thanks

I've got to take the pumpkin pie out of the oven in a minute - have already cleaned up from dinner: the best stuffing ever, excellent (if I do say so myself) roasted garlic gravy, perfectly cooked Devon free range happy clappy corn fed overpriced organic roasted garlic chicken, creamed spinach with nutmeg, homemade cranberry sauce with orange and clove... roast potatoes & carrots, braised leeks.. all this just for me, Mr. Dot, and our reincarnated cat. You can't believe the size of the batch of stuffing but let's face it: you can't make just a cupful. And it's so yummy leftover, cold, straight from the fridge!



But at the risk of burning the pie, I just had to say thank you to every one of you who has visited my blog in the past 6 or so months since I've started, and become followers, left comments, spread the word.. I know Thanksgiving is an American holiday but I've just discovered (via a wonderful chat over coffee @ Paul with two strangers, a Canadian couple who had just arrived from Heathrow) that the origins of Thanksgiving actually come from the British concept of basically celebrating getting thru anything successfully.

(Her name is Sidney, named after her grandfather, which was MY grandfather's name, and I always wanted that name for a daughter if I had one. And his name is Kelly!)



They celebrate it in Canada in October, and it comes from a British group arriving there in one piece. So I assume that basically, at Plymouth Rock, it was a one-off 'thank God we didn't get bashed on the rocks or die of scurvy on the ride over', and then the Indians came up with the turkey concept, and the idea stuck.



It's such a lovely concept: to have a day that is nothing about gifts, or bling in any way: just having that attitude of gratitude. And I am so grateful for so very much: a wonderful family who are each celebrating separately this year, with friends, with their own family, but in the knowledge that we love each other very much. Grateful to Mr. Dot, of course, and to happy memories of childhood, and my many wonderful friends, some since childhood, some just found in the past year. And grateful to our reincarnated cat, Pooh Jr!



What does this have to do with this post? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, apart from the reincarnated cat, with his chocolate brown fur to match my coat. I shot these all within minutes, as I ran from Green Park tube station to Topshop at Oxford Circle, and first thing tomorrow, I will show you why. I just had to do this really fast, because I'm just feeling so chock full o' gratitude to you all. No matter your nationality, I hope that wherever you are on the planet right now, you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving.