A Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving

Posted on by Thor

For Thanksgiving, Terry and I drove to Port Charlotte to visit my sister Pat Boehme. Pat has been on a diet and ultimately lost an incredible amount of weight. I had to take a health assessment for my insurance company and the results came back with big red X’s for each result right before the holidays. My body mass index showed that I am overweight. I need to reduce my waist circumference by two inches. My blood pressure showed that I am prehypertensive which puts me at risk for a heart attack or a stroke. Oddly my total cholesterol is too low, indicating I am malnourished or anemic. Put simply I am a  train wreck waiting to happen.

I asked my sister for advice on how I should change my diet and she gave me tons of pointers. She had a medical condition that actually kept her from exercising, so all the weight she lost was from carefully watching her calorie intake. The rules are pretty simple, less sugar and no breads with tons of vegetables.  Right now however the house is full of leftover food from a New Year’s Day party. That means we have tons of beers, sodas, potato chips, pastries and other assorted junk food. Dieting will have to wait until the fridge is purged.

Rather than cook a large Thanksgiving dinner, we all decided to go out to Cracker Barrel on Thanksgiving day. It is amazing how many people had the same ides. The parking lot was jammed and there was a long wait to get a table. The long front porch of the restaurant is lined with rocking chairs and most were full. Towards the end of the porch, we sat across from these teens sitting in baby sized rocking chairs playing a game of checkers. When we ultimately got to our table, Terry and I took turns playing with a game that was like checkers using golf tees inserted into holes drilled into a triangle shaped piece of wood. With only one tee missing the goal was to try and eliminate all but one tee by jumping over other tees thus eliminating them. I’m convinced the game is impossible to win. Terry and I always had three or more tees left over.

The Thanksgiving dinner had all the fixings and was quite delicious. I had to admire the efficiency with which all the comfort food was served. Pat ordered a light fish dish, keeping to her diet.  I wish I had the ability to turn away from the trimmings. No more stuffing!

Black Friday

Posted on by Thor

The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, is supposed to have some of the best shopping deals of the holiday season. Actually the night of Thanksgiving, stores like Wall mart are supposed to kick off the holiday shopping binge. Carol served us Mike’s Hard Lemonade which I developed a taste for. She cut up vegetables and lettuce for a salad to accompany our left over feast. Carol’s boyfriend’s dog eyed her progress waiting for scraps. Her own dog, a dachshund named Reese’s was blind but he still roamed the room by scent searching for any abandoned morsel. It was like having one of those robot vacuums underfoot constantly roaming the room.

There was definitely no shortage of food and we worked hard devouring the leftovers.  It began to snow. It was only flurries, but it was thrilling for people who are used to the Sunshine State. We took some less than traditional Family portraits at the dining room table. I’m sure the Thorspecken’s back in Germany will be impressed by our refinement and culture. Nini Thorspecken Skyped her parents in Weisbaden every evening. Cornelia and her husband did their best to speak in English. Technology is indeed making the world a smaller place, although we kept loosing the Internet connection.

Thanksgiving

Posted on by Thor

For Thanksgiving, Terry and I drove down to Port Charlotte to visit my sister Pat Boehme. The two hour drive was surprisingly care free. Terry slept most of the way down as I drove. We were surprised we didn’t hit traffic around Disney or near Tampa. Zorro, our umbrella cockatoo, made the trip as well, hanging upside down from the bars in his travel cage most of the way. When we arrived, Pat told us that the turkey was ready. She had prepared a delicious traditional feast. I love those crunchy bits she puts on top of the green beans. After several servings of turkey and stuffing, we all started to slow down.

I did dishes while Mike Napolitano showed Terry some of the new plants in the backyard. Then we all retired to the living room. Mike watched football games on TV. Terry reclined on the couch opposite me and drifted off in a tryptophan induced sleep. Zorro was happy as he could be perched on her knee.

The road Pat and Mike live on is going to soon be expanded with a traffic circle added to the corner they live on. When all the construction is done, their little slice of tropical paradise will have been decimated. Most of their side and front yard will be gone and the drainage ditch will be right next to the house like a medieval mote. They are afraid that the homes foundation might be compromised. They had hoped the town or county might buy the property so they could afford to move, but no offer has been made. An Orlando lawyer is now involved on the case.

Thanksgiving at the Moose Lodge

Posted on by Thor

Terry and I drove south to Port Charlotte to have Thanksgiving with my sister Pat Boehme and Mike Napalitano. Rather than spend all day cooking, Mike bought tickets to have dinner at the Moose Lodge. We drove to Moose Lodge 2121. Above the entry “LOOM” was printed which stands for the Loyal Order Of the Moose. Mike explained that there is a hierarchy of these Lodges. Lowest in the pecking order are the Order of the Eagles. Apparently if you are an Eagle, you are slumming it. Next up the totem is the Order of the Moose which is middle class in nature. He said, “If you are an Elk, well you are a snob.” We got a table and a volunteer waitress quickly took our tickets. I believe the tickets cost $7. Only a Moose member could pay for drinks so Mike ordered us each a soda from the bar. As soon as I got back with Mike from the bar, the food arrived. Each plate had heaping portions of traditional Thanksgiving Turkey, stuffing, string beans, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The food was delicious although the meat was a bit too salty. The advantage to having dinner at the Lodge was that there was no temptation to have seconds. The amount of food was just enough. A waiter stopped by our table to pick up the plates saying, “Well you kids certainly cleaned your plates. When you get to be my age, everyone is a kid.”

In a corner of the room there were Moose antlers above a Coke machine. A small stuffed bird was perched on the antlers. There were several large bingo boards on the walls. You could tell they took bingo very seriously here. I think Terry and I were the youngest people in the room which was kind of refreshing. For desert we all had pumpkin pie and Terry ordered apple pie. When we finished I asked to be left behind to finish a sketch. An old couple sat down right in front of me and they anchored my sketch. They waited for the longest time for their food. I turns out their tickets had been put in the wrong pile and the waitress thought they had already been served. Their misfortune was my blessing since they modeled for me much longer than they otherwise would have.

I called my sister so she could pick me up once my sketch was finished. I sat on a bench in front of the Lodge waiting for her. Many people leaving the Lodge needed canes. One woman said, “Too much food in 24 hours, I am glad they had a take out box.”