Happy Thanksgiving

They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia (except the visiting and expat Canadians and Americans). My cousin Emma is going to try to cook a pumpkin pie, provided she can find an actual North American-style pumpkin to make it out of. In the local supermarket, a 'pumpkin' is what I would call a squash. A pumpkin squash perhaps, but not a pumpkin. Emma is also going to try to carve a jack-o-lantern. That, I was able to give her some pointers on. The pie, she's on her own.

I like Thanksgiving, sometimes more than Christmas - all the turkey and trimmings with none of the angst over gift-giving. My immediate family goes to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the weeks surrounding Thanksgiving, leaving me alone in Canada. For the last few years, I have been invited to dinner at the home of some old family friends, the Browns (long, intertwined history between the Stannards and the Browns that goes back many decades). In addition to their whole family, Norma invites along other 'strays' like me to dinner. It's a great time. It's what I'm going to miss most about Canada this year.

I'm in Sydney now. I arrived Saturday and I fly to Brisbane in a few days.