Damp Autumn, Outdoor Grilling, Sunday Afternoon Naps, And Thanksgiving This Year

If the snow that came down early this afternoon had been rain, it would have been a drizzle. It was drizzle, a little later. The grass doesn't seem to be dormant yet: yards around here were a lot greener around sunset than they had been before.

Not that "sunset" was a very definite time. We've had one of those dark gray autumn days.

We went to Mass this morning, I grilled lunch, looked up outdoor gas grills at Wal-Mart, and took a long nap. I think my wife's serious about getting a new one. Those flames shooting out the bottom might have something to do with it.

I was up in time for supper, enjoyed supper for the family, and then settled down to get some reading done while my wife, #3 daughter, and son went to Soo Bahk Do. He was complaining about a stomach-ache, but it didn't seem bad enough to keep him from going.

He and the ladies were back in about half the time they usually take for Soo Bahk Do. I was talking with #1 daughter on the phone. She's been feeling under the weather lately, and wanted some company.

My first clue that the ladies and my son were back was the sound of the van pulling in. The second was #3 daughter scooting through the kitchen, and scooting back with a plastic bucket.

I'm just glad that I hadn't told him that exercise can help upset stomachs, before he went. Under the circumstances, he took the way he's feeling pretty well.

Aside from that, it's been a fine day.

Assuming that our son's actually got a bug, and didn't eat something regrettable, this will put a severe crimp in the family's Thanksgiving plans. My father, "Grandpa Gill," is almost exactly thirty years older than I am. That puts him in his mid-eighties.

He's using an oxygen generator, and careful management of his activities, to keep going, and adding a diseased family to his environment doesn't seem like the best idea right now.