Well it’s Thanksgiving Day. Went to sleep at a decent hour, Bill asleep way before me, I crashed around midnight. It was a fairly busy day, hanging out with Juan. We came back from lunch and buying tickets for the train. We walked back through the cold Hoboken Hudson River air, came back to the apartment and watched Shaun of the Dead which was a lot of fun. Juan split, Bill came home and I napped around 5:00, waking up at 8:00, groggy but feeling somewhat better. Got text from Juan who was in Edgewater playing pool. Don’t know how he did it.

Woke up this morning around 7:30, Bill up and moving about. I jumped into the shower, drank some watered down coffee that Bill made. He did the best he could do, but I needed to remake it, if it was going to be the rocket fuel needed to get me moving. Bill wasn’t offended, and took my suggestion under consideration. After that it was getting our acts together and getting to the train station on time. We made it just in time for as we sat on the seats the train slowly pulled out of the station.

The train filled up with people and their packages, heading to wherever it was they were headed to. We got off at Secaucus Junction waiting for a transfer to a train to Trenton. Just a handful of other passengers waiting for their trains. The train that pulled in was fairly crowded and Bill and I were able to find seats together. He sat and closed his eyes, I read the New Yorker, an article about wild turkeys which in the New Yorker style was entertaining and informative enough to want to go hunting for wild turkeys, not to kill them but to watch them behave as the article said they would.

We were in Trenton soon enough, meeting up with my cousin Neil who was there to drive us to his house. His sisters Rosie and Theresa were there as well as Linda, Neil’s girlfriend, her son and assorted other people who I was introduced to and promptly forgot most of their names. Neil’s other sister Ginger was there with her husband Jim and their kids. Ginger’s not doing so well, after having a stroke. She’s lost most of her short term memory and Neil told me that if I have a conversation it would be best to ask only yes or no questions.

I did try but I wasn’t making any progress and it seemed like a strain to her. I wandered around Neil’s house looking at all of his railroad paraphernalia. Lot’s of antique things and things that would be of interest to other train spotters, like Rail Fan, someone I used to chat with online a while ago who had a similar train fixation and had the shoes to match. Madeline showed up at her brother Neil’s house after dinner at her own. She brought her daughter Shauna who just gave birth nine days ago, making Madeline a grandmother for the second time. Their sister Eileen was unable to make it since she was ill. She was missed and I hope she’s on the mend.

It was a good time all in all. Everybody liked Bill, Theresa outdid herself cooking. Her culinary schooling paid off and she’s making a living as a caterer. We exchanged addresses and promised to stay in touch. It’s great to see family without a meddlesome corpse around. Bill and I came back home by 9:00 tired and cold and a bit damp. Now we’re nestled inside the apartment watching TV, nice and toasty.