As the four of us piled into the car one night to pick up some pizza at Z Pizza, I realized that this was the last Thanksgiving all four of us will be in our 50s – next year Tim will be 60. Where did all the years go???
Again we took the train to Washington, DC and then the Metro to Springfield, where Tim’s brother Dan picked us up after his session in Cardiac Rehab. There was so much to talk about, and so many notes to compare… The household cats (Baby above, Tammy below) took little notice of our arrival.
The new plant-based diet was a hot topic, and the guys decided to make some pasta from scratch, with a pasta machine Dan dragged out from storage in the garage. They used a broomstick to hang the pasta – after cleaning the stick part thoroughly. It was fun listening to them solve logistical problems as they went along. And the pasta was such a hit that they made it again a couple of days later!
After a few days I was totally hooked on the cappuccinos Dan made with soy milk. One night on CNN we all watched with great interest, Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: The Last Heart Attack. We did wind up having a turkey, and one night some salmon, but other than that we enjoyed vegan and vegetarian fare, Fran inventing a gluten-free vegan lasagne that was out of this world!
Below – Baby anticipating her share of the Thanksgiving feast…
A lovely centerpiece on the coffee table…
While Tim and Dan went golfing on Friday, Fran and I went shopping in historic Occoquan, Virginia, where there was not a Black Friday deal in sight, and a friendly gnome reminded dog owners to mind their manners. 🙂
At the Golden Goose I was thrilled to find a Norwegian Julenissen (Santa) figurine, five and a half inches high! I’m sure he will show up soon on this blog if I get a good picture of him while decorating for the holidays…
We had a great lunch at The Blue Arbor Café…
Whimsical rest room signs…
And this is pretty much when the picture-taking ended – I was having too much fun to continue!
Saturday Fran and I took the two Freds out for lunch at the Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant. Fred and Fred have been friends for over thirty years. One is blind from birth and the other is intellectually disabled. They had no one to share Thanksgiving with so Fran wanted to do something special for them. She was afraid these meat lovers would balk at the idea of eating at a vegetarian restaurant, but they came along with open minds and really enjoyed their selections. I had the yummy Eggplant Medley.
Sunday we all went to see The Descendants, which was an excellent movie. Then the guys went to wash the car and make more pasta while Fran and I shopped at Ten Thousand Villages in Alexandria, a Fair Trade retailer. I bought two blue egg ornaments from Peru, looking into the cut-outs there are little snowman families inside. The cashier wrapped them very carefully for the train ride home on Monday.
Tim gave Dan a bottle of port which should not be opened until 2018. That’s seven years from now, a goal for them to look forward to as they adopt this new plant-eating lifestyle in order to reverse their heart disease and beat the odds. Here’s to family and life!
A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.
~ Hippocrates
(Regimen in Health, Book IX)
Hi,
I love the pictures, and the table looks very nice for Thanksgiving. I loved the idea of the guys doing the pasta on a broom handle that is just ingenious. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the pictures, Mags. It was fun watching the guys solving problems – reminded me of my dad and my uncle tackling home and car repairs when they were together.
Barbara, I’m glad you shared this! I find myself resonating with so many of your life stories and sharings 🙂
Happy you resonated with this, Colleen! I wonder if years from now this blog will still be here and we’ll all look back and smile at the memories… 🙂
Happy belated Thanksgiving, Barbara! I enjoyed your photos and stories. Glad you had family with whom to share the holiday.
Thanks, Kathy, I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving, too. ♥
Hey Barbara I almost missed this lovely post.
Great photos- especially the one of the pasta making.Were they hanging the pasta on a broom handle?
Interesting that
(1) you wrote about giving a gift of a bottle of Port. Our friend Zev (who lives in Spain) recently came to LA to screen his documentary on the Port farmers of the southern part of Portugal. It was so interesting. One of the farmers said “we work so hard to grow the grapes and make the best product possible, but then we can’t sell it…”
(2) we also saw “The Decendants” on t’giving weekend.
Yep, Rosie, that’s a broom handle, all right. I happened to look up just as Tim pronounced that it was the cleanest broom handle in the world when he was done “sterilizing” it. (I didn’t ask him to elaborate…)
How interesting – I think the port wine was recommended to them by the owner of a package store when they were shopping for wine – I don’t think any of us have had it before. So port comes from Portugal – learned something new today! Maybe we can start a trend so the farmers there can sell more of the fruit of their labors.
Did you like “The Descendants”?
OMG Barbara! I’ve never heard of a vegan having turkey I must say! That being said, I know that when I was transitioning to a plant-based diet that I too did not go cold turkey, so to speak. It took me a while before I gave up meat entirely. And then it took me a bit longer to give up all animal byproducts. Eventually, you won’t even feel like your missing a thing! Also, I saw the television special with Dr. Sanjay Gupta & Dr. Esselstyn too. I thought it was very informative. Anyway, I wish you much success on your plant-based diet. By the way, that was a neat idea making your own pasta. Last but not least, those cats are simply adorable!
We’re definitely not 100% vegan yet, Donna! (We’re 100% vegan in our own home, though.) We’ll get there, as you say, it takes a while. And Dan & Fran aren’t far behind us. Tim was very good, though, he made vegan choices while out and about with his brother. I already don’t feel like I’m missing anything – out of sight, out of mind for me!
Thanks so much for the moral support. The cats are full of personality and spoiled rotten! 🙂