Brown County Hoe-Down
Hard to believe a whole week has gone by since I last posted. Thanksgiving was a blast on my end. I flew home last Thursday morning, arriving in Indy at 3:30 PM. I'd hoped the trip would be full of holiday cheer, but most of the travelers were down right grumpy. The bad weather in the Eastern and Southeastern parts of the country ran roughshod over travel plans and left people stranded from Wednesday trying to get home. The higher prices this year also seemed to affect families so many were flying on turkey day to get better deals, so both my flights (Indy to Minneapolis and Minnie to Indy) were chock full-o-grumps. No worries, I just kept right on wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving night my Mom, Dad and brother hopped in the car for the ride up to Carmel, Indiana...my sister's Mother in-law hosted Thanksgiving dinner. The O'Connor's are used to eating the holiday meal around 2:00 and then again around 5 & 6 & 7...we compromised and ate at 8:00 PM. We had deep fried turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry relish, homemade yeast rolls, corn pudding, broccoli, grilled oysters, cornbread stuffing, oyster dressing and a host of other goodies. For dessert there was pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie and my homemade pumpkin roll (made it uncrushed on the plane). It was all delicious. Later that night, back at Mom & Dad's, we tapped into more food. I overate.
On Friday after some quality time with my cute-as-a-button niece Brooke, my brother Chris and niece Tara and the rest of the family, I got back in the car and traveled south, into southern Indiana hill country...Specifically Brown County. My friends Curt & Kathy hosted a post-Thanksgiving party at their split log cabin. I arrived early enough to help Curt and another buddy (John) plant a couple of hundred crocus bulbs. The cabin sits on a beautiful piece of land surrounded by hardwoods and hills. As we planted the bulbs, deer ran freely past us frolicking in the woods (or perhaps running from hunters). It was so great to see many Friends, including those traveling from afar; Marsh & Alyssa from New York City and Christy from Boulder, Colorado. We ate fried food (hey, it was a holiday!) hung out by the bonfire, talked, laughed and had a great time.
Soon I was back in the car heading north to Indianapolis. Saturday morning it was...up early, airport by 7:30 AM, back in Missoula at 1:30 PM. It was a whirlwind trip but well worth it, just to see everyone and to be with family.
Thanksgiving night my Mom, Dad and brother hopped in the car for the ride up to Carmel, Indiana...my sister's Mother in-law hosted Thanksgiving dinner. The O'Connor's are used to eating the holiday meal around 2:00 and then again around 5 & 6 & 7...we compromised and ate at 8:00 PM. We had deep fried turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry relish, homemade yeast rolls, corn pudding, broccoli, grilled oysters, cornbread stuffing, oyster dressing and a host of other goodies. For dessert there was pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie and my homemade pumpkin roll (made it uncrushed on the plane). It was all delicious. Later that night, back at Mom & Dad's, we tapped into more food. I overate.
On Friday after some quality time with my cute-as-a-button niece Brooke, my brother Chris and niece Tara and the rest of the family, I got back in the car and traveled south, into southern Indiana hill country...Specifically Brown County. My friends Curt & Kathy hosted a post-Thanksgiving party at their split log cabin. I arrived early enough to help Curt and another buddy (John) plant a couple of hundred crocus bulbs. The cabin sits on a beautiful piece of land surrounded by hardwoods and hills. As we planted the bulbs, deer ran freely past us frolicking in the woods (or perhaps running from hunters). It was so great to see many Friends, including those traveling from afar; Marsh & Alyssa from New York City and Christy from Boulder, Colorado. We ate fried food (hey, it was a holiday!) hung out by the bonfire, talked, laughed and had a great time.
Soon I was back in the car heading north to Indianapolis. Saturday morning it was...up early, airport by 7:30 AM, back in Missoula at 1:30 PM. It was a whirlwind trip but well worth it, just to see everyone and to be with family.
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