Day 271 ~ Sunday, October 11

Turkey Day......or at least, that was the plan.

I got up early because we figured the turkey should be in the oven by 10 a.m. but before I could make the stuffing, etc, I'd have to finish another project I had started the day before.....I was drying beet greens in my dehydrator. The leaves were dry but I needed to remove them from the racks, crumble and store them before I could put the machine away, thus clearing my counter space. The greens crumbled easily but the stems were another story. After trying to crush them manually for about 15 minutes, I got the bright idea to put it all through the VitaMix. That made quick work of them, for sure, but now I was left with powder instead of crumbled leaves and stems.

Well, at least the job was done....I will use the powdered beet greens in soups, etc. over the winter......they add a large amount of vitamins and nutrients.

Just when I was about to start to make the stuffing (10 a.m.) Michael called and asked if we could all come there to have Thanksgiving since Tor had been having contractions all night and morning.

Of course, we did not want her way out here if she needed to go to the hospital, so we agreed and began calling everyone. I decided that taking an unstuffed turkey to Edmonton was not an option unless we wanted to eat very late, so I loaded up all the veggies and trimmings and we stopped at Safeway to buy a couple roasts instead.

Victoria was, indeed, having fairly regular contractions, and she spent most of the day resting and relaxing - only coming to the kitchen to show me where to find something....until after supper, that is - then she washed what dishes did not go in to the dishwasher.

The substance of the meal is not as important as the company we eat it with so no one complained about the lack of Turkey.

As always, we enjoyed being together.

Toward the end of the afternoon, it began to snow. Big, fluffy flakes that looked beautiful....

Andrew left first and soon after he was calling to inform us that the roads were pure ice. We all made plans to travel back together so no one would go off the road and be stuck alone on the side of the highway.

Andrew did call a bit later to say that after Nisku the roads began to get better. We still planned to leave together. Since Rob and Lana had their kids in the van and were waiting when Taliah decided she wanted to eat, we sent Mel and Ken and Rob and Lana off together and then Vinj and Kath followed us after Taliah was settled.

The roads to just past Beaumont were absolutely glare ice but they gradually got better the farther south we went.

And no baby tonight.