Just before the family arrived for a Thanksgiving meal in Pasadena, Rick realized that the ideal setting for a family meal would be our larger table, usually reseved for projects. The two leaves had not been pulled out since 1980! We were thrilled with the expanded space and ease. Now we don't want to close it up — we can do bigger and better projects!
The centerpiece of the occasion was this lovely brussel sprout stalk! Kathy cut the sprouts off for dinner, but had another to spare so as not to ruin the decor. (Speaking of decor, Rick's beautiful silk shirt was a birthday present from our Pasadena contractor and friend Terry Collier and his wife Sharon.)
Everyone smiled through the the Thanksgiving visit, and Rick and Kathy did their own version of 'Smilin Through', Kathy singing, and Rick on flute, an 8 key Triebert copy on byRod Cameron, of Mendocino. Kathy was actually named for 'Kathleen' the character who sang this song in the original play. It is a special song for Kathy's mom.
Colleen, Kathy's daughter, drove the whole family from Santa Barbara for the afternoon, and friends Joe and Dominque
joined us from Santa Monica. Kathy made the meal. Everyone was smilin'.
A while after dinner Sara and Julian went down to try the pool before it got dark. We could see them from our balcony.
We all enjoyed watching the Three Stooges episode we have been telling you about, 'Micro-phonies' where Moe plays a wooden keyed flute.
The 'background' music for the evening was by Rod Cameron. Since he could not be with us in person, Rick played his flute, and we had him sing for us! You can see the info on this disc, not commercially available, but you could order one from Rod. Wonderful!
Colleen was exhausted, so Grandma tucked her in, and she napped before she drove everyone home.
A special treat was a phone call to Kathy's brother Paul in New York. His mom was so happy to hear his voice and everyone took a turn. It felt like he was here with us.
One of Rick's favorite things, which he has rarely, is cheesecake. Kathy got the idea to make pumpkin cheesecake for dessert, even though she had never made a cheesecake before, and searched the web for a good recipe. This one looked the best, and it was great! Here's the link for the recipe. (Cook it for more than an hour. The part about putting the pan in a bath of water kept the crumb crust whole, and beautiful.)
Hope you all had as happy a day as we did!