Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't even look at that crappy old Thanksgiving today. And I took very few pictures.

Around 11:30 Miss M called our attention to the tree with the buzzards.

There were a lot of them.

You may recall Nick got a deer last evening.

Meanwhile, there's some cooking and baking going on. The two pies were delicious. We did those early. They sat on the counter all day. Harvest artwork. One of the pies was pumpkin with homegrown pumpkin. At the end of the evening, while we were enjoying our pie in front of the television and the fire, the consensus was that homegrown pumpkin is better than canned.

And Mr. Big Food had gotten the turkey on the smoker with apple wood. Later, after about two hours of smoking, he'll bring it inside, let it cool, put it in a turkey cooking bag with some apple cider and put it in the oven for several hours.

Miss M went on a nature walk and took my camera.

The Lake. There's still some expensive tackle out there.

Ducks on the Lake.

There's supposed to be a blue heron in there somewhere, I think.

Here it is in flight.

This Thanksgiving was small. There were only six of us and four of us live here. But we did a good job of putting on the dog.

A. Leland volunteered his Winter Tea and so got put in charge of appetizers-- stuff we could drink and nibble on in the afternoon before dinner.

He did a fine job!

WE INTERRUPT THIS POST. ROCKY IS ALERT AND MUMBLING. NOW HE'S BARKING.

And so we go survey the house. Vicious Pit Bull. He's doing his job, earning his keep.

Anyway...  clockwise beginning with the orange crackpot holding A. Leland's famed Winter Tea-- a concoction of rum, triple sec, apple cinnamon tea, and a boatload of fruit; some little redhot wieners in a silver chafing dish; let's call it an ante-pesto tray-- peppers, pickles, tomatoes sprinkled with dried basil from last Spring; crackers, some vegan; a meat & cheese tray.

Here it is from another angle. It was by design that we put this table over by the fireplace. Stay out of the kitchen. It's Thanksgiving. We're cooking.

What I forgot to take a picture of was the coffee table laid out with the appetizer glass ware. So I have these crappy old rectangular glass plates. Picked most of them up at a flea market on Hwy 60 in WV. They have little punch typey cups that fit in a carved out space at one end. There's a similarly square-shaped carved out space beneath cup space. The entire plate is beaded all the way around. Except for the space I just described. It has a divot where a bead should be.

What is the purpose of this space?

If you guessed "ashtray," you guessed right!

And, as a bonus, the little punch typey cups were perfect for the Winter Tea.

Mike brought a delightful sweet potato dish. Mike has a nice way of bringing exotic food down to earth.

Greg brought us a very nice end to our day.

We feasted on turkey, mashed potatoes (not my best), gravy, stuffing (vegan), cranberries (which stained by Christmas serving bowl),  green beans, and I am proud to announce, a fresh green salad with butter crunch and red leaf lettuce and broccoli raab. Picked  today.

The table wasn't my best. I liked last night's table better.

But the food was good. I especially liked the pie.

Tomorrow, as is our Tradition, we will have Turkey Gumbo.

I hear tell there may be a shrimp or two thrown into the pot.

Happy Thanksgiving, all y'all.