Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Cherry Pie

Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, so I almost forgot to celebrate, and then I decided I would just ignore it. We are going to the rainforest early Thursday morning, so we will not be home anyway. But later I convinced myself that Maya needs her traditions, that we all need to keep our traditions. Thanksgiving has always been a big affair at our house, all the more enjoyable when family and friends have joined us in the celebration. I think our average Thanksgiving meal these past years has included anywhere from 12 to 20 participants. I love cooking and planning and preparing and feeding everyone.

For the three of us, I have decided to simplify, simplify, simplify. Maya likes dark meat and Eric likes white meat, so I have two turkey breasts and two humongous turkey legs. Mashed potatoes are essential, and Eric and Maya love green beans. Neither eat the stuffing or the cranberry sauce, but Eric will like the gravy. I most appreciate all the extra side dishes, so I may decide to add one or two. Maya asked for a cherry pie, so I used my toaster oven to bake a pie tonight. I usually buy the piecrust already made, but there were none to be found in Megamaxi, so I made my own piecrust, and it worked out, at least it looks good, so I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

We will celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow. I doubt that Maya will notice that we are a day early. There is school anyway this week, and I am not sure there is any mention of Thanksgiving in her classes.

I am excited about our time in the rainforest, my absolute favourite part of Ecuador. It is a magical place and every visit is a new adventure for me. I have been worried that I have been unable to overcome this flu, so I stayed in bed today in the hopes that giving my body some rest would help it battle the virus. I was up at 6 to get Maya breakfast and ready for school, but once she was off, I crawled into bed and fell immediately to sleep for most of the day. I woke up in time to pick her up from school and bring her to ballet, but got caught in a downpour when picking her up, so am feeling bedraggled again. I had Eric visit the drugstore and pick up Vitamin C and D and Zithromax. No prescription is required for many medications that would ordinarily require one in the US, which is a great advantage for me. Although I am not sure if I am battling a virus or a secondary bacterial infection, I am convinced that if I take the Zithromax, believing it will work, my immune system will start fighting whatever is attacking me and I will not have to feel awful when we are in the jungle. Taking oodles of Vitamin C and D may help too.

I try not to worry about medical care here. There are excellent hospitals with good standards of care, and I do know some physician/ friends who may be able to direct me should I need care. The hospital to visit is 'Metropolitano'. I have been concerned about pneumonia; with fevers and chills and horrible productive coughing leading to chest pain and ultimately weakness and fatigue; could be a simple cold, could be worse. On the other hand, I was able to drag myself to my four hour Spanish class (lacklustre participation on my part) yesterday and a salsa class (and later a spinning and a pilates class), all of which could have been counterproductive. I hope having stayed in bed today makes a difference.

Raining in the Mountains