We got this picture of the cat pile, yesterday. The only kitten missing is Susan. Both Junk Pile kitten and Pump Shack kitten are in there, too!

Right now, I’d love nothing more than to do what they’re doing right now!

We had a second Thanksgiving Day today!

Last weekend, for Thanksgiving, we were able to go to my brother’s place to meet their first grandchild. Due to a combination of weather, road conditions and transportation issues, my mother bowed out. She had ordered a meal delivery (Meals on Wheels type of thing) for Thanksgiving and had commented to me on how disappointed she was that it turned out to be ham instead of turkey.

So when we figured that today would be the last warm day, probably until next year, and made arrangements for my mom to come over to see the place before winter, I decided to surprise her with Thanksgiving dinner.

On top of that, my brother had a cancellation, so he was able to come, too, which also meant he could drive her to and from home.

When they arrived, we started with a tour of the yard, so she could see what had been accomplished. I had not told her about finally being able to mow the big garden area.

She didn’t actually seem to notice it right away. When she finally did, her question was, how did I get it done? After my brother and I reminded her that he had fixed her old push mower, and so on, she threw in a “doesn’t that look better now?” Not as a compliment, though, but rather as a dig at me for it having been overgrown for so very long. My response was, yes! It does look better. What a difference it makes to have the right tools for the job!

The rest of the tour around the yard was pretty much the same. There wasn’t a good thing done that she couldn’t find some way to make demands on how things should have been done instead.

Then we went in to eat, and the girls had everything set up and ready. It wasn’t until I told her flat out, Happy Thanksgiving, we cooked a turkey dinner for you, that she realized we’d done anything different or special for her.

For someone who had just told my brother, when he asked before we came in, no she wasn’t really very hungry; she always eats before she goes anywhere, she certainly helped herself. Which I was happy to see. Seeing her load up her plate, then have seconds, was better than any attempt at a verbal compliment (not that there was any. *L*).

The meal itself went well. We managed not to talk about politics and avoided her usual racism, though she did try, and amazingly religion didn’t come up at all. It took all of us to be constantly on point to distract away from the usual problem topics.

Which left all of us exhausted.

But it was good. I’m glad we were able to do it, and I could send her home with plenty of food.

Meanwhile, she brought me some seedlings of what we’re pretty sure is sugar maple (she dug them up from around a tree outside where she lives), plus a bag full of other seeds, most of which she had no idea what they were for, other than “flowers”. There were tree seeds she had gathered from trees lining one of the streets near where she lives. More than I could ever want to sprout or plant. Seeds from the crabapples I’d brought to her from here at the farm. Seeds from some of her own flowers in her little garden outside her window, plus seeds that, as far as I can understand, she collected from other people’s flowers – including flowers planted by people who lived in her building that have since passed on.

There is nothing on any of the envelopes or wrapped up pieces of paper towel to identify any of them.

I really don’t know what she expects me to do with them all. Apparently, the fact that she can gather these seeds for free from wherever, they must be planted.

That actually explains quite a lot about the things I’ve been finding around the yard that are so… random.

Well, I’ll figure something out to do with them.

While the visit went well overall, and I’m glad we were able to do it, it did leave us all exceptionally drained and psychically exhausted.

I just want to curl up in a ball like a kitten and sleep!

The Re-Farmer