Rain and Thanksgiving~~~~

Dear Darklings,

We’ve had rain, glorious wet, soggy, bone chilling  rain for the past few days and on and off for the past few weeks, enough to encourage grass and weeds to make their appearance while the trees are bare of leaves.



For us here in our West Coast location this is a sign of winter and winter to come as well as the bone chilling cold. Snow is appearing in the Sierras’ and if it gets cold enough will come down to the 3 thousand foot level, and if it gets really cold down to almost sea level.

For an Elder/Elderly Goth the sign of rain adds something the the Gothic ambiance of my home and garden, lots of time I enjoy a cemetery or historic home after a good rain, it adds to the mood.  The nights are longer, the evenings are chillier, time for candlelight and fireplaces (unless its a spare the air day), the shadows that are cast are longer, deeper, darker.  And every squeak and creak could herald something ..... or it could just be Doyle complaining about a loose stair tread. 
My contractor said this is a good time to spot leaks in the roof although it had been replaced several years ago, but always a shingle can work itself loose. 

But I look forward to that, to me the winter season arrives right at Thanksgiving, when the Macy’s Day Parade shows all those commercially sponsored floats, and huge balloons, when Macy staffers volunteer to be in the parade and then when Santa arrives at the end of the parade you know winter has also arrived. And the next day you can go shopping for Christmas presents.

My sister woke early to watch the Macy’s Day Parade, while I lingered in bed reluctant to leave its warmth. But up I got, cleaned up, bundled warm and took Belladonna for her walk.

The little darling will be staying at our elderly neighbors’ home, she said she was having only a few old friends coming over for a simple pot luck dinner, since all their family live far away and they too enjoy Belladonna’s company. I did warn her to not give Belladonna too much turkey.

My sister and I will be going to my brother’s house this afternoon for Thanksgiving, and then bringing Coralline back with us for the long weekend.  My sister's daughters live out of town and with her oldest expecting their 2nd child she doesn't want them to travel for now.  So Marie will stay with me for this Holiday weekend, the beauty is that there are phone lines to be in contact.


My sister in law, Monica, said that Coralline’s attitude has changed a lot since we’ve made this arrangement to have her spend occasional long weekends at my house, she said that it has made the rest of the week more bearable without all the howling and arguing and her teachers have noticed an improvement in her attitude as well, she is not so “downcast” is the best word to describe it.



And she’d like to talk to my sister and I more on this, she has gone to a consuler to discuss this and has realized that her focus on her boys and their activities had contributed to the difficulties. It will be work for Monica because she admitted that she is going into areas she is not familiar with.



My sister and I said we’d be happy to help out, but we’d all have to look at our work schedules and social lives to achieve a balance.



Monica said that when the family watched “The Addams Family” she was watching Coralline and had a “wake up” moment about her daughter. My sister in law is not dumb; she just had to have an epiphany.



I told her about the Dickens Fair and asked if Coralline would be interested in going, did not need to ask the child twice.



So this afternoon we will go to Thanksgiving dinner at my Brother’s and sister-in-laws house, endure having the T.V. set (big plasma screen T.V.) tuned in to what ever bowl game is on, you know the Rose Bowl, the Hula Bowl, the Super Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Turkey Bowl, the Toilet Bowl or what ever bowl is being played, enjoy good food, chat a bit (if possible over the yelling about the game), then come home to enjoy the after Turkey snooze.



I have much to be Thankful for, the only down side is Doyle has to work but I did cook a Turkey Breast last night so he’ll have his Turkey as well.



Even for an Elder/Elderly Goth, once in a while one has to see the light and humor on special days like this and enjoy its dysfunctional gathering.



Happy Thanksgiving to all you Darklings and Baby Bats.



Later.