Thanksgiving Grace

This has been a lovely, lazy Thanksgiving Day. And I have so much for which to be grateful.

Last week we traveled to Corning to be with our son, Mike, daughter-in-law, Laurelyn, and our two grandsons, Graham and Dean. The night before we left, we enjoyed an Indian dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Corning. On Sunday, we drove to Stamford and had a quick visit with Al's folks. I also had a wonderful Greek dinner out with my sister, Anne, and two of her wonderful friends, Miki and Sandy. It was a fabulous way to really stretch out our Thanksgiving celebration.

On Monday, I took the 7:43 Amtrak from Stamford to Boston for an afternoon work meeting in Cambridge. Lunch at my boss's favorite Indian restaurant. Dinner that night was at an Afghani restaurant in East Cambridge; it was amazing!

Seeing a theme here? International. Eats.

We're back in Maine now. And today is Thanksgiving. But it's quiet here. We lost power several times from the horrible storm that came through on Tuesday evening. Trees down everywhere. Thousands of customers lost power. Our power was out Tuesday night overnight into Wednesday afternoon -- out for 12 hours or so. Came back on for 4 hours, went back out for three hours. Neighbors not too far from here are still out of power.

We had decided several weeks ago that we'd enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner at the Quietside Cafe in Southwest Harbor. The owners, Frances and Ralph Reed, open up the diner to the community for a free Thanksgiving meal every year. Any leftovers go to a nearby soup kitchen. The spread was amazing --- turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips (fabulous!), broccoli, beans, gravy, cranberry sauce. And the pies! Oh, the PIES! Frances' baking skills are world-famous --- people travel to MDI for vacation and make a point of going by the diner for her pies, cookies, and macaroons. Today, she outdid herself! Every kind of traditional Thanksgiving pie you can imagine, but I swooned over a piece of Espresso Pecan pie. Wow. I'm sure I'll still be wide awake at midnight, but it was worth every morsel.

Thank you, Frances and Ralph, for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! Happy Thanksgiving to all!