Thanksgiving Part II

I am at work with 40 minutes to spare because my 1:30 student has just informed me that she won�t be taking singing lessons anymore as a course. She is an exchange student from Mexico, and there are pretty stringent rules of what courses she can take, I guess, and singing as a second instrument must not be one of them. She would like to continue privately, and will let me know if this will work out. I have another Mexican student also doing voice as a second instrument, and I wonder if she will be dropping the course as well. This will seriously cut into that paltry amount I wrote about a few entries back.

Anyway, since I have the time, I will continue with the Thanksgiving saga. After Son and I got back from our walk, we got in the car and drove to Guelph, arriving there at about 2:00 p.m. We were the first ones, so for a while it was quite calm. Again it was a beautiful day, and for the first bit of the afternoon some of us were able to sit outside before the sun got too low. My brother-in-law (I have four of them, so take your pick) set out the wickets for a croquet game on the terraced front lawn, with much of the direction being upward. The kids were having a great time knocking the wooden balls around, trying to fight gravity and get them through the wickets at the same time. People kept arriving: M & L from Wasaga Beach, D & P from Cambridge, D & B from Richmond Hill. The younger generation arrived as well, both Laura and Sarah bringing their boyfriends. D & P brought Kali with them, which meant that both Daughter and Son got enlisted at some point in running after her.

Remember I was anticipating a �vegetarian� dinner? Well, guess what! My mother-in-law totally forgot that she had ever planned any such thing, and the regular meal consisted of turkey (of course), mashed potatoes, turnips, green beans, peas and corn, rolls, and the trimmings: stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy. My mother-in-law, always thoughtful, baked frozen salmon pieces for us, the kind that come out of the box in compressed rectangles with the flavour and texture of sawdust. I would have been extremely happy with just the vegetables as there was certainly enough of everything to go around, but she had gone to the trouble of preparing this �salmon�, and who am I to turn my nose up at her good intentions? At least dessert was a crowd pleaser: apple, peach and pumpkin pies with vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream.

There was no talk of art or culture, as I anticipated, but lots of talk about going to Mexico in a couple of weeks and Hawaii for Christmas. Two of my sisters-in-law were in the pool yesterday, testing out scuba diving gear to see if it was an option for them to take the course, then join their respective husbands as they dive in Mexico. These are not subjects I have any interest or experience in. I did find out how my sister-in-law�s mother is doing (poorly) and that one of her sisters has quit smoking (bravo!) and the other one will likely marry her boyfriend in the spring. No one asked me how my singing was going, or if I was doing any painting or sculpting. It�s like what I do does not matter, and beyond being their son/brother/uncle�s (pick one) wife I have no life of my own. But, as I said before I left, they are good people and it�s not their fault that they have no appreciation of the finer things in life.

We hung around until 9:30 or so,then drove back to Toronto. My mother had a really nice time, she said, talking to another of my sisters-in-law (I have three of them)and their daughter. Laura is graduating this December with a degree in social work, and that is the field that consumed my mother�s life all her working years. So she had lots of advice to pass on. She also had my father-in-law captive at the end of the table and talked his ear off all during the meal.

Well, it looks like my free time is coming to an end and I have to get back to work. I'll finish this up when I get home.

|

<~~~ * ~~~>