Well it’s been a very good day. I hope it’s been a very good day for you as well. Woke up to find Bill traversed around Hoboken getting bagels and some brownies and also the newspaper. A lovely way to start off a Thanksgiving day.

I puttered around the apartment, having a few hours to get ready to go. Bill and I were going to Pine Bush NY to his cousin Hiram and Hiram’s wife Chris’ house. We went up there last year and had a good time and we were both looking forward to a similar time today.

I shaved and got myself ready, deciding to wear a suit and tie since I haven’t had many opportunities to get dressed up. Soon enough it was time to go. I hoped that we would see Julio and Alexander while walking through Church Square Park since Julio phoned from there a little bit earlier, but he had a full schedule, having to go to the market and then to North Bergen to pick up his mother for a dinner in Hoboken.

Bill, the master planner had it all figured out, having bought tickets yesterday enabled an easy walk to the train station. Bill was worried it would be like it was last year when we left from Grand Central Station.

That was a hassle since there were a ton of people leaving the city and getting to Grand Central was a pain in the ass since I needed to cross the street during the big Thanksgiving parade and the only way to do that was to use my Metro Card and go through the turnstile, walk past the subway booth and then climb the stairs out not using the subway at all.

No it wasn’t going to be like that since we were avoiding the city altogether. It turned out to be a beautiful day after all, enough so that we dilly dallied a bit.

As expected the train station wasn’t crowded at all and we found some good seats, Bill getting the window. About 2 hours later we got off the train in Middletown, which is the stop before Otisville where Pedro & Connie live.

We were picked up and on our way past horse farms and cows grazing in Pastures. We weren’t in Hoboken anymore. Bill’s cousin Hiram was outside holding court and I hung outside for a while taking in the scenery of the mountains in the background.

I remarked that it was a beautiful sight and another guest said it was broken. I asked him what he meant and he quoted from the book of Romans, some nonsense about how the Garden of Eden would be restored once Jesus would come back from wherever it was he’s been hiding for 2000 years.

I pegged him as someone to avoid and avoid him I did. Obviously someone who wears his religion on his sleeve and probably a supported of the recent Manhattan Doctrine, where christianists have vowed to disobey the law where it involves the rights and protections of LGBT people, relating to a higher power, somewhere in a cloud or orbiting the earth in a satellite.

So this guy while he turned out to be OK I was wary being around him. Dinner was wonderful, Chris really outdid herself on the turkey and all the side dishes and pies. A really nice time. Time flew by, we had to catch a 6:00 train so all in all we were there about four hours.

It was a close call, if we missed that train which ran express we would have to wait until 9:00 to catch the next train and that wasn’t express. Hiram’s son in law Aarick (pronounced Eric) got to the station where the train was about to leave.

A long nap for Bill and a 5 minute nap for me after reading the October 25 issue of the New Yorker. I am so behind on the New Yorker. Bill and I enjoyed some cigars, walking through the mostly deserted streets of Hoboken.

Now we sit, eating brownies and watching the Paul McCartney Live at Citi Field special on the telly. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving like we did, luv.