‘Who likes smoked turkey,’ Grandpa E asked?

Do you have a little of that good rum, Neva J asked with a Rummy’s gleam in her eyes?

‘How many will be here for Thanksgiving,’ Billy B. asked as he played host to the ever-expanding gathering. ‘I have all of the folding chairs out and the card table for the kids,’ he added.

The little house had only four rooms…but they were four rooms filled with love. Grandpas B and E were telling tall tales and Neva J was on her third shot of Thanksgiving Rum…and there was a Rum Cake as well. Niece T was there and her sweet mom and dad and even Granpa Mike asked…’ Janey do you always have these lovely balloons on display?’

‘I love the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Fernie said.

‘MJ you always have such a wonderful dinner and real napkins…and I so appreciate you asking me each year,’ Mrs. M said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Aunt Wanda came in and Uncle Bill and cousin Billy. They had in their arms pumpkin pie and Divinity and homemade fudge as well. Neva J asked them if they would like a bit of rum to ward off the cold and they said that they would love some.

There was happy talk of shopping on Black Friday and traveling to St. Louis. They were going to see the Christmas Bears at Famous and Barr and then have dinner at Casa Gallardo. Thoughts of Christmas were swirling about in their heads. The Sear Wishbook had been dog-eared by Aaron and Jonathon for possibilities for under the Christmas Tree.

Billy B looked startled as suddenly everyone was gone and the house had transformed into a much larger one. He had been there. It was as real as anything he had experienced.

‘Chet…did you see them leave…are my eyes playing tricks on me…were we not just celebrating Thanksgiving at Elkville with all of the family and life before us and our hopes at their zenith,’ Billy B asked his lifelong friend?

‘Not only were we there but they are here…past and present are in a circle and all are transpiring at the same time…shut your eyes and open them and you will see,’ said Chet.

‘Pass me another slice of that delicious smoked ham,’ said Grandpa E.

‘You know you really can taste the rum in the rum cake,’ Neva J laughed as she sliced another helping.

‘Please do not ever leave,’ Billy B implored the Thanksgiving group.

‘We are always here…we never left…,’ said Grandpa Mike…

The temperature has plummeted 30 degrees. We became seasonal overnight…or perhaps a bit wintery. There is a marked difference in the leaves in the Woods today. We have a freeze warning. Soon there will be little but bare branches. I think that I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my youth but I am not sure. In any case, I am reading it now and I am amazed at how much of the book Dracula does not have an active role in. I like the writing. Dracula was a big part of my youthful appreciation of gothic horror. The Count’s debonair manner combined with his malevolence was a heady mixture for a young mind. Watching the original Dracula movie with Bella Lugosi was a chilling and fun adventure. A tree branch striking the window pane could send shivers up your spine.

We enjoy being scared in the confines of our security and safety. I began watching a program regarding the Enfield Haunting which is one of the most documented cases of haunting in the United Kingdom. Often I watch programs after everyone has retired for the evening and it is just Mylo and me on the couch. The difference in this program on Apple TV is that it has actors portraying the roles of the real people who were involved in the incident but it has the real tape recordings of the affair. Feeling brave I began the program and in the first few sentences there played the original tape of the poltergeist saying something to a little boy…I told Aaron and MJ that we would watch it together…

We all have encountered occurrences in our lives that we could not explain. The feeling of having been somewhere before when we know it is the first time. Meeting someone who you have never met and knowing that you have met before. Looking through the mist and fog and feeling that someone is looking back. The assurance of our departed loved ones being with us and helping us through the trials of our journey.

Having been a student of Faith for over 50 years I have witnessed things that did not yield to convenient explanations. A minister told me when I was a youth that one day I would lead a large number of people. I laughed similarly to Sara when the angel told her that she was going to have a child when she was old. Remind us that all that we see is not all that there is. There is a thin veil between us and another world…and sometimes it is pulled back for a moment…

We have had a long tradition of celebrating my birthday in St. Louis. Returning to the last century we attend a movie at Landmark Theatre in Plaza Frontenac and eat on the Hill. For the last few years, it has been at Bartolinos. We did not have our usual waiter but he did come out to say hi to us and we felt a part of the family. I remember enjoying three or four dirty martinis at the beginning of this century and in the latter part of that last and then getting in the car to drive home to Southern Illinois. I really did not feel alcohol to any degree. My capacity has decreased in the last few years. In those days it was Cunettos and it is still one of my favorite restaurants. The line to enter Cunettos was often down the block and we stood in it on many occasions. We saw the original and Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo at Plaza Frontenac. I returned home and purchased the books. In those halcyon days, Cunettos gave you a free glass of wine with your entree.

Thanksgiving is less than a month away. We have hosted it for over 30 years. I remember our niece Tara and her mom talking about getting up early to shop in St. Louis on Black Friday. Their excitement was infectious. One year MJ and I looked everywhere for a Cabbage Patch Doll for Tara and finally found one at Fairview Heights near St. Louis.

On one Thanksgiving we decided to attend a showing of Father Of The Bride with Steve Martin and Tara rode with us to the theatre. She was so excited about her upcoming 16th birthday.

Life is filled with special moments. It is not the big events that you remember and hold in your heart…it is the small unexpected love that you feel…

So, I was preparing to pay the bill for dinner when I joyfully noted that I would have about $30 more than I had anticipated at the conclusion of our wonderful meal. Little did I know that I had shortchanged our waiter…I guess I am feeling my Dirty Martinis more than I did at one time in my youth…

So, I just returned from the Woods to see the last of the leaves before the temperature takes a precipitous drop and the rain commences. I and hundreds of others seem to have had the same idea. One of my favorite shelters was full to the brim of happy nature enthusiasts. Another parking lot was empty until I parked there and subsequently, about twenty cars followed me in. One of the kind gentlemen tapped on my window and told me that my gas cap was off and that he would put it back on if I did not mind. I did not mind.

Jonathon and I visited the Grand Opening of GeekBetty Vintage and More in Carterville today. I first noticed a young woman in vintage clothing waving at me as she sat in the window reading. Upon entering the store there were several young women modeling antique and vintage clothing throughout the establishment. There was a lovely Library with a plethora of books and old knick-knacks and Jonathon and I had to have a little Boston Terrier sitting in a yellow basket.

‘How does the time slip away so quickly…it seems that it was just the beginning of fall and now we are over a month into my favorite time of year,’ Billy B asked?

‘Time is a bit fluid I think…I remember when we were kids in Eldorado like it was yesterday and when I close my eyes I am back there once again…playing with Daniel Boone and wearing my Lost In Space Robot Halloween Costume,’ Chet answered.

‘Well I am 66 and the other day I was 6, said Billy B. ‘It seems like a dream that when you awaken from you have difficulty remembering,’ Billy B said with a wistful look.

‘Talk about a dream…do you remember our camping in the Woods last Halloween and hearing the chants and seeing the black bassinet the next morning,’ asked Jane? ‘There it was outside the stone structure with the two fireplaces and it appeared that a witch’s coven had gathered around it,’ she continued. ‘It reminded me of the recent movie Rosemary’s Baby which scared the bejeebers out of me with Rosemary’s dream about JFK and Jackie being on that boat, Jane said with a shudder.

‘I never told anyone but during the night Mia Farrow dressed as Rosemary came into our campsite and asked me where the sound of a baby crying was coming from…I told her that I thought that there was a coven of witches outside the stone shelter and that there she would find her baby,’ Chet said with a serious and tired look in his eyes.

‘You know that explains who the dude was with the stocking cap on that stuck up at two points on his head as if it were covering horns…and he had red eyes…he asked me if had seen Rosemary and did I have directions to Dubrovnik…’ Billy B answered.

I was saddened to hear of a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. We stayed just 26 miles from Lewiston last month on a Holiday in Maine. When I heard that the shooting was in Lewiston I recalled the gentleman who tattooed Brock and me with our Lighthouses saying that he had lived in Lewiston for some time. He mentioned that the types of tattoos he did vary from Lewiston to his current business in Bath.

Maine is a sweet and lovely state. Over our six visits there we have met many wonderful Mainers. We love to visit and rest and refresh next to the ocean. Maine is full of small communities. Peaceful people who mind their own business. Our Captain on our sailboat tour lives in Maine. What a nice person. Maine has a different feel to it. It feels like home…even if it is not your home. It feels like family.

I awoke from a vivid dream this morning. For some reason, I would have to leave my beloved Maine. I did not understand why…but I did not want to leave…

So, it was Black Friday two years ago and we set our sights on spending the night in the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis.

‘What a lovely dinner, said Chet. ‘That is the finest steak I have had in some time,’ he continued.

‘I have been hearing for many years how wonderful the Lemp House Restaurant is,’ Neva J said with a wide grin.

‘I have my Polaroid camera with me if we see a ghost I am going to snap a photo,’ Billy B announced.

‘Look or Life magazine would give their eyeteeth to have a photo of the Lemp House Ghost,’ Jane laughed. ‘I think it is creepy in here already and we have not yet finished dinner, she added.

‘Lemp Mansion is the site of three suicides by Lemp family members after the death of the son Fredrick Lemp, whose William J. Lemp Brewing Co. dominated the St. Louis beer market before Prohibition with its Falstaff beer brand. The Mansion is said to be haunted by members of the Lemp family.’

‘Did you see the blood spot on the carpet…where William J. Lemp shot himself in the head in the bedroom,’ asked Chet?

‘I do know that the restroom adjoining Neva J and my bedroom is cold and large and the shower is difficult to use,’ Jane said. ‘The sitting room is so large and spooky that I went in there to make a cup of coffee and felt like someone was looking over my shoulder,’ Jane said with a shiver!

‘We are supposed to be the only ones staying overnight in the Mansion and yet I hear people upstairs and in my bedroom I hear a person crying and saying, ‘Oh Frederick…Frederick……

dear Freddy…and then the sound of a pistol,’ Billy B said with his eyes closed as if to block out a disagreeable image.

‘Welcome friends…have you been shopping on this fine Black Friday…how many of you will be joining us for dinner this evening…we have a wonderful steak that everyone raves about…,’ the waiter intoned as Black Friday at Lemp Mansion…began again…

MJ took me out for lunch this afternoon at the Lodge at Giant City State Park. She raved about the chili! The leaves are in full color and many are already on the ground. It is customarily so on my birthday. Aaron and Jonathon got their Old Dad some lovely gifts and a card that has Quilling Art on its front. ‘Quilling is an art form that involves the use of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The paper shape is manipulated to create designs on their own or to decorate other objects, such as greeting cards, pictures, boxes, or to make jewelry.’

I watch the old folks wherever I go. I feel a comradeship with them. An elderly couple sat at the table next to us at lunch. I could see the gentleman who was railthin. He had a herculean appetite. He ate and ate and then some more. I wondered if this was his practice or if he had been saving up for his visit to the Lodge. I pondered if his healthy appetite was the key to his longevity.

Last evening I reflected on our purchasing a wooden cabinet television for our living room when we lived in Elkville. MJ and I had not owned a TV since our marriage in March of 1978 until we bought this handsome floor model in 1986. We hooked it up to cable and I was amazed at the shows that were available including many programs of my youth on Nickelodeon. We had Berl and Fernie over to watch our new set and I knew that the F word was coming up in the movie we were watching and thus turned the mute button on…whereupon there it was in all of its glory in the closed captioning. Berl and Fernie were fundamentalists.

I look for happy birthday wishes on Facebook each year. Each one is a gift and lets me know that someone cares about the Old Man In The Woods. I received a Happy Birthday from my good friend Jeff. We are now the same age for a month…and then he moves on to 67.

I thought about turning over the 66 to 99…but I have reached the stage of my life where it is no longer fun to be assumed to be older than I am…

The future is as bright as the past and perhaps much the more so. As I told the supervisor at our post office the other day when she admitted that perhaps her staff had inadvertently cut the packaging for a ring that I had ordered and that may have been the reason for my empty package in my mailbox…’You live and You Learn.’ What I understood to be concrete truth when I was 26 changed when I was 36…and again up until today…66. More understanding and less judgment. More love and less hate. More being ‘in to others,’ and their needs and dreams. and less focus on just my tribe.

‘I think I could live in Maine year-round, Billy B said enthusiastically.

‘Well, I saw an advertisement that said the homeowner was renting their home for four cold weather months and that if the tenant could offer some upkeep of the place the rent was negotiable,’ Jane commented.

‘Let us call the Maine Air B&B and see if the deal is still open,’ Neva J said.

‘The Maine Owner says for us to come on out and that they will even pay our plane fare,’ Chet announced with delight. The excitement on the other end of the phone was palpable and I said we would be there by the end of the week, Chet said.

‘Maine in the winter…we better pack our L.L. Bean clothing and perhaps even our snowshoes,’ Neva J suggested.

The house was lovely and large and old. It had a gargantuan porch that looked out over the ocean and an antique bell to ring at your pleasure. There was no air conditioning but then again who needs it in the winter…in Maine.

When they first arrived they were greeted by an etheral ‘Hello…Hello’ but found no one in the house.

‘My goodness I think it is Lobster O’Clock, Billy B said. ‘You know I wonder why the property manager did not meet us…unless the ghostly Hello was his manner of getting acquainted in the Maine Winter,’ he continued.

The House dates back to before the Civil War and has a rich history. It had been a vacation spot for some of the early silent film stars. They enjoyed its seclusion and being able to blend in easily in the rural and quaint towns of Down East Maine.

Of course, there was the missing property manager… except for the disembodied voice.

‘Come quick and look at what I have found, Jane called out. ‘There is a living quarters at the foot of the half stairs leading to the basement.’

The rooms were very spacious…in fact, their dimensions did not match what appeared to be the limited dimensions of the outside of the basement. They were in fact larger than the circumference of the entire structure.

‘Welcome friends…I have just been enjoying a silent movie. I love the old movies, don’t you? I am so pleased that you have taken me up on the winter rental of my lovely home. I inherited it from my great-grandmother. She ran a hospital for the injured Union Soldiers during the Civil War. Many of them died within these old walls.

‘My name is Chet…I enjoy watching Silent Movies on Turner Classic Movies…what is your name?’

‘My friends call me…Fatty…wait until morning when the Bald Eagle screeches…’

I was driving to the Woods this morning and thought to go by way of Makanda, Illinois. ‘Each fall, vultures soar and glide over Makanda and the surrounding areas and signal the beginning of fall and the arrival of the incredible fall colors of Makanda and southern Illinois. Vulture Fest features live music, food, shopping, and art by local artists for purchase.’ At first, I was dismayed at all of the people and the carnival-like atmosphere of Makanda until I remembered that it was Vulture Fest. The population of Makanda increased many times over… today. There was joy in the air. Children were laughing and their parents were in a ‘Country State Of Mind.’

Makanda sits just before the entrance to Giant City State Park…better known as My Woods. I thought that it was a good time to visit the restroom…as is most any time when you are old. Suddenly the door began to jerk not once but multiple times and then an oath that would curl your hair! So…I exited as fast as I could and a lady said that she really had to go…

Billy B could not believe that he was turning 16. As far as he was concerned 16 was an adult with all the rights and responsibilities there unto prescribed. Billy B had big plans. He supposed that if he could obtain a job that would pay him $70 per week he would be alright. He could move out on his own and proceed to live the life of a man. There was adventure to be had opportunities to be embraced and dreams that needed fulfilling.

Billy B had preferred the company of adults as compared to kids his own age for most of his youth. The responsibilities of being the man of the house had been his for some time. Billy B was 16 going on 66… He had taken note that life’s path had a multitude of twists and turns. Also, there did not seem to be a road map for the journey. That is what he liked so much about being a Christian. There was a surety and a certainty that came with the faith. Billy B wanted to strike out on his own and he knew that God was with him.

Well, 16 was a non-starter with Neva J but 17 was graduation from High School and Billy B began his trek to discover what following Christ meant for him.

Fall Splendor was on full display today at Giant City. Leaf Peepers were everywhere. When I encounter them I want to say that they will enjoy their visit and that I have been there all year… October 24 is fast approaching and I feel 65 slipping away. What a glorious opportunity to bid the old age out and the new one in. It sounds a bit like Happy New Year don’t you think?

As I ponder my visage in the mirror, I see not the image of Dorian Gray looking back at me but Jay Brooks and the white hair to prove it. As a young man, I often fretted about how we would make ends meet and when they met…what it meant. As I look back I see my Guardian Angel by my side. All too often we suppose that it is our strength and cunning and skill that brings us good fortune and success and hope for the future…when in reality we are simply along for the ride and God is in control.

A lesson that I learned when I was young was that I would strive to treat everyone I met like I wanted to be treated. I wanted to understand what it was like to walk in their shoes. I knew what it felt like to be marginalized and dismissed a bit like the television character Columbo who played an apparently clueless detective whom people sold short of his abilities. I knew how a single mother felt and the challenges that she faced as Neva J raised me after her and my father’s divorce. I knew what it felt like to be a janitor and to feel as proud of my profession as a doctor or lawyer.

Success is incremental. Failure can drop suddenly. Hope is eternal. Love is the answer…