Hubby and I have put the sign laid out with today’s column in the yard every Thanksgiving for about a decade. We both laugh when we see it. People going to the Murphy School laugh as they go by our house. Hubby usually takes a photo of the sign every year. We noticed this year that some of the black printing has worn off. We will ask daughter Sue to help us with a permanent black Magic Marker.

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• I was so sorry to hear of the death of Fredrick “Freddie” Beswick on Nov. 17, at age 67. Freddie was the son of the late Woodrow and Dorothy (McBeth) Beswick and the father of the late Shawn. He was the brother of two of my long-time friends, Beverly Stevens and Theresa Beswick. He was also the brother of Dorothy (Beswick) and her husband, Ralph Silva, and William, John, and Thomas Beswick. Our whole family sends its sympathy to all the Beswicks.

• Our immediate neighborhood has been saddened by the death of our long-time friend and neighbor, Joan Szymaniak, on Nov. 17. Joan was the daughter of the late Jay Greb, who was such a beloved neighbor in our Pope’s Hill area. If there was a death at a neighbor’s home, Jay was at the family’s front door with her wonderful baked goods. (Her pistachio cake was legendary.) Joan was fortunate to have lived in her Mom’s home. (The house will always be the home of the Grebs.) Joan was the mother of Debbie Sawler, Jeannie, Donna Carr, and the late Joanne. She was the sister of Eileen Jerzylo, and the late Edna Lisowski, Gloria Wieliczjiewicz, and Stanley Greb Jr. I am sure that I send the sympathy of our entire neighborhood to the Szymaniak family, especially to Jeannie, whom most of us know.

• I heard some sad news this morning on WBZ Radio. The retired bishop of Springfield, Joseph Maguire, passed away on Sunday evening, Nov. 23, at age 95. As I have mentioned before, Father Joe was my parish priest at Blessed Sacrament Church in Jamaica Plain, when I was a kid. He loved everyone and everyone loved him. We even heard, over the years, that he had tried out for the New York Yankees. Although we were saddened to lose him, he had some wonderful assignments, in particular being secretary to Cardinal Cushing and finally being bishop at the western end of the Boston Archdiocese. Former Mayor Ray Flynn told me at the Simon of Cyrene Breakfast in September that he and his grandson Braeden had been out to Springfield to visit the bishop recently. Mayor Ray even sent me a photo of the bishop with Braeden. They were saying the rosary together. I will miss Father Joe but he is in a far better place. 

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I must mention the TV ad for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, with the two babies in diapers jabbering at each other. One finally laughs as if he understood the first baby’s gibberish. Hubby and I stop every time it is on TV and laugh. It is a riot; the ME Channel shows it quite often.
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Thanks to a kind invitation from Eileen Collins, Hubby, daughter Sue, and I attended the Turkey Trot at the Tirrell Room in Quincy last Friday evening. We were early but the room already held quite a few people. Eileen was there with her friends Marilyn Ferrara, Caroline Innello, and Martha Gowett. I heard that Martha has recently celebrated her 95th birthday. We were also joined by new friends John, who, by his accent, was from the “Ould Country,”and his lovely dancing partner Ellie. (They danced beautifully together.)

There were probably five baskets up on chances. There was one that had an iPod Shuffle in it and an iTune’s gift card so I was hoping to win that one. I put all my chances in the little bag for that one. They also had a 50/50 drawing. I took a chance on that also but I didn’t win. I think there were a least 50 turkeys given away as door prizes. We were delighted that our friend Eileen, who invited us, won a turkey. It was just about the right size for her to cook for Thanksgiving so she was thrilled. No one else at our table won anything, sorry to say.

To mention that the food in the Tirrell Room is wonderful is an understatement. It is owned by Barrett’s Restaurant, in Charlestown, which also owns the Abington Ale House. We started with a Caesar salad. I ate the croutons and a few small pieces of light-colored lettuce. (The darker pieces of lettuce are a “No-No” for people on Warfarin.) Then the waitresses brought out our plates, which looked like photos from a cooking magazine. There was turkey served my favorite way, sliced thin. Hidden under the turkey was a mound of wonderfully tasty stuffing, with gravy. There was also a mound of mashed potatoes and a good amount of butternut squash. There was also a dish of cranberry sauce on the table. The rolls were served quite warm so we buttered them quickly so the butter would melt into the bread.  For dessert, we had a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce. The waitresses were so nice to us that we gave them a tip. I told one of the waitresses that this was one of the best turkey dinners that I had ever eaten. It is great that the Tirrell Room is so close to our home. We were all home by 9:30 p.m. What a nice evening!

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Last Saturday, Nov. 15, pals Eileen, Dotty, Norma, Caroline,Marilyn, Hubby, Sue, and I drove to the Common Market Restaurant for another musical evening. The title of this concert was “Divas with a Twist.” I checked the names of the gals in the group. There can be up to six members – Christine Joyce, Nicole Malagood, Tracy Silva, Joyce McPhee, Paula Markowicz, and Kristen Huberdeau – but we only saw five. I don’t know who was missing.Terrific Mark McCarron was on the keyboard; Rick Morin, great on the drums and Grammy-nominated, and George Dussault, on the bass and guitar, also Grammy-nominated. I barely knew any of the songs. (Where was daughter Sue when I needed her?) I did know “Freedom,” I’ve Got the Music in Me,” Sinatra’s hit “That’s Life,” “When the Sky Comes Tumblin’ Down,” the Christmas song, “Little Drummer Boy,” “Working 9 to 5,” and finally “Dancing Queen.” 

The Diva group had quite a following of dancers. We just looked at the dancers in awe. I loved two of the gals, who danced as if parts of their bodies were not joined together. I went over to one of the gals and told her how I enjoyed watching her. She thanked me. I asked where she had learned to dance. She said, “I always loved to dance.” She certainly showed it. Norma loved watching a gal who was wearing a pink top. She also had a body where, I believe, no parts were joined together. If I did half of their dancing, I’d be at Carney Hospital, in traction. This was a very enjoyable evening. The voices of the Divas were wonderful.

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I think back to former Thanksgivings, I remember that I, being the oldest grandchild and a girl, helped Grandma make the apple and mince pies. I peeled the apples till my hands were sore. Grandma made at least 20 pies so that each family could have at least one apple and one mince to take home. Grandma would save some of the pie crust and let me make little apple pies in tiny metal pie plates for us kids, who sat at a little table. When I was a little older, I went to the English/Latin football game and froze. When I came home, Grandma would have me mashing potatoes for our big crowd. I could stir the gravy but I didn’t know how to make it. I loved those Thanksgivings—such happy memories. I hope that you all make happy memories that your kids will remember forever.