Thanksgiving.

 

It's covid Thanksgiving, as everyone knows. So our gratitude today is tempered with the awareness of how precious and tenuous life is.

My morning started with making chocolate pies for our family's safely distanced, eating separately at home, Thanksgiving meal. Yesterday I'd made the butterhorn rolls and the pie crust for the pumpkin pies, and roasted pumpkins for making very fresh pumpkin pie. We found a new pumpkin pie recipe from King Arthur Baking, and Chuck processed the pumpkin and mixed up all the fillings for three pies plus a baking dish of extra custard that didn't fit in the pie crusts. We definitely recommend this recipe. We made it with cream, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.

I didn't eat breakfast until the chocolate pies were chilling in the refrigerator, so it was late. The carton of eggs was already out for making the chocolate filling, and I had some extra butterhorn rolls. These eggs are fresh and from backyard hens raised by a family we know in town, so a fresh local sunny side up egg on a fresh butterhorn roll was a perfect breakfast for my Thanksgiving day. I was thankful for every bite.

The rest of our Thanksgiving meal was divided up and cooked by our family members who live in Newton. We met in a parking lot to distribute the portions to each family and to visit briefly at a distance. Then home again to enjoy the delicious mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy, stuffing, and green bean casserole. Everyone was very generous and we will have at least one more full meal from the leftovers.

Other gratitude...

I've been seeing a lot today on Instagram and Facebook regarding honoring the indigenous peoples whose land we all live on. Rachel Cargle posted a link to this map, showing the lands of the indigenous people groups of the world. You can click on any location and a list pops up of those peoples who lived on the land before colonizers came. From this, I believe we live on land where the Osage, Wichita, Comanche, and Sioux peoples once lived. Another resource I found today was from Kauffman Museum which has a Youtube playlist about the meaning of Thanksgiving. It was excellent. 

I noticed some small birds in the swallows' nest, and recognized them as a phoebe pair. They seem to be cleaning it out. I checked out their migration habits, and they usually leave between September through November. It's interesting to me that they are behaving as a nesting pair this late in the year. But I have more to learn. Maybe this isn't unusual. At any rate, I am grateful for birds and for the wonder they add to my life. 

I'm grateful for curbside grocery pick-up.

For phone calls and zoom meets with loved ones and friends.

For walks with Chuck and the dog.

For more to learn...always more to learn.

For so many people who keep trying to do better, to give more, to love well. 

For God.