Holiday Hiatus

I'll be taking some much-needed time away from the computer for a few days while Mrs. Toast and I spend Thanksgiving with the relatives. We plan to have the big traditional family turkey dinner, with apple pie and TV football later, and I'm sure a good time will be had by all. Even though it's a long 200-mile trip over there, I always enjoy visiting the folks. My brother-in-law Ray is a staunch conservative and Bush supporter; and as you might imagine with me being the bleeding-heart, tree-hugging liberal that I am, we can get into some spirited political discussions from time to time. But we're both very tolerant of each other's opinions even if we don't agree with them, so there's never any hard feelings. You can feel the love in the room, as they say.

There's so many things for me to be thankful for. Last year at this time, I wasn't even sure I'd still be alive today - so my recent encouraging medical news is definitely a blessing. We have a caring family, food on the table, a roof over our heads, and we're not in debt up to our eyeballs (only to about mid-knee level). Seriously, one can't ask for much more than that.

It seems like I'm feeling the spirit of Thanksgiving a bit more this year than in previous years. It might have something to do with the weather. After months of it being unseasonably warm here in Texas, it finally has chilled down into the 40's which feels decidedly fall-like. Yes, I can hear you folks up north howling with laughter as you read this. "Chilled?? 40???!!??", you're probably saying, "Hahahahaha!! That's like summer here!" Laugh while you can. It will be my turn to snicker when you have ten feet of snow on the ground and it's 20 below zero. Now I grew up in Massachusetts, so I am no stranger to snow and cold weather -- in fact the New England winters were one big reason why I moved south in the first place. Shoveling snow does not rank up there on my Top 10 List of fun things to do. But we get the other extreme down here; the thermometer hits the 100-degree mark sometime around late May, and more or less stays there until early November. During the summer, I pause at least once each day to pay silent homage to Willis Carrier, the inventor of air conditioning.

Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish anyone reading this a sincere "Happy Thanksgiving". I hope that y'all have a great and relaxing holiday, and will take time to give thanks for your own blessings.