Giving Thanks

I have just discovered it is past time for another day by day post.   '

I really wanted to tell my story about Thanksgiving first.  

Tell, not show, you'll find out why later.  

We went to Indiana to be with the Troyers for the holiday.  I like to take trips with my husband, we enjoy the visiting time and seeing new places.  

Seeing new places isn't nearly as exciting in late fall when everything is dull colored under cloudy skies.  And trips aren't nearly as exciting when driving through a state and a half with snowy wet roads at 31 degrees and visibility less than a mile.  

We got there unscathed, because we are old and cautious, not wanting to end up like some of those zipping past us that end up in the median later on in the day.  

It is lovely to be with new friends and to see new houses, new ideas for decorating, new traditions for the day, and eat lots of good food.

We had turkey there, just like we do at home.

It was stuffed--I haven't had that before.

We had mashed potatoes and gravy--check

Green beans with onions--we usually do that casserole with the fried onions on top.

Cheezy noodles--that was a new one but a keeper recipe anyhow.

Bread and buns with jelly and butter--check. 

What we didn't have:

black olives

sweet potatoes

corn.

We still stuffed ourselves beyond capacity, visited long around the table, washed the dishes (by hand, mind you, the dishwasher was broken), staggered into the living room and waited to be empty enough for pie.  

Now pie, that's tradition.  

We had pumpkin--I brought that.

And apple--brought that, too.

Cherry--yep, used to that.

Pecan pie--I've seen it, and only one bite ever has made it into my mouth.

Raisin--not sure about that one.  

I forgot to mention the table.  It was beautiful.  The lady of the house set it beautifully with a lovely set of dishes.  We had cheese cake in goblets, date pudding in pink depression glass bowls, sparkling grape juice in another goblet and a water glass.  

I had a lovely photograph of my table setting, but here is the only sadness of the whole trip.  When we were out driving around to see the country, on our way back, I got flustered and deleted all the pictures off my camera. 

 EVERY LAST ONE.  

(and I had no other battery for my other camera, it was at home)

There are no perfect pictures of one table setting with the turkey behind.  There is no photo of the longest covered bridge in the world.  There is no picture of the sunset that day.  

What I do have is not perfect, I took a few after the deletion, had a few on another camera and got a few off Jim's phone, but I was rather demoralized after all that.  

We really had a lovely time, we felt at home, these people fit in our lives just like...

well, I was going to say an old shoe, but that sounds kind of bad, or family, but you just take what you get there.  

Really, they are just our kind of folks.  

That's the best kind. 

This. Is. All, I. Have.

Dinner time

Beautiful dishes.

Madison, Indiana--tree city.  

The first tree grew out of the root itself, Now, they plant one.

We saw the cutest ever soap shop!

 Covered bridge, one of four in their county.

Over the Mississippi

We really did go out of state!