happy thanksgiving

I'm so full at this moment, that I'm afraid I might break. I had a Thanksgiving dinner at my supervisor's place, and it was amazing! The food was super tasty including turkey, stuffing, potatoes and cranberry jam and pumpkin pie (the food is always extremely delicious in this house) and the company was great. And the weather was amazing. It was close to 20 degrees today. So after we had the welcome wine that was made by Larissas' father's winery in Moldova and then brought all the way here by Larissa, we went outside to have some welcome bubblewine. And there were strawberries. It was perfect.

Thanksgiving is this very popular holiday here in North America. In Canada it's on the second Tuesday in October, and in States it's on the fourth Thursday in November. It's essentially about eating turkey (and lots of it) and spending time with the family. The Monday is a day off, so nicely extending the weekend to fir more turkey in. The deeper meaning of Thanksgiving is to celebrate the harvest and be thankful for making it so far (that's my interpretation). The tradition started already at 1500 or so, when one dude called Martin Frobisher went to look for the way to get to the oriental part (China and co) of the world through the North. I'm not sure whether he found it or not, but nevertheless he returned alive and well, and he threw a formal dinner at 1578 to be thankful over surviving the long journey. And actually the native people in North America had been celebrating something like harvest celebration way before that.

Also, already old estonians used to celebrate something similar to Thanksgiving. And we continue to (sort of) celebrate it - it's called Lõikuspüha (Harvest Holiday). I don't know too much about the history though.

Saturday was nice too! I did some baking, and made two "poppyseed pastries" or (moonikringel). And I had invited Eve and Jakov and Samuel to visit. I always visit them and now for a year or so I have had the idea to invite them over. So finally I made it. And it was really, really nice! We had tea and kringel and wine and fruits and chatted. And Samuel really liked my fish and superhigh bed. In the beginning he asked, why is my bed so small, which I didn't understand, because my bed is a meter off the ground, plus it's a doublebed. But perhaps they have different measures at this age.
After I went to Mikes/Natalies to feed Audi. She was in a crazy mood - she kept dropping herself on the side on the carpet and then stretch and roll around. And so over and over. Some sort of interpretative dance that I don't know how to read. Yet. So I decided to go for a swim. The swim was NICE. Nobody else there, and the water doesn't have chlorine (I think they use ozone to kill the evil). Supernice. And then - I went to the womens changeroom to change. I considered going up just in a towel, but then thought that perhaps it's not the best idea. And in the change room - first I saw one indian woman who came out of the sauna and asked whether I wanted to use it. I said no, it's too cold for me. And then, a guy jumped out from the sauna. And then the indian woman says, oh, I wanted to warn you about my husband. And then they disappeared back to the sauna. Thankfully I'm Strong Eastern European Woman, and one indian guy doesn't interfere with my inner peace too much, but I was still a little confused. Was I supposed to change? Were they planning on leaving any minute? I thought for the moment, and then, after double checking that I was in womens change room, I thought that what the hell, it's MY territory, therefore I can be naked here if I want to. And he needs to deal with the consequences (from the wife?), if he doesn't like it.
I didn't see them again.

Later I invited Leslie over to also have a share of the kringel and fruits and wine, and we had a nice quietish evening.
Oh, and this morning (Sunday) we (that is Leslie and I) went for a nice market venture! To catch some shiny zucchinis and giant leeks and enjoy some pastries at the Market Hall. I should visit the market more often!

Such a good times! I like!