The Day After
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| Met a man carrying a Christmas Tree |
As I was walking down the street, hi-ho, hi-ho, hi-ho, hi-ho, some interesting sights I chance to meet, Hi-ho, Hi-ho, Hiii-ho!
I went to swim at the pool, today. I figured it would be smooth swimming, without much competition for lanes. I thought most people would have commitments with family and other things. I was right, it was delightful. I swam for an hour. I really hated to get out. I felt like I was mermaid, leaving my natural habitat. As Lucy Evashevski say, “You are The Memaid of this lake!” She was referring to Lake Huron. Her and her husband, John, walk on the boardwalk, quite regularly, in St. Ignace (before the snow). So they see me, in the cold lake, snorkling or just playing in the water, when I’m up there.
I know I started my writing with “As I went walking....” Because, when I was walking to the YMCA today, I saw a man carrying quite a large Christmas tree. I was so surprised. I asked him if I could get his picture with my phone (he was SO polite, he waited there while I tried to find how to take a picture without sending it to someone! While he's holding the heavy tree on his shoulder) I said, “This is NOT something you see in American, only in a foregin country!” He replied, “Yes, you do, if they’re a student!” Good point.
It was the beginning of a Things-Making-Me-Smile Day.
While swimming, a muslim woman jumped in the pool with her full attire, covered from head to toe. She had on goggles and was enjoying herself, immensely. She did hand-stands, several times in the shallow end. She swam under and on the water. She was having a blast. I was so proud of her for not letting her clothing restrictions restrict her swimming possibility. It made me smile.
After I swam I headed through the Old West Side of Ann Arbor to go home. I went by a parking lot of an very big, very old, brick home. At the end of the parking lot there was a mother holding a toddler, who had on little yellow, Baby Doll shoes, a pink snowsuit that had a hood with white fur trim. There was a little boy, dressed equally warm, who was standing by his mother. He was pulling away from her and wouldn’t let her hold his mittened hand.
“Sebastian! You have to hold my hand,” Mother said nicely.
“Nnggg”, he groaned, pulling away from her.
“Hi, hi, hi,” Little Toddler said, smiling from the side of her hood as she looked at me, coming toward her on the sidewalk. Mother was holding her faced-foward, while parenting her son.
“Sebastian! You HAVE to hold my hand or we’re NOT going to cross!”
“Nnnnnngggg”, he groaned again, this time stomping his foot.
“Hi, hi, hi,” Little Toddler continued to say. As I walked by, I waved to her and smiled as I passed. She was so happy to have me respond and SO oblivious to the conflict going on, under her cute little yellow shoes.
The little boy, Sebastian, looked about two years old. As I walked on I thought, “Maybe he’s really rebelling against his name, not about crossing the street! Although I do like Sebb, or Bastian.”
Now, I’m smiling again, as I write. It’s snowing, lightly. I’m inside and just had some yogurt with unsweetened coconut, strawberry-rhurburb preserves and dark chocolate chips in it. With it I had a mix of raw nuts and a few Traverse City dried cherries. Mmmmm……
My Thanksgiving was very unusual, but was what I call "fantastic". I invited a friend, Ameera, from Detroit to come. She accepted, even though she doesn’t celebrate the holiday. Holden invited Matt, who just moved to Ann Arbor and had no place to celebrate Thanksgiving.
I went to a Halal Market to get the turkey, in respect of Ameera, who is Muslim. Holden soaked the turkey in sea-salt water and big dried cloves, overnight(and a few other ingredients he’s keeping a secret). The night before I cooked the red potatoes and mashed them (with peelings) with cooked onion & butter. I cooked the squash and the sweet potatoes ahead, too. In the morning, I cooked the soft, sweet potatoes in maple syrup, butter, cloves and cinnamin.
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| Holden, Relaxing and Reading (The night before Thanksgiving) |
When Ameera arrived in the morning we put in the 16 pound turkey (after stuffing it with large pieces of onion and celery and coating it with olive oil and sea salt) and placed it on top of large stalks of celery in the pan. It JUST fit into my tiny oven, “Thankfully”.
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| Ameera, Drinking Water With Dinner |
We planned to take a walk while the turkey was cooking, but Holden insisted he baste the turkey two times before we left for a long walk. It paid off, the turkey was not only delicious, it was beautiful with it’s golden crispy look.
Ameera brought a large fruit salad with several fruit ingredients, in a tart juice. She had the bananas on top of the container. “My mom said not to cut the bananas up until it’s ready to serve”.
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| Ameera's Fruit Salad (Ready to Serve) |
Matt brought an apple-cranberry pie (store bought) and some vanilla-bean gelato, to go with it. I truthfully didn’t miss the pumpkin pie. The salad, pie and gelato were just right.
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| Matt and Holden on Thanksgiving (No picture of pie and gelato, and no evidence of it, either!) |
Holden put on a playlist, from his laptop. I smile just thinking about it all. The four of us, eating, chatting, relaxing. My fake-fire glowing and framing us into a homey, Thanksgiving celebration.
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| Me, Cleaning the Turkey Before Doing the Dishes (I LOVE how my kitchen is too small to let people help!) |
Oh, one more smile I can’t seem to drop. Elizabeth flies in tonight from California! She’ll be in Ann Arbor for a few days before she flies out to a conference, in Washington, D.C.
I’m thankful I am able to appreciate this day after Thanksgiving. Hope all of you have a weekend with some surprise smiles, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK9I_leL22Y Jig-A-Jig-Jig Song
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