Days leading up to a holiday bring me both anxiety and excitement. The planning and all the food preparations before hand so everything comes together at the same time on Thanksgiving Day makes me crazy. I'm my own worst enemy. I become excited and energetic which leads to overkill in menu items. So this time I decided to just stick to what we could eat and not overdo. Barb was making dressing, two pies, and a cranberry recipe (mmmmm). The frozen turkey had been purchased a month ago and placed in the garage chest freezer. This time of year, long stringy webs and filaments form everywhere glistening in the sunlight. The sun's rays revealed these webs and strings on the windows along with a dusty film deposited by vehicles from our dry gravel road. Earlier this week the days were sunny with high-sixty temperatures, perfect for window washing. Being cautious about overusing my left wrist, I wrapped a four-inch ace bandage around it and alternated hands when wiping down the panes. The screens needed cleaning and brushing, too, to remove all the dust and webs. Our weather is so comfortable this time of year and so enjoyable that I tackled eight windows, inside and out. All this time my rheumatologist is in my head, "Use, don't abuse. Use, don't overuse." I did behave myself as I didn't want to end up in his office with an painfully inflamed wrist.
Saturday evening Cliff brought the turkey into the house and placed it on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator to begin the thaw. On Wednesday he peeled and chunked two butternut squash and two pounds of potatoes, the last of our own fall potatoes, and helped me pull the innards ( a Grandma Still vocabulary word) from the turkey. I like to do the turkey like Vic and Retta do at 500 degrees in wine and water so every Thanksgiving before I cook the turkey, I call my sister and have her go over the directions again so I don't leave anything out. Evidently, even after thawing since Saturday night, the twelve pound bird wasn't quite thawed enough to be done for one o'clock. I had planned to let it set while Barb and I made gravy but the thermometer barely reached 140 degrees. Back into the oven and checking every twenty minutes until it was finally ready around 2:30. Thank goodness because the two men kept hovering around the kitchen getting underfoot and drooling like beagles. The Thanksgiving feast was set on the kitchen island, more wine refilled our glasses, and we were thankful for friendships and family.
Saturday evening Cliff brought the turkey into the house and placed it on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator to begin the thaw. On Wednesday he peeled and chunked two butternut squash and two pounds of potatoes, the last of our own fall potatoes, and helped me pull the innards ( a Grandma Still vocabulary word) from the turkey. I like to do the turkey like Vic and Retta do at 500 degrees in wine and water so every Thanksgiving before I cook the turkey, I call my sister and have her go over the directions again so I don't leave anything out. Evidently, even after thawing since Saturday night, the twelve pound bird wasn't quite thawed enough to be done for one o'clock. I had planned to let it set while Barb and I made gravy but the thermometer barely reached 140 degrees. Back into the oven and checking every twenty minutes until it was finally ready around 2:30. Thank goodness because the two men kept hovering around the kitchen getting underfoot and drooling like beagles. The Thanksgiving feast was set on the kitchen island, more wine refilled our glasses, and we were thankful for friendships and family.
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