Turkey trot

We've mostly been at home for our third Thanksgiving here, spending time together and separately as the mood has taken us. We've diverted ourselves variously with card games, computer, jigsaws, books and snoozing.

In the afternoon, with the weather better than forecast, we headed out to Five Rivers for a bit of a hike. As we drove along I remarked on the general lack of Thanksgiving lawn ornaments - normally such an integral part of a US celebration, at the very least I expected to see an inflatable turkey. But no, nothing...

...unless you count this - and yes, it is, it is! An inflatable Pilgrim turkey!

Once at Five Rivers we met the same real live wild turkey I'd seen last time I was there, smugly stalking around the parking lot making known that it had survived the day. We saw several deer too, and a whole family of Exiles.

I served up dinner this evening. It wasn't anything particularly special - the kids still won't eat anything but their usual fare, and I managed to char a piece of salmon almost beyond edibility. And yet it was one of the jolliest meals we've had together in a while - raucously sociable. It was easy to feel thankful for being a family.