Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Memory


When we moved to the Manor, 20 years ago, before all the
neighborhoods built up around us, it was still a fairly rural area.
Three days before our first Thanksgiving here, I was busy in the
kitchen and who did I see at the window, giving me an inquisitive
sideways look, but a big wild turkey! Our kitchen is partially under
ground, so Mr. Tom Turkey and I were standing face to face. The
funny thing was, he didn't seem to be frightened at all and actually
looked as if he wanted to come in and join me! He came back to
pay me a visit for the next two days, longingly watching me from
the window, but on Thanksgiving Day he was nowhere to be seen.
We hoped that our little visitor was not being served up on a platter
with stuffing and cranberries. Maybe he was looking for his friend,
who was safely tucked away in our refrigerator?

(I borrowed this photo from Flickr, but he looked exactly like this
in my Manor window!)

31 comments:

  1. Some say when you are visited by wild things their spirit will attach itself to you in some fashion. NW fables talk of spirit guides. Never underestimate connections to the natural world.

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  2. oh, I loved this story! Happy thanksgiving willow!

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  3. Thanksgiving blessings to you and yours and to your little visitor, wherever he may be.

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  4. Oh I loved Bill's comment. Willow, how spooked would I be to come face to face with a wild turkey.

    So it's your 20 year anniversary of living in that beautiful house. Congatulations.

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  5. It is a true Christmas tale that you tell us there, or rather Thanksgiving (which we celebrate not in France).
    It is a beautiful reminder that you have the kindness to make us share.
    The words of wisdom of Bill Stankus are strong and beautiful.
    Happy birthday Willow's manor and happy Thanksgiving!

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  6. What a great story!

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Manor...

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  7. Your lovely, light-hearted (if somehow macabre) story reminds me of the only pets I had when I was a child. Chickens. Yes, I would go to visit my family in the countryside and always brought a little chick with me. I used to take it out for a walk around the neighbourhood and to the park. A couple of weeks later it would disappear and suddenly as if by magic my mother would announce that we had chicken casserole that night. I never saw the connection when I was a child. Until years later...

    That turkey surely suffered a similar destiny, willow. Be under no illusions :-)!

    Greetings from London.

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  8. Happy Thanksgiving, dearest Willow, to you and your loved ones. What a blessing it has been to get to know you here.

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  9. Face to face with a turkey....I can honestly say I've never experienced this!

    I like the idea of the kitchen being partially underground. Bet it stays a bit cooler in the summer.

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  10. I guess that's a story of cold turkey!! I do wish you and yours a really wonderful Thanksgiving. That is an American tradition we should all import - gratitude for our country and all it has given us. Thank you also for the continuing visits to Thatchwick. You are a loyal friend. I am nearly on summer vac and determined to be a better blogger!

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  11. This is, indeed, a splendid memory.
    Thank you for the poem in yesterday's post.
    I love it and was not familiar with it.

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  12. Cute! =)

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  13. A great memory and so good it happened on your first year in the new family home.

    Happy Thanksgiving to all at the Manor.

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  14. What a story. we have gaggles of wild turkeys around here and i've done several posts on them in the past. I havent see them about since hunting season but in the spring there were 18 little ones following mom and dad and aunties around.

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  15. I had forgotten that story! :)

    We're both baking pies, I see!

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  16. Great turkey story! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours at Willow Manor!

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  17. Great memory. I had never seen a wild turkey before my friends built their house in rural CT ... they are so funny looking and remind me of Al Capp's Schmoos


    Happy Thanksgiving to all the Willows!

    :-Daryl

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  18. I love your story Willow...I love all your stories about the manor..

    Are you busy baking ?

    Wish you a very happy Thanksgiving Willow !

    ps : the manor looks great in winter
    :-)

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  19. My wife can sometimes be a turkey and she's never met a wild turkey that I know of. I'm drinking one now albeit of a different kind of spirit world.

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  20. A turkey came a-callin' on your first Thanksgiving! That is a wonderful story. He probably just decided to lay low on the day he is the most popular bird in the world! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

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  21. All the best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving! From both of us!

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  22. I had no idea you've been in the Manor for over 20 years! And I wonder how it feels to have moved in to an open area (where a turkey COULD come visit you) and have it built up now. From your blog, the world of Willow Manor is beautiful, timeless and without boundaries (no close neighbors) in my mind!

    Loved this little memory. And liked Bill's comment on it too. Have a great THX and I will look forward to reading about it after....

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  23. AHHH what a sad little story.

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  24. Dear Willow, I wish you and your wonderful family a truly Happy Thanksgiving... maybe another Wild Turkey will be at your window anon.
    Love and hugs...

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  25. Ha! We must live in sort of similar locales. When this place was built, it was very rural. Now the neighborhoods encroach all around. In fact, 180 acres was sold off to developers. I can see the houses through the trees now that the leaves are gone!

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  26. Nothing dies that is remembered!

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  27. Awww. Poor little turkey.
    Have a great Thanksgiving nevertheless.

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  28. awwww--great story. He looks like he did want "in" to visit with you.

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  29. Well, I like to eat them, but I'm not so fond of the 40 or so that roam around our rural neighborhood. Especially when they start gobbling outside our bedroom window at 5:00, when I've finally fallen asleep after a night of insomnia...

    Occasionally our neighbors have a "turkey shoot" to thin the herd, but really, who wants to deal with the feathers?

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)