifty five later in the day.

We spent much of yesterday getting ready for our trip to Kansas City and Scottsdale.  I worked outside, finishing the garage, so we can park our Accord in it, turning the compost, getting the yard ready for its winter sleep.  Evie did the same inside, and we both spent time trying to figure out what to bring for our trip.  During the afternoon, Evie took one more trip to Lakewood, to shop for our trip and I could not pass up a kayak paddle on the lake.  I have never seen the lake so calm, peaceful, and empty, so smooth and wave less, especially fori a mid afternoon in November.  It's as if the day stopped.  I slid along the water, effortlessly, to Long Point, along its coast and back to the reeds just south of Victoria.  As I was paddling across the lake, a large square fronted boat appeared out of the shadows, a boat of four hunters, having been settled in the reeds waiting for ducks.  They were camouflaged, as they headed  back to the Marina.  The rest of the afternoon I read and watched some football(what else does a red blooded American male do on Saturday afternoons?), and I still like to watch Ohio State play (they defeated Wisconsin and are now 11-0).

For dinner, we went to the Mc Clures about 6:15, a nice way to spend a Saturday night.  We had turkey meatballs for appetizers and pizzas Evie loved, with a crust made from cauliflower.  The toppings were typical for the pizza, just the crust was different.  They are off to Annapolis for Thanksgiving, staying downtown, and meeting Linda's sister and cousins for dinner. Sounds nice and easy and fun.  We stayed till about 10:15, went home to read and go to bed.  A great evening.