Thanksgiving at the cabin, 2015

A little nook in the stone wall is just big enough for a tea light candle. 

First fire of the stay. 

Just a few pictures of this year's Thanksgiving trip.  Since we had the same cabin this year, there really isn't much different about the pictures from the ones I posted last year.

While in the car on the road, I realized that I had forgotten the stuff that was in the freezer above the fridge....so we had no pie, no breakfast sausage, and no green beans.

Fortunately, there's a grocery store in the nearest town.  We usually stop there for a bag of ice before we check in at the park anyway, so it was easy enough to get those items too.

Then, we got to the park and started to settle in at our tiny cabin when I discovered that I had also forgotten the butter.

I HAD A LIST, and completely forgot to check it twice, it seems!

So, while I unpacked and "nested" at the cabin, Dave ran back to the store to get butter.  Sigh.

It was pretty warm out, and the predicted rain had not started, so once we were settled, we took our first little hike not long before sunset.

The weather forecast said it was going to be overcast and raining, but it was only cloudy, and the full moon that night was spectacular.  Of course, no cell phone camera can capture that.

We took our traditional star gazing walk that night, too, but the moon was so bright that we could hardly see any stars at all.

We did, however, see a big yellow dog loose in the woods.  She was out there the whole time we were there, alone and too scared to come close to anyone.

The folks in the office said she'd been dumped by someone a couple of weeks back.

You'd think that the state park service would be able to come and trap her or something.

It was warm enough that night to leave the windows open.  I don't think we'd ever been there when it was so warm.

Thanksgiving day was overcast and warm, but the 90% chance of rain that we'd seen in the forecast wasn't happening yet, SO, we got out to hike in the woods on the one trail that is open this time of year.

It was so good to be able to do that!

The skies started to get a bit darker, though, and the temp was dropping, so we headed back.  The rain started shortly thereafter, just in time for me to start cooking.

I got the fire going in the fireplace, even though it was still pretty warm outside.  It got so warm in the cabin that we had to open the windows again, but it was nice to listen to the rain and the fire crackling at the same time.

Our feast was delicious.  I had gotten Gouda cheese for the green bean casserole this year (I had not forgotten the OTHER ingredients for the casserole, just the dang beans!).  It was very yummy.

The temp dropped steadily once the rain started, and we closed up the cabin and enjoyed the fire with a game of dominoes.

It rained all day Friday, and I lit the fire at 10 in the morning, and kept it going all day.  It was barely 40 degrees out, so this time, the fire was NOT too hot!

We played dominoes, and we read Grimm fairy tales to each other...it was so very very relaxing!!  Dave took a trip into town to get a bottle of whiskey, but other than that, we stayed in the cabin.

We worried about the poor dog who kept ranging around the cabins, out in the rain.

Packing up and cleaning up on Saturday morning, the dog came very close to us, so I tossed her a little bit of left over pie.

It rained all the way home, and when we got here, we found OKC had been covered in ice, and the power in our house had been out for 12 hours.  The cats were very cold.

The crew was just finishing up on our street, though, and just as we approached the door to the house, the power came back on.

It went off again for an hour or so, but was restored and did not go out again.

Our poor willow tree is still bent low, and has lost another large portion of herself (this happened just a couple of years ago on New years), and we lost a few branches off of the pecan, but it's not too bad.

Things are melting slowly today.  It's 35 degrees out there, I think.

Today is about getting errands done and preparing for a new work week.  Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday.