Our Black Friday ...

We do not take in the traditional post-Thanksgiving events of shopping. Instead of crowding into malls we find a local place where we can find the beauty of nature but also enjoy some culture. This year we toured Hillwood Estate and Gardens.

We started our afternoon with a picnic in Rock Creek Park on a beautiful Friday afternoon. I took advantage of the leftovers from the day before when we had enjoyed a nice duck with a bourbon-maple glaze, some brussel sprouts with bacon and wild rice. The left over duck leg covered in the glaze made a nice sandwich.

After our picnic we headed up to Hillwood where we were greeted by some of the friendliest people. We toured the mansion, greenhouse and the gardens. It was a wonderful afternoon and as you can see by the pictures also very beautiful.

Thanksgiving

Today is a day I sit and relax and think of how lucky I am. I truly have many things to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my beautiful and supportive wife. She inspires me to be a better person with her own actions.

I am thankful for my large and loving family. Our girls, the Moore and Bell families and all of the extensions of those (and there are LOTS).

I am thankful that the girls are finding their place in the world.

I am thankful for my community and all it allows me to have - a safe place to run, a great job and access to so many cultural avenues.

I am also thankful for my heritage and the strength that it has instilled in me.

I am thankful for my friends - new and old and all they have taught me.

I hope you all can look inward today and see how fortunate we all are and then over the holidays see if there is some small way you can make someone else smile.

Happy Thanksgiving

All kinds of stuff ....

So the title of this was going to be more birthdays, volunteering and Canadian Thanksgiving but that was getting way too long.

So this was a great long weekend. Saturday evening I volunteered at a Light the Night event in support of Leukemia and Lymphoma. It was very inspiring to meet the people that have fought these diseases - to meet their families and friends. I met a high school senior who has fought the disease for the last two years and her strength was incredible. Again I want to encourage people to register for the Bone Marrow registry at marrow.org.

On Sunday myself, Tika, Kris and one of Kris's friends, Bree, went to see Religulous. A good movie that raised some interesting questions. It was nice to be able to get the kids involved in open conversations. Sam then came over and we cooked a big Canadian Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, potatoes, stuffing, broccoli and a vegan dish for Tika with tofu, snow peas, bok choy and ginger. We finished off all of that with some cherry pie. It was a great evening.

Monday - yet another special day - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. Here in Virginia the day started with a great hike and then myself and Tika went to DC and I taught here a bit about using a SLR camera and she ran through a roll of film. She seemed to be enjoying things and we had lots of time to talk and explore. It was a thoroughly great day.

Looking forward to a good week coming up. Hope yours is great as well.

---- cu