[Magdalen] empty chair

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I had not thought about it til my brother called to wish us a happy
thanksgiving.

"This will be the first year I did not call home," he said.

The past couple of years, Mom has been in the care center where she lived,
but she enjoyed calls, and Larry called her very often.

Dad died a few years ago, but Mom soldiered on to the beginning of her one
hundredth year. She finally got to go home in February. And what a blessing
that was. Still it's a quieter, smaller world....

Thanksgiving in our house was, for several years, an extended weekend at
McBeth's Cabins in central Pennsylvania.  The cabins are all rustic log
structures with amazing stone fireplaces the source of heat.  There is a
small state park right there with all the hiking that a couple of kids
could want.

We sometimes went down to the edge of the creek with our .22 and shot at
cans and whatever other targets. Today, the smell of smoke from a wood
burning stove or fireplace is all I need to fly at light speed back to that
time and place.

And the neat thing is, it's all still there, although I think they'd get a
bit upset if a couple of kids started shooting a .22 around the area...

The general grocery is essentially the same as it was when we were there.
http://www.macbethscabins.com/

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente