sunday

 

 

 gathering pine boughs from the forest,

trudging through the drifts of snow,

finding just the right christmas tree

before we cut it down.

it's advent time

it's advent time

now it's advent time,

it's advent time, it's advent time,

now it's advent time.

(mary thienes-schunemann)

saturday

i had fun listening to christmas music today, and preparing the second thanksgiving meal of turkey thighs, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes and turnips and cranberry sauce (which was already made). oh, and apple pie . . (i had extra apples from chanda's pie!)

pluto was lying by the door today, and not in the kitchen while i cooked . . i guess he had given up on me slipping treats for him in his dish.

gingerbread and visiting the whitney

after breakfast, greg and i decided to visit the whitney museum, so he made a 1:30 reservation for us ("the new normal" is to make reservations for the museums and the high line).

we went specifically to see the exhibit: working together, the photographers of the kamoinge workshop. "kamoinge" is a word from the kikuyu people of kenya and means "a group of people acting together." it was chosen by fourteen black photographers in 1963 as the name for their collective; representing the support they had for each other and the choice that they had made to portray their neighborhoods as they saw it, and not as the white world saw it. i looked through the first half of the exhibit today and was really touched by the beautiful photos of children and adults living, playing, talking with each other on their streets, in front of their apartment buildings, brownstones and storefronts. i also really enjoyed watching the interviews with the artists that were streamed on a screen prior to entering the exhibit.

 

back at home, greg and i had leftovers for dinner, and chanda ate at emily's . . sampling emily's family's thanksgiving dinner leftovers from david chang's restaurant momofoku.

thanksgiving day

 

 i had told myself that i wouldn't make a big thanksgiving dinner . . just a few small dishes. well, i ended up having enough food for two meals. chanda had asked for a brisket, which i picked up from the butcher along with three turkey thighs and a turkey leg. since i didn't get the brisket started early enough to also make the turkey, i decided to cook the turkey tomorrow or saturday. we had the brisket with potatoes au gratin, cranberry relish (made with a whole orange and pecans), and sautéed collards and kale with smoked paprika.

 

thank goodness i remembered the shrimp hors d'oeuvres . .

 

 

 

a walk after dinner before the zoom family meeting . . 

 

 

 

 

 

(we went to the grocery store for a small yogurt so i could make gingerbread in the morning . . )

 

 

zooming with the family . . 

 

i sent out an old photo i had of my mom with our cat from 1984, and asked everyone to make up a caption for it. here are some they came up with:

 

hellllo, my name is drac-u-cat! (from uncle jeff)

 

i need sunscreen for my white fur! (chanda and emily)

 

yummm! now for thanksgiving dinner! (aunt kathy and uncle warren)

 

ahhh yes! baked to purrrr-fection! (jason)

 

what d'ya mean i have to wear a mask! (aunt kathy and uncle warren)

 

hurry up nevada!! (morgan and jenni)

 

we also played a round of charades . .

 

 

 

 dessert was a butterscotch custard with whipped cream . . so good! 

and then we were full and sleepy . .

. . happy thanksgiving . .

foster kitten

meet atlas, our new little foster kitten. actually, he's not so new anymore, as he's been with us since november 5th. how fast these november days have gone! he's kept me very busy, and not so very busy, as i'm completely unable to knit when he's around (he attacks needles, yarn and basket - he even attacks my phone and will even try to chew the laptop). i haven't been able to integrate him with pluto as he has a slight case of conjunctivitis, and he's still on de-wormer medication. this means he's confined to the second bedroom, which makes things difficult as he's not able to participate in the normal, everyday routine (which would be much more interesting to him than roaming around alone in one room).

he'll be listed soon on the "trello" website as available for adoption.