A grand Thanksgiving

Frances began what amounted to a very long day of cooking by producing what very well might be the best apple pie on the planet. And, she was just warming up.

She followed that with a 10 lb. turkey that was cooked to perfection and contained stuffing that Bill would be very happily eat all by itself.

 Producing a feast of this size is a lot of work, as everyone probably knows. Frances takes the holidays very seriously and plans every ingredient carefully. Our refrigerator begins filling up several days in advance and this year, we had to move our bread to our enclosed front porch which probably surprised the post man but made a fine storage place.

The apple pie came first and once again, it seemed as though she could put it together blindfolded.

Once the pie was out of the oven, it was time to start on the turkey. Bill actually helped this year, his job being to hold the turkey open while Frances packed in the stuffing. It was - and continues to be as we write this - a perfect Thanksgiving dinner that we will continue to enjoy until the last few bits are gone.

The table was set - with candles - and that made a perfect place to enjoy our dinner.

Once again this year, we set up a cam and let Frances narrate as she put this wonderful dinner together. If you know us, you'll probably enjoy F.H. at her best, doing something she loves to do.

  Working off some of that food

Bill's back has slowly been getting better and on Thanksgiving day, it looked like the right time to get outside and do some real work for a change. No, not on the boat, but on the old Ariens Snowblower.

This thing is probably 40 years old and rather than expect it to work after after not being used for eight months, it made sense to give it some preventative maintenance and adjust the skids so the blades weren't scraping the sidewalk.

 Time to order some new skids, if we can find them, but for now, we were able to make the right height adjustment.  Once done with that, we fired up the engine and it ran perfectly. It also felt good to be outside and do something that required a little knuckle-busting for a change.

We have some fun and learn about goats

On Sunday of this holiday weekend, we followed a clipping from the Hartford Courant and visited Beltane Farm in Lebanon, Connecticut to attend a cheese tasting. That would be goat cheese, by the way.

First of all, Lebanon is really Connecticut farm country and the drive there was beautiful.  Once we arrived, we toured the goat-milking area, learned about how goats are raised and what goes into making some really great cheese. It turns out that goats are really friendly, make great pets if they are raised properly and are as cute as hell up close.

Here's Frances getting to know one of the older residents.

Beltane Farm is really worth visiting if you like great cheese and people who respect animals and the land we all live on. http://beltanefarm.com/