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THE THANKSGIVING DAY TURKEY meal enjoyed today by the yard man and me, three of our descendants (and the father of one), numerous siblings, in-laws, cousins and kin was hosted by the yard man's brother-in-law and sister. I was so elated about the bright sunshine after three days of Noah's Ark-type rain, that even without turkey I'd have been surfing on a very grateful feeling.







I was thankful that the small lake at the bottom of the hill had disappeared by this morning.




I was grateful that Thanksgiving Eve I'd had all the ingredients for a chocolate cake with fudgy frosting, that I thought of a way to mount fall leaves atop it (If you really must know, Reader Dear, I inserted a plastic straw and managed to remove a tiny plug of cake; then I reinserted the straw, cut it to fit, and inserted the leaves; voila! the cake did not taste fantastic, but the look was impressive!)


I was grateful for that twenty-five-pound turkey and that good rich gravy, the delectable bowl of home-grown corn, the candied sweets, the potato filling, the cranberry sauce.....*.

really, quite grateful for every last bit of that Thanksgiving meal. Except, uhm...possibly those last few bites of pumpkin pie. That final small piece of pumpkin cake roll.

But thankful--oh, my goodness, yes, thankful! Still thankful.

Thankful for this day on which to be thankful. Thankful I can tell you about it, Reader Dear. Thankful for you, Reader Dear, oh, ever so thankful!

I'm thankful for having so much about which to be thankful.
Believe it, Dear Reader--
I am thankful!

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*(and all the et cetera...)