Plenty to Be Thankful For

Thanksgiving week was full and rich. Early Monday morning I drove to the farm alone, being the early arriver to get things ready. I took care of the usual chores – purchasing enough groceries to get us going, mowing around the house, clearing the dead limbs fallen from the mesquites, and turning the water heater from Vacation to High. Murray, our ancient lawn tractor, had apparently picked up a thorn in his left front foot during our last outing and could not join me, so I walked behind the small lawnmower, taking twice the time.

I worked outdoors most of Monday, until it was dark. Then, returning the tools and equipment to the garage, I entered the house, groping for the light switch. I found it and turned it on to get the overhead light in the garage. No response. Bulb’s probably out. So I found the switch for the utility room. Nothing. The guys installing the furnace a couple of weeks ago must have turned off the breaker. So I felt my way into the dark house and discovered that none of the lights were working. I walked to the front door and gazed across the road. No lights on at any of the neighbors’ homes either. I called Janie who lives at the top of the hill and caught her shopping at HEB. She called home and checked and called me back. Power was off all down the road.

So, sweaty, gritty, and hungry, I sat on the front porch in the dark for a while. Shower and supper would have to wait. It was not long before lights flickered on and I went inside. I turned on the shower and let it run. When I came back a few minutes later, the water was still ice cold. Furnace guys had turned off the gas for the install and had not relit the pilot on the water heater, I guessed. This time I was right. So I found some matches, lit the pilot, and proceeded to dinner, still sweaty and gritty.

Tuesday morning I went rock hunting. The goal was to build a campfire ring in the backyard out of local stones. I took the wheelbarrow and a hand pick and walked through rows of tall sorghum sudan grass that remained in the field, looking for pieces of sandstone or flint at least as large as my fist. I took my quest down the road to the far end of the field for a while, and then down the county road to an outcropping of eroding sandstone where large pieces were falling off onto the roadside. Eventually I had managed to gather enough to construct a ring five or six feet in diameter. I found enough dead limbs around to erect a campfire-sized stack that would turn the marshmallows, Hershey bars, and Graham crackers I’d picked up at the HEB in to ‘smores for my grand-daughter when she arrived.

Tuesday evening Alan and Kat arrived with their kids and and their dogs. I had a now traditional farm meal waiting: borracho beans, a pot of rice, and pan of cornbread. Melinda and Jenna showed up a bit later, and we had a full house. Wednesday was spent exploring with grandkids, planning a Thanksgiving meal, and battling the other last minute grocery shoppers. The campfire was a big success and an encore was requested for Thanksgiving evening. Thursday morning was all about cooking. When it was time to eat, we spread a feast on the picnic tables and enjoyed the creative work that Kat, Jenna, and Melinda had invested in all morning. Then naps.

The weather remained unseasonably warm, in the 80s, through Thanksgiving afternoon. Then, near sundown, we were sitting at the picnic tables. I'd been gathering some more dead mesquite limbs for another round with the 'smores and campfire. Suddenly -- really suddenly -- the still, warm air was replaced with a stiff, icy wind from the north. It was exactly like someone had turned on a massive air conditioner. We all offered an "ooooohh!" at the same time. By morning we were looking at 36 on the rusty front porch thermometer.

Friday the kids went into San Antonio to a museum. Jenna took a car and headed to Houston to visit friends home from college. And Melinda and I had the place to ourselves for a while. She worked on papers and I spent the day reading and walking and resting.

Saturday we all returned to San Antonio for a day at the zoo – riding the train around Brackenridge Park, gawking at animals, and laughing at grandchildren. We had dinner at La Gloria Icehouse, a restaurant near the old Pearl Brewery on the San Antonio River featuring Mexican street food. Five stars. Definitely try the molcajetes.

Sunday morning included a picnic at the Pecan Park in Floresville. The kids and grandkids headed home. Jenna returned from Houston and she and Melinda loaded a car and made the trip to Austin to drop Jenna off and then on to Waco. I hung around to finish the clean up and followed a couple of hours later.

Melinda and I returned to Waco just in time for the first Sunday of Advent service at UBC. We saw our friends, sang Christmas carols with the David Crowder Band (a first for us), and went home exhausted from several hours of driving, a week of grand children, and a good bit of work. But it was that kind of tired that is good. Very good.

I could have asked for more -- having Taylor, Amber, Ava, and Jonas with us from El Paso would have been good, although we'd seen them a couple of weeks earlier. I have much to be thankful for these days.

Kat has documented all this in photographs quite well on her blog.