Thanksgiving

Today being Thanksgiving Day, a statutory holiday here in Canada, I had accepted a shift to work the day from 8 am till 4 pm but since it was a holiday, it meant that the buses were running on a Sunday schedule (which also applies to holidays). This meant walking to the SkyTrain station as opposed to taking the bus since those started later than the trains.

So, I left home at 6:20 am heading south along a major thoroughfare. As I walked briskly, I noticed the light frost on the ground. The grass and the cars were coated with the white stuff, a true sign that autumn was here! Then as I walked along southward, I noticed the quarter moon high in the dark sky. Dawn and the rising sun is later and later as the weeks progress toward Christmas! The moon was at about 85 degrees above the southern horizon and to the south of it were streaks of clouds in parallel as if sprayed by an invisible hand in the night sky. The odd bright star could be seen, those that weren't blotted out by the bright city lights.

As I neared a turn before heading westward, I could see the sky brightening off to the east-southeast, the dark giving way to a lighter blue shade along with rose! The sun rises further south as we near winter. Once winter arrives, the sun is rising from behind the Cascade Mountains near Mount Baker, a volcano in the state of Washington to the south, while during the summer months it is rising from behind the Coast Mountains north of the Fraser River. This means it is rising in the east-northeast but I digress!

So I got to the station, and while waiting for the gates to open, observed a flock of ducks flying eastward over the Fraser River near Columbia station. The southeastern sky continued to brighten as 7 am approached. The rose colour became more obvious and the light chased away the darkness. Then the gates opened shortly after 7 am and I was off on a packed train with others heading to work or to where ever their day's activities would take them.

My day went quick and was over in no time. Well, it certainly seemed that way. Rather than sitting behind a desk all day, I was off doing rounds through the building. This made time fly and before I knew it, it was time to head for home.

Despite it being Thanksgiving, I opted against having any turkey, which is traditional here (as well as during Christmas), and had some sandwiches, nothing particularly fancy, but some with cheese with jalapanos, some with garlic sausage, and later after the hot Italian sausage was ready, I had a couple of those with some hot sausages left over for tomorrow. Now I'm sipping some white wine, some Viognier from the Pays d'Oc in the south of France to be exact, Hugues de Juste 2007. Hugues de Juste by the way was a chevalier cathare (cathar knight) born in 1211 AD and who died in 1244. But I'm digressing once again.

So, as it's getting late and I'm about to head off to bed (5 am comes early), how was your Thanksgiving Day? Care to share your story??? - V.