Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday traditions are a curious thing. When growing up/living with parents there are family traditions. Then when you are older and out on your own you try to retain some of the traditions of your youth, if you liked them, but then also try to add in some of your own creation. I can recall having some orphans over, usually fellow college student friends of my brother. I remember one fellow from Burma, he was so confused when my mother told him to lick his fork. We didn't have enough silverware for the meal and dessert for the number of guests we had and while his English was good it was a colloquialism that he'd never heard before. It was common practice to hear "lick your fork", so we didn't think twice about it, we all had a good laugh that day.

I haven't spent Thanksgiving with family since I left for graduate school in 1991. It always seemed too short a holiday to travel so far. I became one of the orphans we would have taken in. Some years there were a group of us who gathered and made dinner. Other years I recall traveling from Rhode Island to Connecticut, taken in by Kathy Howard's family, or taken in by the DeLima family either in Connecticut or New Jersey. And one year by the McKee's in New Jersey. It's one of the few days of the year that I just prefer being around people. I am eternally grateful for my adopted families back east taking me into their homes and family traditions, where I could share in the warmth, love and laughter as the dark, cold winter crept in.

Now one of my traditions is to try and go for a paddle in the morning. This morning Diane, Kristi, and I had planned to go out on the OC1 and OC2 belonging to Seattle Outrigger. When we arrived we saw Jack had made it down as well. The four of us took out an OC6, it makes you work a bit harder when there is only four, but the weather was nice, not too much wind. We headed east towards the 520 bridge. On our way there we saw a very regal bald eagle pirched on an old piling, perhaps waiting for it's holiday meal to make an appearance.

In a couple of hours Diane, Dave, and I will go to see a movie and follow that with a nice Chinese food dinner. We and Kristi, too, are going to a restaurant that has Peking duck, I guess that will be our holiday bird. It will be a restful day spent with good friends and good food.

I'm thankful for my family and friends, good health, employment, a nice place to live, and that I continue to have a good life. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Photo is of an orchid blooming at work.