(Cross-posted from the other blog)
Most years, giving "thanks" feels like a kind of automatic exercise-not quite meaningless, but pretty generalized nonetheless. This year, our town was hit by a tornado-two actually. Nothing makes a person thankful like seeing their town hit by a tornado and then finding out that everyone got through it alive and even more miraculously-uninjured. If that isn't something to be thankful for, I don't really know what it. Sometimes, I still can't believe we got out of that alive. I try not to think about it too much (except when I find large pieces of glass still sticking up in the yard, or the dog drags in a piece of the now-gone barn) but I admit to feeling uneasy every time the sky gets yellow and weird, or heavy rains come in.
If you walk through our town, as we did on Halloween to go trick-or-treating, it is hard to believe it was devastated back in May. I can't say enough nice things about all the volunteers that came to help, the Red Cross and even (incredible, I know) the response from FEMA. Every single power line was knocked down for a five mile stretch of the main county road through and out of town-like the funnel cloud(s) went along knocking them down like dominoes. Within days (five actually) power was restored which is kind of amazing when you think of how much work had to be done. They had crews out there day and night and the FEMA money came through almost immediately so other power companies could lend their workers to the task of getting the town re-wired. Regular readers know that I'm not one to hold back with complaints and will happily point out inept government responses, but this time they got it right. I realise our tiny town is a whole lot less complicated than New Orleans, but I still never would have expected things to go as smoothly as they did. There's something else to be thankful for.
I'm thankful for all of you as well –er, most of you ;)
Raymond, Jenn, Helen and Harry, the mysterious reader from Calgary, the even more mysterious reader from Germany, Page, JK, Vanessa, the two mysterious readers from Lincoln, and all of the others I've probably forgotten to mention between the two blogs-I appreciate you bringing me into your lives and being a part of mine. Thank you so much for giving me a reason to maintain these two blogs and keep me from spending all my time playing video games and reading comics (ok, I still read the comics, but you know what I mean).
Happy Thanksgiving
4 comments:
I was surprised and happy to see that you are thankful for ME! I check your site weekly and enjoy the postings even though I don't have time to actually cook or bake. Tonight I was visiting the folks (I'm taking a long weekend from work) and invented an off the cuff turkey tetrazini... I was actually thinking of you as I was trying to create something that tasted good. My dad is allergic to MSG, so... luckily I had enough left over gravy and used that as the soup base. It did turn out well!
Thanks for your postings and Danny updates!
I'd totally invite you over for dinner if you didn't live halfway across the country.
If I were working I doubt I'd be cooking much either-honestly, I don't know how people do it. Just the mental exhaustion of a commute would do me in.
I think I found your blog about the time the tornado hit, or close there after while looking for the Goat Tamale recipe. I can't imagine the hardships you endured.
Thanks so much for sharing your recipes and Danny's stories.
I'm glad you found me because now I get to read about life at your farm. The goats in playpens really amuse Danny because he had the very same playpen.
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