Thanksgiving 2011

I was excited for my brother Mark and Carol his wife, and his "kids" Abel and Anna to come to our house. I was looking forward to our Thanksgiving together and also the opportunity to show them around Mason City for an overview of our “territory”, since I am pretty familiar with Fargo where they live and where I grew up.

Meal wise, I began preparing the week before. First I prepared a corn bread stuffing that has pork sausage in it as well as chopped onions, celery, garlic, and other things…I froze it so it would be one less thing to do in the final days. We also made a yummy batch of chili ahead of time for Friday night and stored it in the freezer and crock potted it all day on low…makes it taste so good.

Anyway, for Thanksgiving everything worked out. Jon made clover-leaf rolls he calls “clouds” because they puff up so much when they raise. We had a spunky cranberry sauce with raisins, walnuts, chopped apples, and Grand Marnier; green beans from the garden (frozen) and served them with crunchy fried onions and roasted almonds. Our favorite dish was the smooth, sweet, and slightly spiced mashed sweet potatoes with perfectly roasted marshmallows on top…I didn't leave the broiler for that one! Of course we had turkey too, and this is the first time I didn't buy a frozen one, but got a fresh one, and we roasted it a day early so we could get it all cleaned up and ready to heat and serve on Thursday. With the juices and vegetables stuffed in it, and salt and spices, it was also very good. We had some rose colored wine and the trick was to get everything hot and ready at the same time with one old oven… I was very happy with our results and it’s SO FUN to serve to my family! We decided to have desert (pumpkin custard topped with toasted pecans and whipped cream) and sassafras tea after a 1 ½ hour walk on the trail along the river at Lime Creek. With such nice weather, it was nice to get out and see the dried weeds and trees branches with mushrooms and all the incredible texture of this time of year. Saw some deer. The rivers and ponds are so low due to lack of rain. The rocks in the creek along the way were exposed so we balanced our way across them to the other side in stead of using the bridge.

(We had a few sprinkles on Friday night and Saturday morning, but it only got our windows dirty.)

Digress: Before Thanksgiving dinner, which was ready at approx. 2:45 PM, we went out around the back side of the lake to tag the sumac the association members all planted two years ago. It was a pre-snow project I needed to do and I was glad to have everyone’s help finding the sumac, as without its red leaves, the plant is just one of a thousand dried sticks along the path…had to look for its special characteristics. What might happen if they weren’t marked is that well-meaning trail trimmers in the spring would hack them down, and by tagging them they’ll be easier to see and avoid. Of course the deer can’t read the tags, so they might eat them in the winter, but at least humans will leave them alone. They were strategically planted to add their beautiful bright red fall leaves to the landscape.

I might mention that Mason City nearly tied a record for the warmest Thanksgiving, and we almost didn’t need our jackets! There were large flocks of geese flying overhead, honking loudly, lots of geese (and ducks) in the water, and we also saw an eagle fly over the lake!

The last time Mark and Carol and Abel (Anna wasn’t born yet) came to Mason City was in 1990. I remember it was a nice day then too, as we gave Abel and Jay, age 5 at the time rides around the lake in the little red wagon.

While preparations were being made, Mark and Abel and Anna put a very detailed puzzle together. Mark and Anna and Abel are practiced and proficient at putting together puzzles! It was completed in no time!

Thursday night we also tried folding Origami. We all made “Japanese balloons”...a mini hot air balloon shape that when you blow into a corner of it, it expands…that was fun. Mark, however, recalled without any directions how to make a bell that he had made before, and the folds are pretty easy to follow.

Early Friday morning, before everyone even got up, Jon went out to buy a space heater on sale for our computer room. So he got in on that early morning Black Friday craziness. It will keep us warm on those late winter nights sitting by the computer so we don’t need to turn the heat up for the house.

Friday after we all got together we went first to see the Architectural Interpretive Center for a little back ground on our Prairie School heritage then got to the Historic Park Inn Hotel at 11:30 in time for their regular tour. The executive director, Ann McGregor was giving the tour! A large group of tourists ended up coming so we divided into two groups and I took a group through the hotel and she took another. Jon came with my group and Mark and family went with Ann McGregor. It so happened that Michelle Bachmann was having a book signing at the hotel that afternoon so after the tour, Mark and family lined up to see her. So I dashed to get a mocha and Jon hung out in the lobby and within a half hour we were all ready to go back to the house for a turkey sandwich buffet and re-heated beans & sweet potatoes. After that we went to the Music Man Square. It takes time to view the film and check out all of the memorabilia, so we didn’t go through Meredith Willson’s boyhood home.

We drove by the East Park Band shell, the Prairie Playground, the Prairie School “Castle House”, and got out to walk across the Meredith Willson footbridge, and on the way home stopped at Jon's office for quick tour.

Jay and Molly came to Mason City in time for chili supper, fresh from the oven corn bread, peppermint ice-cream and rice crispy bars… and we just visited about stuff the rest of the night…also watched part of the Alaska video that Dave, Jay, and Abel made on the cruise...they are so funny!

Mark left from Clear Lake, where his hotel was on Saturday morning, so we said good bye Friday night.

Jay and Molly stayed at the Park Inn Hotel on Friday night, our treat, and had the top corner room above the bank!…with views of main street to the east and central park to the north through a panorama of original Wright windows that opened under the extended eaves of the roof…such a cozy room with great views…just like all of Wright's spaces. Jay and Molly said it was kind of noisy however as a bar down the street played music and cops zipped by from time to time, so they didn’t sleep too soundly. I’m really starting to love that hotel it is SO cool.

Jay and Molly came over for Sat. breakfast. I tried something new: French Toast dipped in eggnog also grapefruit (with a cherry). We talked about a marriage-building conference they had been to the previous weekend put on by “Family Life”…good stuff.

Molly is ½ way now with her pregnancy. They found out just today (Nov. 30) it'll be a girl!

After breakfast, which was closer to lunch time, we did some pre-Christmas gifting and shopped for shoes and a shirt for Jay...don't know what's on Molly's list yet or anyone's for that matter. Will have to do some checking. They went back to Cedar Rapids around 4:00. It’s not good to drive in the dark this time of year as the deer are running around everywhere! Glad they got home safe.

Mark and Carol had the ingredients for ice on their way home back to Fargo: drizzle, wind, and near freezing temperatures. Glad they made it home safe too.Traffic in the cities coming was terrible…probably not as bad going back. It’s quite a journey.

I don't know yet how to coordinate the pictures to go with this write up, but the pics are of our Thanksgiving Day...I was pretty happy with how everything turned out.

It's not right to put this last, but I am Thankful for everything!

Joanne

These are from our hike at Lime Creek, Mark's family with the completed puzzle of Dallas, and our Thanksgiving yummies.