Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. Gobbles the turkey joins me in the chorus of thanks and praise. Because it is meet and right so to do.
It is 8:30am. Doug and I both woke up fairly early... I'd like to still be sleeping but there were things to do. Our turkey takes about 6-8 hours to cook so we needed to get that bad boy in the stove. A fire needed to be started. Dogs needed to be fed. Coffee needed to be brewed. And now we're settling in for the long wait. At about 2pm I will make our potatoes and our veg, get the pies out, have Geoff set the table, and begin the hour of chaos right before we eat.
Perhaps I will go back to bed.
Geoff and I are going to make cranberry sauce and whipped cream. Call me Martha Effin' Stewart and I'll push you down a flight of stairs. I just decided since he's so interested lately in the process of cooking and making meals that I ought to involve him and these were the two easiest ways. He made my dinner on Monday night (french bread pizzas, and yes -- they were wonderful) and calls himself the chef of the house.
Doug calls him Cheffrey and he gets really REALLY mad. I wish he'd take pride in being called Cheffrey and get the play on words but whatever. He's a pill.
I am finally feeling over my cold enough to do things like clean. All I've managed to do for the last week is laundry and load the dishwasher. There are dust bunnies big enough to attack our guinea pig, and they must be stopped before they are big enough to attack Brodie.
Our bathroom is a pigsty and needs top to bottom scrubbed at this point, so that has to get done. I will force my daughter to clean this room and sweep. Geoff has already cleared the dining table and will set it for us. He wants to use our incredibly wonderful Noritake China but I am loathe to allow him to come near it. I am hoping today will be a thanksgiving of cleanliness, in addition to turkey and football.
We opted to stay home by ourselves this year. I had invited my mom and dad up, but my mom can't see to drive at night which means we would have to be eating by 11am in order for her to get out of here in the light. I am glad they're not coming, not because I don't love them or anything but because the weather is supposed to turn piss poor later and I don't relish the idea of her driving with even more limited visibility. Not sure what they decided they'd do for the holiday, but they've got people to be with down there. We got invited to Chris and Laurie's house in Amherst, but would have to spend the night and I didn't want to trek out there with the three dogs and make a nuisance of myself with my family.
It's sometimes easier to just stay in.
In other news, folks around the country may be aware that yesterday morning at about 2:45 am an ink manufacturing facility in Danvers MA exploded and took half the neighborhood with it. Danvers is about 20 miles south of us down the coast. It is where Doug works most of the time (his job is split between Danvers and Lowell, so he drives to both locations daily). And it is a town en route to my office that sometimes I drive through depending on how I want to go to work or come home on any given day.
I was fast asleep and heard what sounded like a car crash, right outside my bedroom window. My dogs woke up and went insane, running around barking into the dark. I pulled up the shade, and there wasn't anything there. I went down to the kitchen to see if, perhaps, Gonzo had pulled over our trash. But there was no sign of chaos in the house.
Again, I looked outside only to see the quiet night. No car crash, no inferno, no sign of chaos. Nothing. Confused, I went back to bed.
Yesterday when Doug got up he put on the radio and we heard news of the explosion. We turned on the TV and saw the live shots of the fire and the devastation. I was hard to believe. They were saying the people in New Hampshire and Maine heard the blast, and it was then that I realized what had woken me and the dogs up out of our sleep was indeed the blast. And the quiet still night here in our northern little town was all I saw out the window because the plant was 20 miles away.
Kind of freaky.
The amazing thing is no one was killed. The neighborhood around the plant is densely populated. People were in bed, and they were injured by flying bureaus and glass and their ceilings caving in on them. But no one died. No one was eviscerated. No one decapitated. Material loss, yes. Scars and stitches, yes. When you look at the photos of the scene, you can't really believe there weren't dozens lost. And that's amazing to me. Totally amazing.
In yet other news, two friends lost dear loved ones this week. My sister's best friend lost her mom after a very brief time with cancer. I can't say a battle with cancer, because from the time she received the diagnosis to the day of her death it was just a few weeks.
That fast, that swift, that scary. Like a chemical plant blowing up in your backyard. Only this time someone died. My sister flew down to say goodbye and thought in a few weeks that she'd be flying back for the funeral. She arrived Friday night and Mary Lou passed on Monday, while Linda was there.
A flickr friend lost his sister this week after she did wage a long battle with Pick's disease. He is devastated, and I feel deeply for him. I couldn't imagine losing my sister, and I do not relish the fact that we will, over the next couple of decades, most likely face some horrible diseases or trials and tribulations. I'm glad that I have her to fight with me though. Having someone to care for, or to care for you, in that manner is an amazing thing. Something to be thankful for.
So today, I am thankful for Mary Lou and Leslie, for the lives they touched and the legacy they both leave. I'm thankful that in their death they were surrounded by people who loved them. I am thankful that even though the sudden departure leaves such amazing pain that there is a wealth of happiness in memory that will help all their friends and loved ones get through the process.
My sister put the lyrics to Death Cab for Cutie's "What Sarah Said" up in her journal entry. Here's a link to it. And there are so many lines in that song that are just amazing.
Love is watching someone die.
So who's gonna watch you die?
Who's gonna watch you die?
I'm sorry they had to watch someone die. I'm not sorry that it was love.
Well, I had best get my house-cleaning ass out of this chair and get a move on.
Happy day to you all, in all you do, whether with family or alone; whether at a restaurant or in a house. Be thankful for the little things and the happy moments in your life. And be safe. Be well. Be good.
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