Maybe the last.
But not because we don't like it. We love it. Annie and Sankar found a
place overlooking the Shenandoah River, just a short drive from the
park. And we converged on them for Thanksgiving. And they're great
hosts, allowing us to totally disrupt their home and routine. I think
their kitties (Peta and Puli) may have been even more discombobulated.
Margaret, Andrew and Simon left their bubble in DC to join us, and Joe
and Leonor joined us via Zoom.
Here's a Thanksgiving quiz, with help from super sleuthing and social
media. At least two Dickson families did take-out, and another ate
outside. One had ham and another had lamb. More had turkey, but one
isolated dinner opted for turkey breast. One had chocolate cream pie.
Did anyone have frozen fruit salad? Or shop online? How many went to
a distillery? A new tradition? (We did, but not actually on
Thanksgiving.)
One more new tradition here - not one football game. No one seemed to
mind. We did miss the dog show and the Macy's Day Parade.
Here, we did try out a number of new dishes as we expanded from the
usual offerings to incorporate some new vegan takes on squash, cakes,
rolls, and rice. It did mean twice as much food, but we more than
managed to make a dent on the first day, and the fridge was full of
leftovers for the remainder of the visit. And full disclosure, some
of the vegan dishes were better than their animal-based counterparts.
I bet we weren't alone in taking walks every day, or eating leftovers.
We did hike up on Saturday to Mary's Rock in the Shenandoah Park. It
was hard, and it helped us burn off at least one piece of pecan pie.
A word about Simon. A cutie, but we're biased. Easy and rewarding to
get him to smile and/or laugh. I gave him the nickname "last man
standing" since he wore out six adults, but only kind of. He's a 15
minute kind of a guy, and will let you know when he's ready to move on
to the next activity. Did I mention he was teething? Still, so much
fun.
And a word about this part of the country. We had to be patient and
look hard, but we did eventually see one Biden-Harris sign. Not too
many masks either.
Sunday, we headed over to DC for Simon's christening, joined by Jeff
the godfather and Melodie. Annie's the godmother. Andrew's parents
came down to join us. And Simon wore a christening outfit that Mary
wore, passed on to Joe, Margaret and Annie. Now to a third generation.
Then we retreated to Andrew and Margaret's for a distanced outdoor
celebration that included opening a bottle of port from the Douro
Valley, 2016 edition.
Down in Brazil, Leonor started a new tradition, a Thanksgiving tree,
with leaves reading what we're thankful for. And that's all of you,
even if you're far away.
Love from down here
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