Thanksgiving mashup with a bit of lights, cookies, quarterbacks | Life in Ludlow

Posted

We were all prepared for the quiet, dull and familiar Thanksgiving weekend. 

In fact, much of it did qualify as such but I did spend a lot of time successfully looking for the new and unpredictable. I don’t mean that I expected the trash to be picked up on Friday morning instead of Saturday nor did I expect to be called to play quarterback for the Denver Broncos nor did I think that I would have little enthusiasm for putting up holiday lights nor did BJ and I expect to be able to see our whole family but frankly all of that did happen, except for the Broncos thing. 

Our 7-year-old grandson, who turns 8 today, came out a week ago Sunday to spend the week again demonstrating the incredible intelligence he has inherited from his grandmother. He was joined here by his mother, (our daughter), and the rest of his family the day before Thanksgiving. (Please, no scolding notes because all parties quarantined for a couple of weeks before getting together.) 

I fried a turkey, the 12-year-old grandson made a peach pie and the other folks cooked an amazing array of side dishes including that not-to-be-forgotten kale salad. 

Late on Friday afternoon as the light was fading and a football game, of sorts, broke out at Kehele Park between the two grandsons and their parents, I stepped in as permanent quarterback. That means I was the quarterback for both teams given my ability to stand still, throw the ball and little else. I thusly qualified as a potential quarterback for the Broncos as all their quarterbacks were disqualified from their game due to COVID. 

BJ and our daughter assembled a 2,000-piece puzzle whilst consuming the good wine.

As a result of my athletic escapades on Friday afternoon and the rain on Saturday I was less than enthused about my plan to put up holiday lights. 

I did put some decorative items up as a statement to my desire to participate but again my lack of interest in uncoiling the strings of lights and wrestling with the requisite ladder led me to be happy with a subdued offering this year. That will be the case unless and until BJ changes my mind. 

In addition, around this time of the year I have a generally obvious “bah humbug” attitude. Fortunately the 12-year-old grandson has developed an incredible set of baking skills. He baked some sinfully chocolate cookies consisting of white chocolate dough and chocolate chip dough wrapped around an Oreo cookie. Absolutely unreal with some red wine. Not for him, for BJ and me. Just might give me some needed holiday spirit.

Our daughter and her family headed home on Sunday so we were all able to hook up with our son and his family at the Village Green Park in Kingston. The 10 of us stayed away from each other but did enjoy sitting and talking as the grandsons played more football. They did need a permanent quarterback though. 

Yep, the trash can was outside all day Friday as we and most if not all our neighbors did not get the memo about it being delayed to Saturday. 

Before I went out to put up the aforementioned holiday lights on Saturday morning I trudged to the end of the driveway to retrieve the receptacle and was intercepted by Richard Christopher driving by. He sounds like he is building a home up the hill and has been a longtime resident of the area but is moving. 

We had a delightful conversation about a number of subjects common to our backgrounds so I asked him if he got the Leader. He made some uninformed comment about this paper, even referring to it as the “misLeader.” Yeah, I am sure you have never heard that one before. 

I assured him his name would be in the paper this week and he should plan to get a subscription soon just to see what I and others might say about him. 

I recently read a story about Jeanne Louise Calmet on her 120th birthday. When asked what kind of future she expected to have, she replied, “A very short one.” 

Love a curmudgeon, keep wearing your mask and have a great week.

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident and the Leader’s favorite Bah Humbugger in the huddle.)