One year here

Rudy, the official greeter

Last year, on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, Lori and I arose early to begin a full day of activity that saw us pack up and leave our Grant Park home of the past 24 years and move into our new digs -- a modern, three-level townhouse in Irvington.

This year, on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, we arose early to prepare breakfast for our house guests -- Jordan and Jamie, and Jamie's parents and younger sister -- and then, after everyone hit the road, spent the middle of the day cleaning up and putting things back in their place. It was great to have everyone here for Thanksgiving Day and then have them spend two nights so we could eat, drink, laugh and play games together. (Who needs to be at the cabin on Orcas Island to have a memorable time?)

It was so fitting that we had everyone here for the holiday. If anything characterizes our first year in our new home, it is that we have really seized the opportunity to have friends and family visit. When you have a big kitchen, a main floor that's really conducive to conversation and a faux fireplace that heats up the room with the flick of a switch, it really gives you incentive to have people over.

natural light in bedroom

And, boy, have we. We had a housewarming event; a rooftop party for my work colleagues in the Editorial department; homeowner association meetings; poker games; girls' night out gatherings; birthday celebrations and much more. It feels good to be the hosts and return all the good vibes and generosity that people have offered over the years, and we look forward to doing more of the same.

I'm sure I'll write a separate post in the next couple of days about the differences between our old and new neighborhoods. For now, I just wanted to take note of how comfortable we've felt during this first year in our new home and what a good decision it was to downsize when we did.

Giving thanks

So, Plan B is in place: Jordan and Jamie, and Jamie's parents and little sister, will join us and Nathan for Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon. Though it would have been nice to all be together on the cabin at the island, I can't complain.

Without sounding too maudlin, it's a day to be grateful for everything we have -- our health and home, our family and friends, a safe and diverse neighborhood, the companionship of our pets and, in this economy, the fact we still have two incomes and the opportunity to continue working in our chosen fields.

I rolled out of bed around 7:30 today, well after Lori had risen to prepare the turkey, and as I sat in the recliner by the window, with a cup of coffee and a bowl of steaming oatmeal, it didn't take much to realize how much there is to celebrate life's simple pleasures. It was utterly quiet, not even a bicyclist passing by. I watched the birds flitting about on a tree across the street and took note of Rudy's contented purring as he lay across my lap.

Anna Griffin, a columnist at The Oregonian, wrote this week of appreciating what we have right in front of us and keeping our complaints in perspective -- in other words, "no whining on the yacht," a phrase she borrowed from our local Congressman, Earl Blumenauer. I probably would have chosen a different metaphor but, still, I appreciate the thought and will express it in some form or another when we're all gathered about the table this evening.

P.S. Though Simone and Kyndall can't be with us today, we look forward to having them here during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Foiled!

Had today gone as planned, Lori would have driven up to Orcas Island to get set up for Thanksgiving Day and I would have followed two days later to join her, Jordan and Jamie, and Jamie's parents and younger sister -- a total of seven people for a holiday celebration at our favorite place.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other thoughts. Lori wisely canceled her plans to drive up I-5 into the teeth of a winter storm that has dropped a frigid layer of winter weather on Washington state, making it treacherous and probably foolish to think about traveling north at this time.

Although the much-hyped winter storm stalled last night at the Columbia River, pretty much sparing Oregon, the cold weather has really settled in up north.

According to our neighbor Ken, there's been a five- to six-inch accumulation of snow on the road leading up the hill to our cabin, plus icy conditions requiring chains or cables. "It has been VERY COLD, 17 degrees this morning, now in the 20's. Not the best time to be on Orcas."

So, we hope Plan B will come together. That would mean Jamie and Jordan traveling south from Olympia and Jamie's parents, Jeff and Linda, and their youngest daughter, Katie, traveling north from the Medford area to converge here on Thanksgiving Day for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Easy enough for us to say, let's gather here. It's a little more complicated for our would-be guests, as they still have to navigate cold, possibly icy conditions, on the freeways leading to Portland.

Here's hoping we can pull it off. If not, Lori and I will have to tackle this 20-pound turkey by ourselves. Even for me, that's a bit much....

Photo: www.bigfoto.com/themes/nature/winter/

Bad parrot

Just in time for Thanksgiving ... sharing a joke passed along by my sister Cathy in Dillingham, Alaska.

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to clean up the bird's vocabulary. 

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked, kicked and screamed.  Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my  inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.

As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Photo: www.hedweb.com/animimag/parrot.htm

Thanksgiving 2009

After a string of four consecutive years spending the holiday at our cabin on Orcas Island, we stayed home this year. And the experience was different in every way.

Instead of preparing the meal ourselves and enjoying the smell of roast turkey filling the house, we set the alarm at 6:30 so we could get an early start on packing. With only two days left to prepare for moving day, we had to spend the day emptying cabinets, filling boxes and moving furniture onto the main floor for tomorrow's moving sale.

Hardly the way you want to spend your favorite holiday -- one that's rich with meaning and pretty much devoid of the commercial overkill that taints Christmas.

Thanks to our good friends Sue and Eric Wilcox, we knew we could take a break in the early afternoon to join their extended family and friends for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. There were 20 seats at the table and we were mighty grateful to fill two of them. The food was delicious, surpassed only by their generosity.

Simone joined Kyndall on a visit to her mother's house in central Washington. Jordan and Jamie celebrated a day early and then hit the road today, aiming to arrive in Stockton, Calif., (about an hour south of Sacramento) to spend the night with one of Jamie's relatives. Nathan slept in, packed some stuff, then joined some friends later in the evening.

Even if we hadn't been preparing to move this year, I'm thinking it might have been just three of us -- Nathan, Lori and me -- at the cabin. We'll see what next year brings.

For now, it's enough to look forward to moving into our new home Saturday. We actually get the keys tomorrow, so if all goes well we might be able to take a few things over a day early.