“And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither.”
By Robert Frost
There are no asters or witch-hazel flowers in our yard, but there are quite a few roses that were killed off by the cold weather of last week. Even the pansies didn’t survive. One year, our pansies on the front porch lasted through the winter.
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On Thurs., Nov. 13, Hubby, pal Eileen Burke, and I drove to Canton to attend the November luncheon of the Irish Pastoral Centre. The room was partly filled when we arrived. Eileen Collins and her crew from the Keystone Apartments were already there. We were delighted to have a chance to speak with Angela Durkin. She hadn’t been at the luncheon for several months. She told us that she had been traveling. Her trip to Nova Scotia with her son sounded great. She also mentioned that she was wearing purple because the month of November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. I never knew that. We were also happy to see our pal Lucy Loud. She hasn’t attended the luncheon for a few months. She and Hubby had a great time chatting.
Fr. Dominic Meehan, who had been assigned as a seminarian to work with our Irish chaplain, Fr. John McCarthy, a few years ago, came back to say our Mass now that he has been ordained. Fr. Dominic passed out prayer cards to those who wanted one. His prayer card told us that he was ordained on Nov. 24, 2013, at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Thurles is near the Rock of Cashel. By the way, Nov. 24 is the Feast of Christ the King.
The ham dinner that day was lovely. Fintan Stanley provided the music for the afternoon. We were delighted that our pals Tom and Barbara Cheney were at the luncheon. They worked off all of the calories that they ate at the luncheon by dancing almost every dance. Barbara had mentioned when she came in that she and Tom just wanted to dance, and dance they did—beautifully.
As usual, my pal Angela makes three or four gift bags, which are raffled off to make extra money for the Irish Pastoral Centre. I actually won one of the bags that day. I have the worst luck, so this was a big surprise. (I have rotten luck at a casino, also.) I was so delighted that I called Angela to thank her. I told her that I was one of the winners that day and that she had made my day. She laughed! God bless her for doing the gift bags.
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Now we come to our Thanksgiving. We were worried about the snow fouling up the driving for son Paul and daughter Jeanne, son-in-law David, and the World’s Greatest Grandchildren, Brendan and Erin. Paul’s wife/our daughter-in-law Alex was spending Thanksgiving with her Mom Sara, who was recovering from a fall.
Hubby, Sue, and I packed the car with the things that we had offered to bring. We gave ourselves an hour to get to Norwell; it is usually a 30-minute trip. Sue had reminded us that we had to get our copy of “Alice’s Restaurant” for the car. No sooner were we on Morrissey Blvd. than Hubby pushed the button for the CD to play. We laughed a great many times while on the road. It takes about 18 minutes for the song to finish. We had heard, on WBZ that morning, that “Alice’s Restaurant” was now 50 years old. A reporter had interviewed the composer, Arlo Guthrie, who said that he has to learn the lyrics once again before he sings it in public. He never sings it because it is too long. We also had the “Turkey Song,” by Adam Sandler, on that CD but that one was not half so good as Guthrie’s song.
When we arrived at cousins Carolyn and Rock’s home, we were met by a flurry of activity. Rock, who loves to cook, was at the stove. Their daughter Katie was washing pots and pans. Carolyn got us drinks. We had our choice: decaf coffee, Diet Coke, ginger ale, egg nog (the Hood brand, which Rock likes), or warm cider. I took a sip of the cider and thought I was drinking an apple pie. It was wonderful but sugary, so I stuck to decaf coffee. We also had Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice, both the red and the white. (The bottle of white grape juice was emptied first.) Katie took the low-salt chips and onion dip that we brought and put them in the living room. (The dip was made from Knorr’s Leek Soup Mix, which seems less salty than onion dip.) Sue went in there after watching what was on TV. On Thanksgiving, we usually watch the National Dog Show. The show was almost ending so we saw the best of the best. I love little dogs and chose one of them but he was beaten out by a bloodhound this year as “Best in Show.” (I want a recount!)
Soon, Jeanne, David, Brendan and Erin came in. Jeanne had made both an apple pie and a cherry pie. Erin had made a special dessert, which we discovered after dinner. A little bit later, son Paul came in. He made sure that Alex had started the trip to her Mom’s before he left their house. He arrived in Norwell a little after Jeanne, David and the kids. Erin and Brendan joined us on the porch, where Rock had put in a lovely wood stove after the porch was made into a room. Sue was looking outside at the bird feeder, which was a very busy place that day. The birds would take the seed from the feeder and fly to a tree to eat. It was fascinating to watch.
Then Carolyn’s niece Laura skyped from Switzerland with her husband Jared and sons Elliot and Calvin. Laura will be stationed overseas for four years because of her job. Both Katie and Erin had stayed with the family for one summer each over the past two summers. Since Erin is a lifeguard, she taught the boys how to swim in Lake Geneva while she was there. Laura told everyone that our Thanksgiving was not a holiday in Switzerland so the boys had school that day. Everyone got on the computer to speak with them. The kids finally said, “We have to get to bed.” There is a six-hour difference in time between Switzerland and Boston.
After Laura signed off, Carolyn and Katie began putting the food on the table. There was a 17-lb turkey, with sausage stuffing, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green-bean casserole, peas, carrots, corn, creamed baby onions, cranberry sauce, and corn bread made in a cast-iron skillet. Rock had bought Alexia Rolls and warmed them. Alexia Rolls are supposed to be the best, according to online recommendations. Rock put the mashed potatoes in a crockpot to keep them warm. In addition to the low-salt chips and leek soup dip, Carolyn had made deviled eggs, with hot sauce. She had put out cheese and crackers, along with the eggs, before we ate. For dessert, we had quite a selection. Rock had made his Mom’s banana bread. (We took some home for the next day.) There was a chocolate-pumpkin cake, with icing between the layers. (I ate about a third of a piece and gave the rest to Hubby because it was sinfully delicious.) There was pumpkin pie and Jeanne’s apple and cherry pies. Then we came to granddaughter Erin’s dessert, which was golf-ball-sized. It is called an “Oreo Cookie Cake Pop” and consists of crushed Oreo Cookies and cream cheese rolled into balls and covered with white-chocolate. I tasted one and immediately said I should not have another. They were too good.
After dinner, we played with Carolyn and Rock’s Maine Coon cats, “Kittery” and “Sanford.” They are beautiful, with lovely long fur. The cats were dying to get outside but we were very careful when we opened the outside doors. We started talking about Black Friday shopping. We had bought a Ledger for Carolyn and one for Jeanne, who were the most likely to go shopping. All the while we were at the house, Rock had beautiful Pandora music on to entertain us. He also kept the fireplace going in the living room, keeping us warm. And he kept the stove on the porch going to keep that area warm. We loved watching the fireplace in the living room.
When it was dark, Paul, Jeanne, David, and the “kids” made ready to go home. Carolyn had made plates of leftovers for each of us and gave Paul an extra plate for Alex. Guess what we all had for dinner on Friday evening? Everything was still delicious. We all thanked Carolyn, Rock, and Katie for having our family for Thanksgiving.
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I wonder if anyone knows why the Rainbow Gas Tank was sporting blue-green lights in November. Usually red and green lights for Christmas show up in December. We love seeing those. I see that Lambert’s has already received a shipment of Christmas trees. I must walk down to their store just to enjoy the smell of the trees. For those who love Christmas music: Radio station WMJX-Magic 106.7 FM is now playing it. Hubby has it on all the time in the car unless he is looking for traffic reports on WBZ.
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Speaking of WBZ, I heard this past Sunday morning that the late Bishop Joseph Maguire was to lie in state in Springfield on Sunday and was to be buried in that city after his funeral Mass on Monday. How I wish I could have been at the funeral service. Fr. Maguire was such a part of my life when I was a kid. God bless him.
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Here is a wise quote from a person, age 76: “You never get rewarded for the things you intended to do.”
