Musical Beds, Snow, and Friends

We played musical beds the week of Thanksgiving. There were seven of us, so at least one person slept on the floor each night. Daughter Lise probably moved the most, sleeping in the living room, John’s office, and my room. I had a surprising experience, finding warmth where I least expected it. My north-facing bedroom was always frigid in cold weather, so I assumed the other two bedrooms were equally uncomfortable. Grandson David prefers the top bunk and offered me the single bed in his room. It was my childhood bed that had been my mother’s before me. I lay under a very thin blanket and a light quilt, expecting to shiver. Warm! It was toasty warm! The other surprise was finding David is even quieter at night than during the day. If I snored, he was polite enough not to mention it.

Lise and I were excited that the forecast was correct. We walked to the creek in falling snow! Neighbor Marla was walking Albert, and we had a nice chat with her.

When we came home, the grass was covered with snow. We didn’t get much more, and like the typical North Carolina snow, was gone a few hours later.

Connie and Marla suggested having lunch together. We went to a place none of us had been before and enjoyed the food and the visiting. There is nothing else in the world like having neighbors who are friends.

End of Nathaniel’s Thanksgiving Break

Grandson Nathaniel had a week and bracketing weekends off for Thanksgiving. The days went by much too quickly, especially the last two. Daughter Lise (Nathaniel’s aunt) wanted to go to Cataloochee, hoping to see elk grazing in the meadow. I took photos of Nathaniel on a split log bridge, Lise with a house built in 1903, and Lise getting a picture of one elk by the side of the road. Part of the ride was on a rough gravel road that was one and a half lanes wide. It felt a bit unsafe when trying to pass a car in the opposite direction, but Lise did it well. She loves to drive and misses driving in the US.

Back at home, Nathaniel made us hot chocolate. It was probably better not to know the ingredients included dark chocolate and heavy cream. Yes, ignorance is bliss.

Both grandsons and I went to Grace Church of the Mountains, an Episcopal church in Waynesville. I was thrilled they used my favorite Advent hymns for the first Sunday of Advent. The organist played Wachet Auf for the prelude and postlude. He had the expertise and the instrument to make it memorable.

We had lunch at a hibachi Japanese restaurant on the way to Charlotte. The fellows watched intently as the chef juggled knives and cooked the food in front of us. It was quite a show, with delicious results.

We took a farewell photo in front of Nathaniel’s dorm. Lise and David went up to see his room, which they had not seen before.

I was walking up and down on the sidewalk near the car, which was parked in a fire lane. They got my attention so that I could take a photo of them on Nathaniel’s balcony, waving from the balcony below the top one.

On the drive to Charlotte, we realized Nathaniel had not lowered the mirror when he left. We took care of that as soon as we got home. The next day Nate began classes in the new term. Sugar is one of the classes, and he said his fingertips will be burned when handling the molten sugar. Lise begged for photos, but he said he is often too busy to stop for pictures. We’d probably gain weight just looking at photos of spun sugar and decorated cakes. We’ll make do with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

Black Friday

I swore I’d never again shop on the day after Thanksgiving. Once was enough 20 years ago. This year Lise needed sneakers, and John asked us to get something for him. Thankfully we did not get involved with frantic crowds or snarly people. Nathaniel was game to go with us, and I saw firsthand why Lise loves to have her nephews shop with her.

Thanksgiving Gifts

Grandson Nathaniel had a week off from college and offered to help in the kitchen. I’ve always been torn about his cooking at our house, not wanting to put pressure on him when he has free time. He repeated his offer to cook the turkey if I wanted him to. I said yes and felt a great sense of relief. Why had I not accepted such a wonderful gift before? I’ve prepared the Thanksgiving turkey only six times, and I would have followed the directions on the wrapper. I was suddenly free of calculating the cooking time and checking on the bird. He made a special herb butter, pushing it under the skin with his fingers. I took a photo as he was about to put it in the oven.

Daughter Lise and Nathaniel took shots of the bird before I carved it. We have never had such a moist, flavorful turkey.

He is majoring in baking and pastry, so I scolded myself for not asking him to bake for us. I asked if he would like to make rolls for the feast. He did not make them a day ahead as I would have. He had them rising and popped them in the oven after the turkey was done. What a treat!

Grandson David dusted ceiling fans and furniture before cleaning the hardwood floors. He also helped Lise make the counters neater. Those were precious gifts, as well.

Lise took a turn at the stove, preparing a Danish potato dish that is served on special occasions. This was not a gift. This was a miracle. Many of you know that Lise never spent much time in the kitchen. A friend in Denmark challenged her to do this for us, and she did!! Our Danish friend Kai often spoke of having this, so I knew it was very special.

Other food gifts included John’s cutting up the butternut squash so that I could cook and puree it easily. Connie brought a lovely corn pudding and the most delicious chocolate cake, covered with swirls of mint whipped cream. With all these gifts, we lavished love on each other.

We had one picture of our satisfied selves at the table before we had dessert.

Lise, Bob, Beth, David, Marla, Connie, Nathaniel, John

A gift that didn’t show was John’s cleaning up the kitchen after the meal. I really appreciated knowing that my job was through as we cleared the dessert dishes and settled in the living room to chat.

A Tale of Hanging

I looked from the kitchen to see why son John $pencer was snickering. He said Sadie’s tail was hanging off the chair. Sure enough, it was! I took a photo before walking around to see his view.

We had given Sadie an almost-empty peanut butter jar to lick. She worked on it for hours, trying to get her tongue to the bottom. She was so intent on her mission that she was unaware I walked around to get another shot of her peculiar pose. Later, daughter Lise felt sorry for the dog and dug out the remaining peanut butter with her fingers for her to lick.

I nominated long-armed Nathaniel to take our selfies as we hung out at the creek. The sun was playing with shadows, so it wasn’t the best shot. We’ll keep it to remind ourselves of the pleasure we had in walking together.

Nathaniel, Anne, Lise, and John at Jonathan Creek

Nathaniel worked all day in the kitchen. He made a butter/herb mixture and put it under the skin of the turkey, ready to cook the next day. Eggnog was prepared, and dinner rolls were ready for baking. He and I put together our traditional cranberry-mince pie. I first used the recipe in 1975, when Nathaniel’s mother was four years old. I stirred together the filling, while he made the pastry. He used a mixture of butter and shortening, so I know this will be the best pie ever.

John drove Lise to her annual dental appointment several towns away. She had two-hour sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Despite that, she was game to eat barbecue with the rest of us. We felt that was a good reward after a long day. No hangups here!

An Un-humdrum Day

I remembered to take a photo at the creek the first day daughter Lise walked with us. I’m not good at selfies, so I was pleasantly surprised that my tongue wasn’t hanging out of my mouth as I concentrated on getting the shot.

We petted dogs on the way home. Smoky, who often won’t come when called, ran out to greet us. Neighbor Marla was walking Albert, and Lise got her hands on the dog. Marla and Lise had a chance to chat for a few minutes, extending their friendship from Facebook.

With the young people around, you never know what is going to happen. Normally grandson David is the one who likes to balance impossible things, but this time it was Nathaniel. We were discussing tomato sauces for spaghetti. He read the list of ingredients on the bottle of pasta sauce and then perched it on his head. I was the nervous one in the room, since I once dropped a large pan of spaghetti sauce in the kitchen. It dripped into the oven, splattered the back door, and pooled on the floor. Thankfully, he put the bottle on the table without incident.

Bubble wrap was lying on the table. Lise, like many others, has a compulsion to pop the bubbles. She shared the wrap with Nathaniel as he shared the footstool with her. Lise was falling asleep while popping away. I knew she was excellent at multi-tasking, but I hadn’t realized she could keep using her fingers while sleeping. Amazing!

We had another round of hilarity when Nathaniel inserted a non-word in the conversation. We learned to listen closely several years ago when he used the word “plowish”. In my opinion, the best one was “quirbles”, a mixing of quirks and foibles. We found out Nathaniel had the reputation of having a wonderful vocabulary in high school. He inserted non-words with confidence, and people accepted them without question. I was not so lucky. Sitting on the floor was a hanging fixture with candles, and I called it a chandelabra (chandelier and candelabra). When I hesitated, Nathaniel pounced on it and fell out laughing. His latest word was “sarcastical”. Of course we teased him, and he pretended to writhe in agony.

He said, “Now you’re going to tease me for every mistake I make.”

We said, “No, we won’t. Keep on making up new words all the time, and we won’t be able to remember them all.”

There is nothing like a warm, supportive family. (I am being sarcastical.)

Visiting Continues

Our five spent the night at brother Bob’s house so that we could visit a bit more. Doing that three-hour drive twice in one day would have been a bit much. Daughter Lise was still on Danish time. She needs much less sleep than I do, and I found she had been awake several hours when I got up. We decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood, since we had been sitting for two days in a row. John was the only one up then, so we weren’t missing most of the people. Lise loved the way the sunlight hit the trees.

As we walked around, we found happy smiles drawn on the pavement at one house. I asked Lise to pose her feet with the painted pair to show how large they were. We were happy to begin with, but this added an element of joy.

Our overnight stay gave Lise more time to buy a new wardrobe, with niece Julie’s help. Lise’s clothes out-grew her after she lost a lot of weight. She brought a huge suitcase from Denmark filled with her old clothes. I get first choice of hand-me-downs before she donates the clothes to Goodwill.

We had another meal together at a local Italian restaurant. Eating at 2:00, we had the dining room to ourselves most of the time. That was good, because we filled the space with talk and laughter. I took the photo, so I’m the only one missing. Lise asked the waitress to take another that included me. She hasn’t shown it to me, but I’m not sure I want to see it. When we got back home and I saw myself in the mirror, I wondered what I looked like all day long. I don’t remember using a comb at all!!!

Bob, Beth, John, Jay, Julie, Lise, Nathaniel, and David

Thanksgiving Begins

The first event of the Thanksgiving season was daughter Lise’s arrival. We picked up grandson Nathaniel from college and waited longer than expected to get Lise from the airport. Her flight from Denmark was delayed, making her miss the connection in New York. We were relieved that she was only four hours late getting to Charlotte. We were home by midnight and fell into bed.

The next morning we hurried to pack for the trip to my brother’s home in Winston Salem. Nathaniel deflated the air mattress by lying on it.

Nathaniel is thin, but he looks almost flat in this picture.

Son John $pencer and Rose participated in the mirror ceremony, when Nathaniel moved the hall mirror to a higher hook. He will move it down again when he leaves.

Meal prep was underway when we arrived at Beth and Bob’s house. I took a photo showing a few people, not realizing how many would soon be there. We think there were 23 people to eat this feast on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

John, David, Don, Bob, Kate, and Nathaniel

I’ve never seen a group that could mix and mingle as easily as this group did. At one point Lise and niece Julie had a few minutes together on the sofa.

Grandsons David and Nathaniel were joking around near the back door with Grandpa. Nathaniel and cousin Kate modeled their leather jackets, both bought at thrift shops.

The photo I enjoyed taking the most was one of Lise and Zeke. When I was introduced to Zeke, I knew immediately who he was. Forty-four years ago his sister Mary visited us on Long Island. She was on a missionary trip, raising funds for her work with Wycliff Bible Translators. Mary’s first cousin was Bob’s first wife, who was the one who engineered her visit to us. All these years I remembered her talking about her family. She was the oldest, followed by two boys. When the fourth child was on the way, she set her heart on having a sister. She said she was so angry that another baby boy arrived that she said she was going to call him the ugliest thing she could think of. That name was Zeke. When I retold the story to Zeke, he laughed and said that was just like Mary. He claimed his mother said she was not going to have any more children and nicknamed him Zeke because it began with the last letter of the alphabet. With a twinkle in his eye, he asked if any of us knew his real name. We didn’t. It is William.

I showed Zeke a photo I took of Lise and Mary when she visited in 1977. Of course he recognized his sister, and he was happy to pose with the grown-up version of Lise.

Lise and Zeke won the honor of being the ones who traveled furthest to our gathering. Lise lives in Denmark, and Zeke lives on a sail boat in Seattle, Washington.

A Day in the Mountains

Grandson David had a day off, and son John $pencer and Rose were free. We had a delightful day driving in the mountains, first going through Cherokee and on to Robbinsville. Eating at Lynn’s Place was great. This eatery is like a small diner, one three of us had been to before. One of the wait staff asked where we came from, and when she heard Waynesville, she said they have a customer who comes often. She finds any excuse to be there for a meal.

We drove on a skyline drive, one that I could spell if I could remember how to pronounce it. Surprisingly, there were more leaves on the trees in Tennessee than we have. Most of the leaves were gone near the edge of the road, so we could see the mountains through a filter of bare branches. Sadie seemed content to rest on the seat next to David, which delighted him. She went around the car occasionally, greeting the rest of us. It was fun having her with us.

David expressed interest in seeing Bald River Falls again, the place where he and his mother went swimming one time. No one was interested in touching that cold, cold water! It was fun to watch the falls from the bridge, well away from the spray. Everyone was willing to pose, except for John taking a nap in the car and Sadie trying to smell every inch of the bridge.

Rose shared two pictures I requested – David with Sadie and my son with me.

Sadie Gets in Her Licks

As I put the biscuits in the oven, I asked son John $pencer if Sadie could lick the bowl. He held it for her as she performed her prime job here – pre-washing the dirty dishes and bowls. Sadie is spoiling me by making the kitchen floor look clean all the time.

I apologized to the camera for getting flour on it. It just shrugged and cleaned itself off in my pocket.