Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Blessing

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Another beautiful sunny day for this Thanksgiving weekend. I have much to give thanks for – bounty harvest, good health and family. Beannacht is a poem written by John O’Donohue for his mother. It means blessing. And I say this blessing for my mother who passed from this life in October of last year.

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

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Another beautiful sunny October morning for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. My thoughts are scattered and disjointed – sad and glad intermixed. It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. First of all I have to be happy that a woman won the Nobel Peace Prize and not Donald Trump. Indeed that is a very good reason to be happy and hopeful that the good will prevail.

Last year was our last Thanksgiving with our mother though I don’t think we all gathered together for a meal. There was much that happened last year. My nephew cooked and catered the meal to each of us. How wonderful was that, eh? This year we will be taking our father out for Chinese tomorrow evening. Then he has an invite from my brother’s mother-in-law for Easter Monday. As for ourselves, we have no plans for a ham or turkey. We can just relax and do whatever. I have never been one big for celebrations. Shame on me?

I do remember Thanksgiving of 2014. How could I forget? We flew to France on Thanksgiving day. There was a problem with my ticket but we didn’t know that till we were boarding at the airport. It was a holiday so our travel agency was closed. We had to buy another ticket right then and there at the airport from Air Canada. We got to Paris and saw it right after we stepped off the plane in the morning. Needless to say it was all a blur. I slept through most of it. The next day we were included in a birthday party. Everyone spoke in French. It was great in that I didn’t have to do any small talk since I have no French.

We got a refund for my faulty ticket from the travel agency after our return home. I can’t remember what was wrong with it. Some things are best forgotten. The French trip was full of drama. I was sick for a long time after we got back to Saskatoon. But there were some bright moments.

THANKSGIVING

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A glorious sunny October Sunday. Hopefully it’s not the last hurrah. It’s Thanksgiving in Canada. We have much to be thankful for. We have an unpredictable summer followed by an equal autumn. It was a good growing season resulting in an abundant harvest. We are cleaning up and harvesting the last of the garden.

The garlic is planted and mulched with compost. The winter compost bin is put in the garden near the house. The water tanks emptied into the raised beds and the garden. The pepper plants are cut and dropped in the raised bed. We thought we would leave the carrots till later. The flower pots gathered for storage. We are almost ready for winter. We are ready and waiting for our Thanksgiving supper cooked by my nephew for all in the family. We are thankful.

THANKSGIVING, THIS AND THAT

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Oh boy! How to start a conversation again. That’s what happens when you are interrupted by life. This time life was Thanksgiving and our family gathering. It’s our first Thanksgiving together in 3 years. The last being in 2019 before Covid. That’s enough to be thankful for and such a nice warm October day is another. Being absent from here for 3 days makes my conversation a little slow and stuttering. I hope I can get warmed up and flow more smoothly.

In my last post, I talked about making scalloped potatoes and Jamie Oliver’s curried squash and chickpeas for our Thanksgiving meal. The potatoes turned out really well. I had trouble with the squash and chickpeas by adding too much water. I doubled the squash and chickpeas as the recipe was for 4 servings and I was feeding 12. I didn’t double the called for coconut milk as I didn’t have any more. I added half the amount in water. I shouldn’t have. I should have waited. But I didn’t. So it was a bit watery but the taste was fine. I had alot left over. They are jarred and in the freezer. No one complained about the food. It was all good. We were together. Conversation and drinks flowed. We had a lovely evening.

I think our fine October days are coming to an end. Time to finish harvesting my 2 Roma Tomatoes and 2 pepper plants. No point in messing around covering them every night. They will not get much bigger or ripen. Best save my energy for other things like finish washing the windows. Yesterday I washed all but 3 in the sunroom. Today I did the bedrooms and bathroom. It felt good getting these jobs done. I feel I got my feet back on firm ground and dealing with life again.

That’s all I’ve got now. Time to close up and go to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

COOKING WITH JAMIE OLIVER

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Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

Thanksgiving is coming up this weekend. I’m in a bit of a dither about the menu as I am hosting our family supper together. We’re all contributing but I still get into a lather. I am not great at ‘putting something on’. I am not a great cook but I’m not a terrible cook either. I tend to cook by whim – throw everything into a wok and stir the hell out of it. I seldom cook by recipes, not that I lack cookbooks. I have a whole drawful.

I have a whole collection of Company’s Coming, a collection of simple cooking started by Jean Pare in 1981. I haven’t looked at them since about that time. Those are not my oldest. I still have Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. I’m not sure how old is but it cost only $1.95. It’s a paperback. The pages are yellowed and the print is mighty small. I have one book from Breast Friends. I’ve used a few recipes for cookies once or twice. Then there’s the Milleton Hall Cook Book, a book of recipes from members of the farming community near where I grew up. I have yet to use it. I could go on and on with my list but my latest acquistion is Jamie Oliver’s Comfort Food a Christmas present a few years ago.

It’s a beautiful book. I want to make those fabulous dishes but then I read the ingredients and instructions. I wonder if anyone goes beyond looking at the beautiful photos. I brought it out a few days ago, thinking I could find something to make for our Thanksgiving table. Jamie Oliver does not make a simple anything. There’s herbs and spices I’ve never heard of. There’s sauces, cheeses and a ton of other stuff. Nothing for potatoes. I went online and found a recipe for scalloped potatoes with ingredients I do have. Not by Jamie Oliver but good enough. Then I searched for a curried squash recipe and behold, one by Jamie! It’s called Pumpkin, chickpea & coconut curry. It looks do-able and I have most of the ingredients. I will make these 2 recipes tomorrow for Sunday. It will give me time to make something else if I fail. I think I shall try one recipe a month from his Comfort Food book to improve my cooking skills as well as my brain. I like to challenge myself.

DAY 11 UBC – CHOW MEIN OR CHOP SUEY

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Chow Mein or Chop Suey

Sunday. Eleven days into October. I’ve had a good run. Now I need a moment to gather myself. I was on the brink of falling back into my old self of grumbling. It is just a habit. I breathed through it. I can see why exercise is good for you in the morning. It stretches body and mind. It gets the endorphins going. But going out for a walk or a run on my own was not appealing. I tackled my chores instead. Now I’m truly awake but not feeling restful or congenial. So back to the drawing board.

I know that there would be days like this. It is very irksome. It is Thanksgiving. I’ve invited my parents for supper. We’re into the 9th month of no family meals. My mother came down with shingles at the beginning of February. Then Covid came. It wasn’t until the middle of May that she was done with the shingles, medication and doctor’s appointments. I felt it was the least I could do that we share a meal together at long last.

It’s funny to say the decision caused some worry. Was it a good thing or not? She had accepted my brother’s invitation. Then she thought about it and changed her mind. Both my sister-in-law and niece worked in the hospital. Plus my nephew is a medical resident and his girlfriend a nurse – in a hospital. I think she made the right choice. Both she and my father are up in their years. Both are health compromised. No need to put them at more risk.

I think we are a better and safe choice for supper mates. We are both retired with a small social circle. We are ordering in. But then there’s the menu. What to order? Even in a restaurant, ordering Chinese sends me into an indecision crisis. Back in those days, I never had to. Usually my brother and sister-in-law have that honour. They frequent restaurants more and know all the dishes. But, I’ve finally sweated through the ordeal. I have completed the order online, paid and receipted. Now the guy just have to pick it up at 6 pm.

JUST ANOTHER DAY

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Thanksgiving Sunday. It is cloudy, breezy and cool. I am a bit melancholic. Holidays, no matter which one, have lost their magic for me. I am no longer filled with whatever it is that I’m supposed to have. I am no longer starry eyed. I have no wants for someone else to buy for me. And I have no desires to buy others’ love. I’ve grown old and definitely cynical. I’m calling it as it is. You can like it or not. You can like me or not. What you think and who you like are none of my business.

I am preparing sticky rice as my contribution to supper tonight at my sister-in-law’s. I still believe in something, doing my part in the grand scheme of living. I still am pursuing excellence in living as long as I am on this planet. Some days I am more cynical than others. But I still put one foot in front of the other, move, and smile if I can.

My sticky rice turned out well. 70 minutes on steam in the Instant Pot. Thanksgiving supper turned out well. My siblings and I agree to no more gifting each other at Christmas. I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Takes a load off everyone’s plate. Getting together for a meal is plenty of celebration. Gifting each other with good food cooked and shared is plently. Keeping it simple. Today is just another day – lived to the best of my ability. I give thanks as always.

 

GIVING THANKS – Day 79 in a year of…

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Day 79, October 9, 2016 @10:26 am

wewb3750Thanksgiving.  Here I am with my cup of tea and the dog.  There’s much to be thankful for.  Each morning is an opportunity  to do different, to do better. The decision lies in me and no one else in how and what direction I will travel. I am responsible for the results and consequences of my actions.  At least they are from my conscious decisions.  I’m not letting life happen to me.

It’s Sunday, ‘a day of rest’.  I shall sit and linger awhile, sipping all the good stuff that is in my life.  I shall contemplate and muse upon synchronicity – all those whispers that come to me when I am quiet and still.  When I am willing and ready to listen and hear.  I know there is much that I need/want to change.  There’s much I need to question with:  Is that really true?  I recognize those moments that I need to ask.  I recognize those times I’m fighting them.  There’s a stubbornness and a twist in my heart.  No, I don’t want to!  It’s a big signal to ask:  Is that really true?

Recognition is a gift to be thankful for.  If I don’t recognize myself, how can I go forward?  How can I be/do anything?  On this Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for this poem by Derek Walcott.  It says everything that is in my heart at this moment.

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

GIVING THANKS

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I love October mornings like today.    The morning air is crisp and refreshing, the sun bright and the sky, an incredible blue.  How can one not feel thankful for Nature’s generosity?

I give thanks to the Heavens above, my arms reaching up like these bare branches. The golden leaves are floating down on my head, blessing me, surrounding me, protecting me.

And I know that everything is copacetic still….even if I am feeling some discomfort, even if I feel a slight dissatisfaction, even when I am unhappy with myself.  I sit still with the feelings of it all.  This, too, will pass.

To everything, turn, turn, turn.  There is a reason and a season for everything.  It is as it should be.  And I am thankful in this season of harvest and colours.

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