Thanksgiving

On the most un-Thanksgivingly of Thanksgivings week (based really on the 80 degree temperatures and lack of a huge family dinner complete with a whole roasted turkey and fried okra), we have still managed to bring a bit of the holiday feelings to Australia.

The past two weeks have indeed flown by and the countdown until Thursday is now on. Not only is it my Golden (or Champagne as they refer to it in Canada) Birthday (I turn 24 on the 24th - and I get to celebrate in Australia!) - it is also the day I get my cast taken off and most importantly, it is American Thanksgiving.

Last weekend I spent a nice day lounging around one of our local favorite hangout places, The Grace Darling, and then spent Sunday in the park by the Botanical Gardens. The trees in this park are magnificent and provide shade from the sun (or rain - because it does rain often here in Melbourne). I was able to Skype with most all my family members and best friends. A perfect way to catch up before waking up at 5:30am the next morning to Skype with the entire extended family at Grandmother and Granddad Garner's house for the Garner's early Thanksgiving dinner. No worries, I vicariously ate the fried okra through my dearest family members and was able to envision the delightfulness by the seeing the remnants of my favorite Thanksgiving food through the computer.

A long week at work turned weekend again, which brought nothing but rain and more rain until yesterday when the sun shone brilliantly and I was able to venture out to the Vic market for the day. I was able to achieve all my Christmas shopping in one day and felt quite proud on my trek home on crutches, burdened down with a 40lb backpack. After unloading and admiring my purchases, Bec and I piled into her car to pick up new Australian arrivals, Michelle and Eric who work for Manhattan and have been looking at apartments in our part of town. We all headed to Steph & Scott's house for a Thanksgiving/Birthday/BBQ to celebrate all things wonderful this week. Bec and I's contribution: mini Pecan Pies!

The recipe is so easy to make, especially when you buy frozen mini pastry shells. Add brown sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs and corn syrup (Oh, which they do NOT have in Australia by the way. Who would have guessed that everywhere else in the world besides the USA actually uses all natural ingredients and not processed corn product in 99% of their foods!?) - so the closest thing we could find was a sort of molasses syrup called Tassies. Skeptical of  how they would turn out, they were actually quite delicious and a huge hit at our smorgasbord of a BBQ/Thanksgiving/Birthday Dinner.

Two more days to go until I get this dreadful cast off. Wednesday night Bec and I plan on having a "trash-the-cast" dinner party complete with paint and sharpies before I head to the hospital Thursday morning to get the cast removed!

Minus the old man on the tram the other day reminding me of how ugly my leg will look once the cast comes off, not to mention the amount of skin that will peel away from my body, I am actually ecstatic for this momentous occasion. If you were to ask me how I envisioned celebrating my Golden Birthday, I would have never  imagined in a million years it would include: removing a cast in Australia. But the evening we have planned with all my new friends, followed up with a weekend at the beach is more than I could have ever asked for. My leg will have a large bow tied around it, as that is my birthday present to myself this year! Pictures to come...