Thanksgiving Our Way

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

We had an untraditional Thanksgiving day. Our daughter flew up around noon and since the airport is an hour and a half away, we decided to not stress about the meal. We could be thankful just as easily on Friday. And we were!

Usually when we make an airport run to Asheville, we do some shopping. Since shops were closed we decided to take a scenic route home along the Blue Ridge Parkway. For some reason, maybe because the area is familiar, we hadn’t driven this portion. It was beautiful and we will be driving it again!

To our surprise there were several cars parked at the overlooks and the passengers were sitting in the sun, some even picnicking. This car was parked next to us and I tried to snap this picture without them noticing.

Saturday evening a cold front moved in bringing with it rain and heavy winds. I heard some noise during the night but didn’t think much about it. I always hear noises. Sunday as we were backing out of the driveway on the way to church, my ever observant husband spotted at tall pine tree down at the back of the house. We have a lot of trees and the downed one was stuck in the top of one. We were thankful for this as it prevented the tree from falling on our roof! Getting it the rest of the way down would prove to be challenging.

I was thrilled that our daughter was here to help her dad. Their brains run on the same track and she works well with him. Me….not so much.

A portion of the tree that was hanging at a 90 degree angle was fairly simple to bring down. The rest of the tree not so simple. As darkness closed in they secured the tree with ropes in the hope that if the wind brought the tree the rest of the way down, they would control the fall.

Our daughter had an early evening flight on Monday and her dad didn’t want to spend the morning working on the tree. That meant that on Tuesday I would be his helper. Uh-oh.

Tuesday morning he brought out a come-along (no idea if that is spelled correctly) and attached it to ropes and then a chain. He cranked and pulled to no avail. Mostly I watched and said “be careful!” I suggested he come inside for lunch and rest a bit. The bit turned out to be a couple of hours and that was a good thing. Because, before I could put my jacket and shoes on, I heard a whoosh. I ran to the window to make sure my husband was ok and saw this.

The tree was down and with only minor damage to a path rail! We are beyond thankful the tree didn’t damage the house and fell in such a way that we didn’t have to pay a tree surgeon to take it down. My husband has plans for the wood and next spring I hope he is able to spend many happy hours in his wood shop.

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2019 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

Tags: Family, Thanksgiving meal, Trees