Thanksgiving Weekend Hodgepodge

I hope all my American blog readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

We celebrated the holiday with my nephew and his family on Long Island, so we were able to make a visit to the National Cemetery, where my father is buried, to pay our respects. My Mom is with him now, and we reflected on how we brought her here last Thanksgiving Day, never thinking it would be the last visit we'd make with her.

I had to smile when my brother was carving the turkey. My nephew's dog sat next to him the entire time. It was such an amusing sight!

The dog was definitely hoping some turkey would be tossed his way!

How could we resist those big brown pleading eyes?  Of course, I gave him a little piece of meat.

We enjoyed some delicious appetizers, and my nephew prepared a fabulous French Onion soup for dinner, as well as turkey and all the trimmings!  He is a wonderful cook and we enjoyed the company of his family as well as his brothers and their families and my brother and sister-in-law.  It was a full and happy house!

If you are a long time reader of my blog you might remember when I blogged about the wild turkey named Zelda that lives in Battery Park in Manhattan.  You can read that post on this link.

I was cheered this weekend to hear on the news that Zelda survived both Hurricane Sandy and Thanksgiving! She obviously rode out the storm in her nest on a tree in the park, as that area was flooded for a time, along with a large amount of Lower Manhattan.  

I'm sure Thanksgiving was very different for many of those affected by the hurricane. There was a great effort by many volunteers and organizations to make sure anyone who was without power, a working kitchen or home, would be served dinner at many different locations in the city. In fact, the Red Cross served 35,000 meals across New York and New Jersey on Thanksgiving Day.  

The magnitude of the hurricane was so extensive, and it will take a long time for many before their lives return to normal. As of last Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported that 453,000 disaster survivors had applied for assistance in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, with $844.4 million in relief aid approved.

As my family gathered this holiday we all shared stories of those we knew who lost homes and businesses.  It made us even more grateful for what we have, and this experience made us realize how quickly all could be lost.

This weekend my daughter celebrated her birthday!  We were sad we could not be together, but our son-in-law made sure to buy her all-time favorite Carvel ice cream cake!  They also had a nice time visiting the "Day in Pompeii" exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. On display were hundreds of exceptional artifacts from the Italian city of Pompeii that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD.

This is also how we spent part of our weekend.  We packed many, many, boxes in preparation for our move. We still have many, many more to pack!  One does not know how much stuff they have until they have to pack it in a box! No, we haven't sold our house as yet, but we are still trying.  We hope that *one person,* that everyone tells us that is all it takes to sell, comes along very soon!