A Magnificent Dinner

There is still no rain in our forecast (that goes to Oct. 16^th). It’s wonderful and scary at the same time. It seems unimaginable that I am watering my garden every two days as we come to the middle of October. This is unheard of. My friends, Allyson and Peter went to Spain for the food and temperatures in the high twenties. They live in Ontario. All I need to do to be in that kind of Summery climate is to go outside in the afternoon. Our mornings are cool, but the afternoons are spectacular.

I began yesterday walking with Regina and Stacy and our doggies, then I came home to have breakfast with Dianne and Ashlee. Then, once done, we walked over to Diane Kepper’s place to visit with her animals. We all picked large handfuls of long grass that we pulled from dry ditches so that we could feel the goats and horses. When we arrived, the farrier arrived as well, and so we got to watch him clean and trim the horse’s hooves. 

I love Jupiter, the horse, Spirit, the mule, and Gem the Shetland Pony, and I absolutely adore the goats who followed me up the driveway when it was time to leave. They are very fond of us human folk. I’m very lucky to have not just the animals so close, but an animal owner who is welcoming no matter how often I choose to visit.

Then, while Ash and Di enjoyed a long hot tub together, I prepped dinner ingredients for the stuffing and our plate, so that it was a shared cooking job and not all on any one person’s shoulders. Dianne was chef, but I was a busy sous chef for her. Then I watered the very, very thirsty back gardens. I even must water the trees as there has been a drought now for three months.

At 5:00, Mog and Chris arrived, and we sat down to chat and then eat our Thanksgiving meal. As far as I can recall, this is my very first Canadian Thanksgiving. The Tyrells did not celebrate anything—well, they did celebrate Christmas for a couple of years before Connie started her decline. The first family celebrations I ever experienced were with Steve’s family. We always went to his parents’ place for American Thanksgiving. So, our celebration last night felt like a first for me. Also, Dwight called, and that made this Thanksgiving even more wonderful. 

We had a great, great night, and the Turkey was delicious. The whole meal was a terrific hit and our guests left grateful and impressed. And what was nice was that they left early, and that gave Di, Ash and I some time together after dinner to talk about our success. It was a real success because I talked more than I figured that I would. I did quite well with my speech.

And today they leave mid-afternoon. I have a clinic Zoom meeting this morning and an in-person meeting tonight, but I am free mid-day to take them to the float plane. Tonight, I rest up.