October 4, 2023
For us here in Canada, October
is harvest time. Our Thanksgiving is in October – the second Monday of the
month, which was designated as the standard in 1957.
Our Thanksgiving feasts are
practically identical to any you would find in the United States. The original
harvest festivals in our part of North America began with the indigenous peoples,
who would celebrate the bounty of the harvest ahead of the winter to come.
For the last several years, we’ve
celebrated our Thanksgiving with our second daughter, as she is by far the best
Turkey chef in the family. She has told me that she’s given up on ever being
able to cook a proper roast of beef. Seriously, those are her words and what I
will say on the subject is that she has a very keen sense of self-awareness.
It’s a sore spot for her and
one we don’t really talk about. If she has need of a roast of beef, she brings
the raw beef here, so that I can prepare it for her. I’ve told her that she
should not feel bad at all, because I will not even try to cook a turkey
anymore—hers are really just that good.
We always have such a fun time
at her house. After the meal has been consumed, and the debris cleared, there’s
a game played that includes all of us, even the children. It’s a dice game
called Left, Right, and Center. We generally play two rounds (each person
starting out with 3 one-dollar coins), and it’s not uncommon for one of the great-grandchildren
to win.
October is also associated
with something else—at least in this household. October is considered to be the
first month of winter. For those who may not know my reasoning for this
declaration, I will explain.
Our weather can be iffy up here.
The calendar will tell us the first day of winter is December 21st.
However, but that time we may already have suffered more than one snowstorm. Also,
spring comes, according to the calendar, on March 21st, but we’ve
been known to have snowstorms after that date, too.
Therefore, years ago I decided
that really, Canada has six months of winter, and those six months run October
to March, inclusive. There is an upside to my silliness: if by chance we really
don’t get a snowfall until, say, mid-December? Well, at that point, my “winter”
is already nearly half over!
Here in the Ashbury household,
our newest furry member—Smokey-kitty—is thriving. Smokey-kitty is not afraid of
the dogs and loves to try to “play” with them all the time. However, he seems
to know exactly how far he can push things with them before it’s time to stop.
He hasn’t quite found that
same balance with the humans of the household. He thinks toes are for grabbing
with his sharp little claws and then biting on with his sharp little teeth.
Legs are for climbing—again, those sharp little claws. His favorite game with
GG (that’s me) is “how many fingers can I nail at once?” He doesn’t like to be
alone, but he has had to be a few times. Since he is litter trained, closing
him in upstairs in our daughter’s apartment isn’t a problem. We’ve only done it
a few times, most notably when we’ve gone out and there are no other people
here.
Daughter doesn’t worry about
how her dogs will behave in her absence, but I do worry about our two ruffians.
Missy dog will tolerate the kitty if Jenny is down here, too. But otherwise, if
it comes down on its own, Missy chases it and barks at it—causing Bear-Bear to
try and run interference.
Of course, that means that
Bear-Bear is barking, too.
But at least now I know that
Bear-Bear is all bark, and truly likes the kitty. Yesterday, early evening, he
was on my lap, snuggled into the furry blanket I had there, just a dog and his
mom. No other dog dares to try to jump up to be with him, because he lets them
know they’re not welcome. But then kitty jumped up, settled down very close to
the dog, and fell asleep….and Bear-Bear seemed quite content in the moment and
went to sleep, too.
As for peace and quiet? I do
miss it at times. But please be assured that we don’t live in bedlam all
day long. Animal sleep time is the only guaranteed time of silence in the
entire day.
It’s not much, but it’s something, and it’s definitely something to be thankful for.
Love,
Morgan
https://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
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