Mulling things on my morning ramble
with Storm, the family’s mixed Lab.
Sometimes a few words can mean the difference.
1) deviled eggs
Walking this morning with the meathead, on an extended ramble in preparation for a Thanksgiving feast, I started ranking the food to come in our feed.
2) ham steak
The last few days, I felt a pre-holiday funk settling in.
3) mashed potatoes
Especially because I had anticipated picking up our oldest boy, my stepson, yesterday and bringing him home for a few days over the holiday.
4) pumpkin pie
But that went out when he had to stay and do some things.
5) dark turkey meat
I had been looking forward to having an adult discussion with him about the election, now that will have to wait.
6) gravy
But then last night, I got a text from him: “40 days.”
7) green-bean casserole
That is a long-running joke with us in the weeks before his birthday.
8) jellied cranberry sauce
Back when he was in first or second grade, one morning at breakfast he looked at me and said, “Thirty days.”
9) corn (would rank second if baked corn)
After a few seconds, I figured out what he meant and laughed.
10) relish tray (bread-and-butter pickles, carrot sticks, olives, gherkins, garlic dill spears)
That has been our running joke for the last 15 years or so.
11) turkey breast
Funny how those little things can be uplifting.
12) giblets (salted and eaten beforehand)
Very little wildlife this morning, balmy as it was.
13) biscuits
I heard a few Canada geese in the distance, and that was about it.
14) sweet potatoes
The rattling call of the belted kingfisher came once again on the north old clay pit. Since it was a holiday and I wasn’t pressed for time, I stood and waited. Sure enough, it flew in and landed by the bridge over the neckdown between the two old clay pits.
15) whole cranberry sauce
A nice wild holiday touch, the belted kingfisher, not the whole cranberry sauce.
15) filling (stuffing)
