I am Thankful

Another turkey day has passed, and with it, our freezer is full.  I've been eating bird with all the fixin's for 4 days straight.  Today Caro will finish the turkey-vegetable soup that she started with the carcass yesterday.  

In a change of pace, friend Debbie is coming over this afternoon with her Kitchenaid pasta attachment.  Our target is Jamie Oliver-style homemade pasta.  I've got the '00' flour, a bag of semolina, and a dozen eggs.  Photo essay to follow. 

With all that said, I am incredibly thankful.  I have my health, my beautiful wife, paid for house and cars, and a steady retirement income.  Caro and I can enjoy so many things together:  gardening, walks along the acequias, British tellie.  

I'm lucky enough to be engaged both at Sandia (still helping with legacy apps) and a the BioPark.  The latter has been particularly rewarding.  As the Plant Identification Specialist, I'm a taxonomist, the plant label guy, and able to curate a small herbarium.  I'm finishing up year 9 as a docent and have enjoyed it immensely.  The Nature's Notebook phenology group continues their weekly work and I like the 2-weeks-on/2-weeks-off schedule.  It certainly keeps one aware of the cycle of change throughout the year.  Atop all that, the BioPark keeps my brain from fossilizing.   

I am also thankful for the bonsai community.  Sadly, we lost John Egert, our exceptionally gifted sensai.  I'm guardedly optimistic that my two 'Autumn Flame' Euonymus will pull through.  They're safely in the garage or inside the cold frame.  With temps now hitting the lower 20's, it's just a patient wait until spring and regrowth.  

Also waiting for spring are the turtles.  Terrance Turtle and James Tiberius Turtle are asleep in their bunkers.  Fluffy the feral cat often takes to napping in the sun on top of the turtlearium.  She seems to like the mesh that covers the turtle pens.  Le Sommelier Stella visits whenever she can and we have to work to keep her from getting Fluffy's food.  After all, Stella gets fed at home while Fluffy is just a wandering cat, scrounging up whatever she can find in the dumpsters.  

I continue my Ingressing--I assume that the spatial aspects are somehow stimulating to my aging brain.  The Candelaria Village sign is now a portal that I can reach without driving.  That said, Ingress on my bicycle is a great excuse for some exercise.  

The boys are coming over for a Carcassone afternoon later this week.  That should be fun.  I'm thankful we're all still here.  It's always distressing to learn of the passing of a co-worker, a friend, or a celebrity of one's youth.  

Finally, I'm thankful for the wee bit of weather we got over the weekend.  The snow, however brief, was lovely and the moisture much needed.