An Avalanche of Blessings

Greenfield Mountain Farm

Afton, Virginia

Haven’t posted in the past 3 days.  We've been getting adjusted to the return, putting things away,  checking around the farm,

 and the rig, making lists longer than my arm of things to do, to do, to do.  But I'm glad we came back at a holiday so the change from life on the road to life at chore headquarters wasn't quite so drastic.

We spent nearly all of Tuesday taking things out of Winona and into the house and putting them away and getting things back to “normal”.  Temperatures are dropping here so we have Winona connected to the house and wood fires inside.   Here's Winona's current Campsite.  Not too bad! J  

We spent Wednesday just checking up on things.  It looks like one the maple trees in the yard has died and we aren’t sure at all how.  I'll take some pictures in to the agricultural extension agent next week.  But it will have to be taken down and turned into firewood.  Another thing to be added to the list.  I went  running down the familiar roads and went to Yoga which I have missed and must incorporate more regularly into life on the road.

Carrie came in the late afternoon.  As expected on a holiday, it took her about an hour longer than usual to get to the foothills of the Blue Ridge from Baltimore.  She was tired but we chatted and compared stories.  She of her new job and we of our new life.  It is an interesting juxtaposition that she is starting in on her career just as we are ending ours.  

And today, we had a fine Thanksgiving together.   Cooking in the morning, eating in the afternoon and play at night.

Here's the chief chef working on Candied Yams.  Everything from scratch of course.  Only the cranberries were from a can.

Not sure why he's wearing his Merry Christmas apron unless like most of the rest of the country he's getting a step up on the next holiday before this one is even finished.  I was appalled to find that the towns and cities we went through starting in early November were already putting up their December holiday decorations and some of the stores had those things up before Halloween was even over.  Can't figure out what the rush is.  Isn't life going by fast enough?

This year after checking out the cost of free range turkeys we decided as a group that we aren't THAT fond of turkey and would rather have a pork roast already in the freezer and so we did.  But we did still have the other traditions at least for our family......plain dressing, oyster dressing for yours truly, broccoli, candied yams.  So here is our farm kitchen table all decked out and we are ready to dig in.

And here we are about an hour later.   Notice who is STILL eating!  J 

 Where DOES he put it all?

After doing all the kitchen clean up, not sure why the cook didn't take a picture of the clean up crew, the father daughter duo set out to make the pie.  Now usually we have pumpkin like tradition says.  But this year since we were already bucking tradition and hadn't grown any pumpkins, we decided that since we'd driven two sets of our own hand grown and picked and then frozen cherries all over the southeast without making one pie, we would have cherry pie with the pumpkin's whipped cream as our Thanksgiving dessert.  We are VERY thankful for those cherry trees and their generosity.   And here is the fruits of their labors with freshly whipped cream no vacuum cans for this great pie!

Mmmm was that pie good.   We ate it and finished out the evening playing the games you see stacked beside Carrie.  Too busy playing to get pics of that.  Can't remember who won what but we sure had a good time.  

Stoked the fires and went off to bed giving thanks for a great day and this great year in which we have bought Winona, discovered RV-Dreams, went to the rally and as a result jumped off the cliff and retired early, went out on the shake down cruise, met wonderful people, reconnected with great RV friends and are back to get things squared away for life on the road.  We are grateful for it all as well as for our health, our happiness, our daughter's new career, her lovely house in PIkesville, her cute new kitties and so many other things that it is nearly an avalanche of Blessings.   We know your life is too!

Happy Thanksgiving from us to all of you!