Giving Thanks

Yester-day we gave our second Scottish Thanks-giving Feast. The first one was held at the Old Jail after we had been here for only 2 months. With its open plan kitchen, dining, and sitting room, there was plenty of room. We have been missing Thanksgiving and so decided it was time to have another feast. So yesterday we had 6 friends over to help us eat a big turkey and all the trimmings.

The guests: Seated left to right in the photo above are Helen Rae, Margaret Coll, Gordon Rae, Kathleen Coffey (Margaret's sister), Alex Coll, and Eleanor Cunningham. There are multiple connections among the 8 of us. For example, Margaret, Kathleen, Eleanor and I have quilting in common; the Raes, Eleanor, and we have both the St. Fillans Music Circle and the Strathearn Music Society in common; and Margaret, Kathleen, Gordon, Alex, and Don have golf in common.

The menu: We started out with glasses of Spanish champagne called cava and nibbled on crackers topped with Don's wonderful smoked salmon mousse. The meal starred a beautiful brown roasted turkey accompanied by gravy, mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and the fruit salad I've been making for most Thanksgivings since 1960. To finish we had my traditional pumpkin pie and Kathleen's delicious apple pie. Eleanor had brought chocolate truffles which we enjoyed after the meal.

The entertainment: As you can see by the photo above, we didn't need anything extra to keep ourselves entertained with this set of participants. Don, however, had taped an NFL football game that was on one of our channels last week and ran it with the sound off after the meal to show what most Americans turn to for entertainment after the Thanksgiving meal. To be true to form, of course, the men would have sprawled on the living room furniture in front of the game and the women would have congregated in the kitchen to put away leftovers and get the dishes in the dishwasher. In this case, however, the women were in the sitting room and the men were standing in the dining room, talking and drinking brandy--and no one watched the game. (Don and I had gotten the first load of things into the fridge and dishwasher before the coffee was served.)

We all had a most enjoyable afternoon. Don and I are looking forward to turkey sandwiches for lunch today and to having another Thanksgiving feast next year. Here are some more photos from yesterday.