Thanksgiving Day Memories by Chris

I think those of us who have memories from our early childhood and choose to remember them is a rubber stamp of approval for the parents that raised us.  Memories are always bigger and better then they were in real life...the house that seemed like a mansion was really a very small house when you return to see it years later. The tree you climbed that was so very big was not quite as big as you imagined. There is an artist by the last name of Peterson that draws pictures of places and then draws ghost images of what went on in the past.

My image is a farm house in Kansas on Thanksgiving Day.  In the front, there is a football game being played and a pile of young men and boys piling on someone with the ball. Through the window of the old house, over the pumpkin pies cooling, you can see the women huddled around the kitchen preparing the feast.  The screen door is being held open by an older woman with a bell ringing the sound that the meal is ready. On the porch are two hunting dogs one a white and orange English Setter with his ears propped up waiting for his master to say “kennel up”; the bell sound doesn’t faze him. The other dog is a large Black Lab lying, exhausted, full of burrs and he too waiting for the next chance to hit the field.  At the bottom of the stairs is a bowl of scraps recently set out. The cats and kittens unfazed by the dogs huddled around trying to get a bite and a pair of Siamese cats inside looking out the window wishing they could be outside. On the side of the house is a young girl hiding from someone behind a bush, presumably playing hide and seek.  On the other side the older girls with hoola hoops seeing who could “hoop” the longest and some swinging on a tire swing.  Off in the distant by a shed are the older men with hunting vests on cleaning pheasants and laughing about some story or joke just told. They are surrounded by farm animals waiting for a piece of the action. The drive way is bumper to bumper with farm trucks and vehicles, Indiana plates, Missouri plates and Nebraska plates. One is a green station wagon covered with dust probably from a recent excursion down a jungle road with the back window open and someone peeking out before they are found.  To the right there is a large barn with a loft full of hay.  A pen full of Black Angus cattle and pigs off to the right surround the barn. There are goats, ducks, and geese of all kinds wondering around the place.  To the left of the house is a large field of freshly cut milo and off in the distant sky in all directions are flocks of geese, Snows and Blues and Canadians. The house is in dire need of repairs, the mailbox on the road in front is bent to the side with the words “The Olsen’s”, a welcome place to be on Thanksgiving Day.