We got the good news today that Christian and Kelly are coming home for an entire week for Thanksgiving! Grandma Conchita is planning to be here the whole time, too. In addition to that, several surprise visitors are making plans to try to fly in for just the long weekend part. God willing, it will all work out. Last year, Lorena’s brother Rigo and his family were with us. With Thanksgiving, the more the merrier is always better. This could be one for the record books if the surprise visitors are able to work it out to be here. And the good part is virtually everyone loves to cook. Hope I still get to cook and carve the turkey this year!
The painting of the house is finally under way. Our painter, Duane, is both an excellent painter and a good friend. His son Gavin is helping him before he starts a new job for the State of Washington. We enjoy eating lunch and talking about life with them on the days they work here. They wedged us in among other work they are doing in the area so it will not all be finished until toward the end of the month. We can hardly wait.
Lorena and I ran down to the McMenamin’s beside the Columbia River in Kalama on Saturday evening. It is a beautiful facility and we enjoyed ourselves very much. We used to go to the McMenamin’s in Wilsonville once a week when we lived there and liked it a lot. The one here in Centralia is really not so good–too noisy and somehow seems to have a culture difference from the ones in Kalama and Wilsonville. It is an hour drive down to Kalama, so we do not expect we will be doing it so often. We had around 30 20-30 somethings at the house over the weekend for a birthday and going-away party for Kelly. It was wonderful.
We moved Kelly’s things down to Centralia from Seattle yesterday. The coarse culture and poor planning that are the hallmarks of that city elevated the hassle of the move by a good margin. Nevertheless, we had great help to get the big stuff out of the second floor apartment and into the U-Haul. We got it all unloaded from the truck in about an hour after we got here. It is amazing how much easier it is to move stuff when you do not have to go up or down a narrow set of stairs. Lorena and Kelly made pasta with shrimp and we all went to bed early. Fortunately, when everything settles out, her new company will pay for the move to whatever new digs she finds. That is four or five months from now, so we get to have her here in the state for a little while longer.
The sun is shining in Centralia. The pure steam coming from the coal fired generation plant on the left side of this image and one cloud above Mt. Rainier is all that is in the vast expanse of sky behind the house. We are very thankful to be here in Centralia right now. We love our house, I love my work, there is a path toward retirement that might be a little rocky, but God is in control of all that–I have a lot of faith that I will get what I need and it might not be the easy path that is what I want, but it will be better to be out of my hands and in the hands of God than planning my own path.
Our Thanksgiving this year came together very nicely even though our Thanksgiving was wildly disorganized and we did not even expect to be here before it all started. We are very grateful to our guests (Jack N., Dan T. Warren B., Aaron L., and Charlotte D., not to mention Kelly and Christian) because they all fit in nicely to a fairly chaotic but enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. Most of us were able to attend a special, Spanish language church service on Friday which very much put the right kind of emphasis on the whole affair.
Thanksgiving was great this year. We were not sure we were even going to be in town together, but it all got pulled together at the last minute. Kelly came mid-morning, a few guests arrived a little later. A few more arrived after that. One arrived even after dinner to spend the night. It was small impromptu and wonderful. Of course we ate too much. Kelly started it off with a cheese board and lox, crackers and cream cheese. Aaron L. made and brought a butter nut squash pie with coconut milk whipped topping (stunningly good). I cooked the (smallish) turkey and overruled Mom when she told me I needed to leave it in the oven for another 30-60 minutes–it was the best turkey we ever had. We set the table for eight and ate and ate and ate. Cannot wait until next year.
Lorena is visiting Christian right now as he prepares for his comprehensive exams for his PhD two weeks from now. We always get some kind of a surprise when we go to visit him. This visit was no different. Christian’s friend, Beau, got him a leather strap and canvas book bag. Christian loved it. He wanted to make sure his books stayed dry so he treated the canvas with beeswax. Now, beside being very cool looking, it is now very functional. Lorena says he uses it all the time. He also started a collection of some other stuff I will write about tomorrow.
Yesterday was my 63rd birthday. It is a strange and interesting time in life and the world. The New Year whether counted from one’s birthday, January 1, or some other important annual even like the start of school or a church convention is a time for reflection. For some reason, this year more than many in the past, I feel a need to reassess what we (Lorena and I) do. We have a few short term goals we want to accomplish like Lorena’s degree and some remodel projects, but in the whole scheme of things, they are not so consequential.