Thanksgiving

I have a lot to be thankful for, this year especially. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays... if not for the simple magic of Christmas, it would be my favorite. I love the food and the memories that come with it. My favorites are always the standards: squash, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans... all the trimmings. These things are really more than just food, they are a connect-the-dots pathway back in time to my childhood. For this reason, I don't mess with Thanksgiving. No new recipes, no overly messed with recipes. Sure, brine the turkey, but don't completely overhaul the thing.

I love being around my family. I used to go to my grandmother's very regularly, close to every week at times. There would nearly always be aunts or uncles there as well. You know, just writing about this makes me miss those times, when I was young and would goof around endlessly with my cousins. A low hanging cloud of cigarette smoke would hover near the ceiling, the kitchen would be filled with people, Uncle Bruce in his chair by the sliding glass doors, the gold furniture in the living room, the glass bowl of candies on the counter and my grandparents would be sitting on either side of the little wooden table with fold-down sides in the kitchen. The house and surrounding hill and yard would be ours for games and exploration.

My wife's family is the total opposite of mine and the experience follows suit. It has actually mellowed out on both sides of the family schism. It used to be that I would go to my family and the alcohol would flow freely... Fun, craziness, incredibly loud and fun times would ensue. Actually, this does continue in some ways, the smoke is gone, but a couple years ago my cousin Brian did still set off fireworks in my aunt's back yard on Christmas eve (and yes the police were called).  We would then go to Jenny's family and it would be nearly silent. No craziness, no alcohol, no hype, but a serious sense of family would pervade through things. Both were great, just the opposite sides of the spectrum. Jenny's family has since gotten louder with the addition of little nieces and nephews as well as my own two noise makers. I love both of these families. Oh, and most importantly Jenny's family has a propensity for making pies. Oh, the pies... homemade crusts... pies of all types are scattered all around thanksgiving. This year's options were apple, chocolate, pecan, and a pumpkin roll with the addition of cherry (my absolute favorite that Jenny makes) pumpkin and another apple pie at my family's celebration.

I love Thanksgiving.

Men with guns

Well, we were shot at today. That, I think at least, is the first time that has happened. We were out in Rutland State Park, with full knowledge that there are hunters out. We had orange on, even a vest on Chauc. We were on the main roads, right by the river, when we heard two big bangs and a bunch of bird shot hitting the branches around us and splashing in the river behind us. An old hunter.... this guy...(click and look for the bit of orange near the center) was firing at only what I could imagine that he thought he heard, walking down the road. Needless to say, that was us, and we immediately turned around and headed back to the car.

On the way back, a couple of other hunters were cleaning some game that they had shot, pheasants, and offered to give us a couple. (I know that this means that they probably shot over their limit), but it was still a really nice, and generous gesture. I really wanted to take them. I have never had pheasant before, but I could imagine myself being knowledgeable enough, even with the Internet at hand, to clean and pluck the pheasants without completely destroying them in the process. I had to turn them down... so sad.

Moral of the story: Do not take Chauc and Henry to the state park during hunting season while over zealous hunters are roaming around.

db

The best laid plans

Some things don't really work out the way you want them to. We went to Wreck it Ralph tonight. I thought it would be a good way to celebrate the beginning of Thanksgiving break. Both kids were excited, but as the time got closer, Nora started to say she was scared, mostly of the sound in the theater... which really is always too loud. Honestly, does it need to be that loud in there? She was also scared that there might be some sort of scary villain. Well, both ended up being true. About five minutes into the previews, I ended up having to take her out of the theater. She decided to give the movie another chance after about twenty minutes of "calm down" time. She had to leave again at the end when the villain got a bit scary.

And that's the way things go sometimes. I think we are going to be hard pressed trying to get her to go to another movie in the near future....

Fish and Gun

My car has returned. It was seriously disabled and there was talk of putting it down. But, several hundreds of dollars later and it is back in the land of the living. We took my parents' car back to them (they kindly let us borrow it for  a week) and while we were there, took Chaucer for a walk through the Templeton Fish and Gun, which is through the woods or down the street from my parents' house. This place is a direct link to my childhood.

I lived in Templeton, therefore, I played in the woods. There really wasn't much else to do, and the woods at my house were ripe for playing in. My dad and neighbor, together bought over fifty acres of woods across the street. A skidder had previously gone through and begun to deforest the woods there. It didn't actually make it very far in the process though. All it really did was to cut winding roads through the deep woods. These roads were ready access to the deep pine woods that sprawled endlessly across the street and were starting points for my exploration of them. I built so many tree forts, and camps across the street that I couldn't actually count them all. There was rivers and steep hills, odd clearings and inexplicably loose doberman pinchers. Bit by bit I mentally mapped out that land until I knew it so well that getting lost in it was almost impossible.


At the far end of the eastern corner was the very tip of the Templeton Fish and Gun. It's essentially a lake, Partridgeville Lake, that is surrounded by summer camps, a few winterized, and dirt roads. During the summer, my neighbor and best friend Jay and I  would fish or carry the various ubiquitous floaty, pool things down to the lake and swim. We even laid, mental if not physical, claim to one particular, unpopulated peninsula and called it our own. In the fall and winter, when everyone would vacate the camp, the entire place became ours. We brought our dogs, bikes, snowmobiles down and would endlessly trace the dirt roads that surround the lake.

I haven't been back there in a long time. Actually, the last time I was there was eight years ago when Jenny, after a "spontaneous" walk around the lake to a secluded picnic table next to the beach, proceeded to spin the entire world out of control by telling me that she was pregnant with our first kiddo. The Templeton Fish and Gun hasn't changed in many ways since I was ten. There are a few more camps, but the majority of them are the same ones that I blasted by with my snowmobile. Jenny and I walked with my Dad as well as Henry and Nora around the entire lake today. It was a bit of a mind trip to see Henry and Nora walking down those paths... my paths. Chaucer ran the same roads as my old dogs, Sadie and Josie. Although, Chauc is a little more appreciative of the water then they were. It was a nice day in the midst of the craziness of putting on the play.

The Play

This entry counts for a week worth of entries. It all feels like it could have happened in a day's worth of time, or a year. These things are amazing. The connections that are drawn between students and really between everyone involved, are pretty intense. My take on these things is kind of unique. I am not a theater kind of guy. I have no desire for stage time and completely dread any time spent in front of an audience. I do however love being a part of the process...  The fusion of people, that's what I love.

It is almost a miracle to me. My high school experience was isolating and really the total opposite of what these kids are experiencing. They love each other. I think it is the trauma of putting on a show like this that does it too. This week was a blur of emotion, just a whirlwind of stress and relief. It is almost addicting, the way it pulls you in and up and down.

I am not a theater guy, but I certainly know what legitimate human experience is. I certainly know what  is good, and building. What is good for my soul and existence. To know and be involved with people who also know these things, and to throw myself out and into the whirlwind with them, is something that I will continually seek out. It is all I could hope for Henry and Nora to become involved with kids like these.

I took a lot of pictures throughout the week. Here is a nice little selection so you can see just a tiny piece of what I mean.

opening night crowds!!

Back stage on the props table

This is stage crew... :)

what its like around here

Well... day three of recovery and I am bored out of my mind. I have all sorts of correcting to keep me company... a cold companion, but other than that, well, there is Chaucer. When Nora goes to school, it is really quiet in our house. Today the kids went to a play-date after school, and that left me completely alone for most of the day, including for supper (Jenny is working). It is very very quiet here. I have watched all of the shows that a human could possibly take. I am walking around pretty well now, but I don't have a car here. Oh yeah, the black car is temporarily out of service... nice timing right? So I am stuck here.

Chaucer makes good use of the day by finding a sunny spot, flipping on his back and sleeping for hours on end. I tried it... not as comfortable as it would seem to be. It is weird to be this out of service... I kind of can't wait to slowly wade back into the thick of things. I have a serious play being put on in one week. I know that next week is going to be incredibly hectic... I am just going to have to take it slow and steady and let the thing go where it may. No possibility of being a control freak for now. Well... tomorrow is Saturday. Our whole family is home (thank god) and maybe, just maybe, I can drive a car somewhere and get a haircut.

db

recovery

I know its kind of cliche', but things have taken on kind of a new sheen after surgery. I am sore... yup. But I am getting better. Things are a looking up around here. I sit back sometimes and think about our kids and their futures and my part in them and things are looking really nice. I can even picture not having WPW sometimes. I won't have to worry about it going off anywhere. It is nice. Also, people have been bringing meals. Henry and Nora seem to love this little bit of my recovery more than the rest. Today Nora said that we had "ordered" food from the Wagner's and that they were bringing it to our house. They bounce around all excited about what we are going to be eating, like its take out. It has been good though. Jenny has been working so it is really nice to not have to get up and cook.

I am thankful for this new snow... this new start... and good friends and family.