Photographs I Didn't Take

The farm: (from l to r) Dairy barn, house, horse barn, garage, chicken coop, granary. Hidden from view are the summer kitchen, pump house, and cottage. None of the outbuildings are occupied these days by anything larger than a cat.

So. I carried my camera with me through all of the Thanksgiving travel, from the farm to Mom's house to home to my aunt's for a wedding shower that Sunday, and in the end, I only really had two pictures to show for it. Even more kooky, neither of the pix are of people!

What about the Thanksgiving table at the farm, laden with platters of turkey, bowls of mashed potatoes, broccoli with cheese, green salad resplendent with avocado, red onion, pea pods, and more? Two types of homemade cranberry relish (no can-shaped jelly here!), hard rolls, gravy—I'm sure I'm forgetting something. That table groaned with delicious offerings. What about the picture of me, Scooby, four of my sisters, and my neice, Petunia, bookended by Papa and Sue-bee, gathered around the table in thanks for all of our good fortune this year? What about Frank, the geriatric Jack Russel, sharking around under the table for dropped morsels and hand outs? Certainly I should have snapped a shot of the dessert spread, complete with pumpkin pie, buttermilk pie, and two types of fudge (which Scooby made just for the occasion.) I should have captured an image of Sue-bee helping me search for agates as we took a walk down the dirt road to the north 40 and back after dinner. Or the tracks on the side of the road indicating that at least one of the dairy cattle down the way had gone on the lam.

Later, at Mom's, couldn't I have gotten a photo of Mom and Scooby playing a whimsical game of hang-man? A shot of the gigantic, delicious, buttery bowl of popcorn we snacked on, still full from Thanksgiving gorging? No, instead I took a pic of Zoe-kitty looking a little skanky after a few hits of catnip. All I can say, by way of explanation, is that I was having quite a lot of fun in the moment, surrounded by loved ones and indulged with amazing meals, and I didn't care to step back and be an observer, even for a minute.
Zoe looking tweaky.