Thanksgivings

It looks as if winter has finally arrived. It’s been snowing all day–not heavily, but steadily–and we are expecting snow for several more days. I got out my next-level winter footwear. I’ve never been one who cares all that much for fancy shoes and clothes, but I do have some for different types of weather. In the summer I have sneakers that I can slip on to go to the coop in the summer, muck shoes for going to the coop when it’s muddy, and muck boots to wear in the winter. When I take Hannah for a walk down the driveway, I have nicer sneakers in the summer, hiking boots when there’s just a little snow, and heavier, taller boots where there is more snow. I have nice sneakers and nice boots to wear when I go to town. I have similar clothing: No coat in the summer (duh), and then increasingly wear warmer sweatshirts, sweaters, jackets, and coats as the weather gets colder. I also have a light chore coat for cool weather and a heavy chore coat for cold winter weather. LOL.

A couple of weeks ago I moved the Mama Hen and her two babies from the doghouse to the bigger fancy coop, both of which are in the shed that is the main coop. I was prepared for it to be a difficult move, but it went very easily: I grabbed a chick and put it in the fancy coop, carried Mama over, and then grabbed the second chick. Easy peasy. Now the chicks will have more room to run around as they grow. None of the main flock is outside today. They aren’t particularly fond of wintry weather.

Thursday was Thanksgiving Day here in the USA. I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. I know the holidays can be a difficult time of year for many people–because of loneliness, grief, or family conflict.

Our Thanksgiving was very nice. Knowing that we’d be alone, EJ’s work friend invited us to his home for Thanksgiving but EJ politely declined. I always loved my large family’s holiday gatherings and I really missed them when I became the black sheep of the family (long story). However, as we have grown older, EJ and I have deeply appreciated a quiet, peaceful day without drama or stress. EJ and I divide up the preparation for our meal so it’s not too much work for either of us. EJ always cooks the turkey and this year he also made a pumpkin and mincemeat pie. He also baked the squash, which he had grown in our garden. I made homemade rolls, fixed the stuffing, and did all the cleanup afterward. Friday we ate more of the leftovers. We felt as if we had a food hangover–too full and sluggish–and we took naps. EJ often naps in his lazy-boy chair, but I nap in our bed. Hannah always joins me, going under the blankets and curling up next to me. Little Bear (our cat) follows us in and curls up under my chin. It’s very cozy.

Our son works on a Great Lakes bulk carrier. During the shipping season, he works for a month and then gets two weeks off before he heads back again. He has been on the ship through most of November and will disembark around December 7th. The ship’s cook prepared a Thanksgiving meal for the crew–the day after because they were busy on Thanksgiving day–but it’s not the same as having it at home so we are going to have a second Thanksgiving with him and his girlfriend on December 9. That will be fun.

Our son occasionally calls while he’s on the ship and sends us photos and videos. I really enjoy his stories of life aboard the ship. He called last night and had us laughing with his tales–although some of them are funny because we know everything turned out well. Work on a ship is hard and dangerous–although there is beauty as well.

In a chat group I interact in at Telegram, the admin asked last about people’s Thanksgiving plans. I told about our first and second Thanksgiving plans, and about my son working on the ship. I shared some of the lighter moments–such as my son waving as his ship sailed by a webcam and his description of watching a meteorite shower in the middle of the Great Lakes where there was nothing to dim or block the sight. This eventually morphed into a discussion of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald that occurred on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. All 29 members of the crew were lost. I think the tale might have been forgotten, just one of many shipwrecks, except that Gordon LIghtfoot wrote a haunting ballad about it, with descriptions so vivid that it feels as if you were there. There are many videos of the song, but my favorite is this one, which shows actual footage of the ship, news, radio communications, and names, photos, ages, and jobs of the crew members who were lost.

Some of the people had this to say in the comments under this video:

“I was stationed at Sault Ste. Marie, MI in the U.S. Coast Guard. I was on duty that night in Captain of the Port. The winds that day were unreal, 90 miles an hour. 35 foot seas. The captain of the Arthur M. Anderson, another lake freighter, radioed that he had lost sight of the Fitzgerald, said that it should have passed within a mile of him. He said that a wave crest came up and when it went down they saw nothing, no more lights. I remember the Officer of the Day saying, “I think we lost a ship” This kind of thing didn’t happen. I feel a sadness as I write this, remembering. It brings a tear to my eye.”

“This song isn’t only a tribute to the 29 sailors but to men of industry who’ve paid an ultimate price in pursuit of livelihood. Our country was built and is being maintained by men like these and we lose some from time to time. Songs like this are very cathartic when remembering refinery workers lost to explosions, miners who are trapped and road workers struck by vehicles to name a few. We all expect to come home from work each day and enjoy the fruits of our labors. This song pays homage to anyone lost at work.”

“Showed this today to my 7/8 grade choir as a part of history of this date, and they sat SILENT through the entire thing. Was pretty cool to see that Gordon Lightfoot did that 45 years later to a bunch of middle schoolers!!!”

Another version I like is the reaction of an Aussie as he listens to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald for the first time. He has a lot of questions, many of which people answer in the comments section. You can hear it here: An Australian Reacts to the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzerald.

In the chat group discussion, I commented that a year or so ago our son worked on the sister-ship of the Edmund Fitzgerald. A couple of weeks ago, our son said his ship had a drill in which the crew had to try on their survival suits. Lake Superior is so cold that without the survival suits, a person will last maybe 5 minutes if they go into the water. With the survival suits, they will last around 20 minutes, which still isn’t much time to be rescued. Someone in the chat group responded, “When I hear [Gordon Lightfoot] ask where the love of God goes when the waves turn minutes to hours? It breaks my heart as a former coast guardsman boat and later SAR [Search and Rescue] aircrew, we know how precious that time is to get to those in peril, more times have we never found survivors or they had perished before we got there.”

I’ve been praying for the safety of the ships and crew, but the man’s comment brought in a whole new depth and perspective so now I am also praying for the safety of the rescuers.