1. I'm hosting two small Thanksgiving dinners this week. Christy and Everett will be at both of them. Christy and I are sharing the cooking. On Wednesday, our niece Molly and her husband, Travis, will come early in the afternoon for salmon dinner. On Thanksgiving Day, stepson Patrick and his girlfriend, Meagan, will drive up from Portland and we'll have a turkey dinner together.
I got started cooking today. I'm making a cornbread dressing with shredded chicken in it and so I roasted a young chicken and I baked a batch of cornbread in bacon grease in a hot cast iron pan. I'll probably put this dressing, for Thursday's dinner, together on Tuesday, and let its flavors age a bit together, and bake it on Thanksgiving Day.
2. Christy brought a bowl I left at Carol and Paul's house Sunday evening and we broke out my bottle of Bushmill's Irish Wiskey, poured some over ice, and made sure we are on the same page with dinner preparations and talked about a bunch of other things. It was very relaxing to sit in the living room in the middle of the afternoon and enjoy a smash or two and talk things out a bit.
3. Maybe I'm easy to amaze! But, here I go. I'm amazed at how college basketball teams can, from one season to the next, lose really good players (and sometimes their coach), reorganize with new and returning players, and be playing very good basketball in November. Today I watched the last few minutes of the Virginia Tech v Michigan State game. I thought, coming into this season, that Virginia Tech would surely have an off season. Their fine coach, Buzz Williams, left to take a job at Texas A&M. The Hokies' splendid center, Kerry Blackshear, transferred to Florida; last year's team leader, guard Justin Robinson, graduated; and, their accomplished shooting guard, Nickeil Alexander-Walker left after his sophomore year to play professionally.
It was clear to me, though, after watching Virginia Tech defeat Michigan State today, 71-66, that hiring Wofford's Mike Young as their head coach is working very well and that this year's Hokies will be a tough opponent. The Hokies played hard-nosed, disciplined basketball. They dictated the game's tempo. Landers Nolley led the well-balanced Hokie offense with 22 points. Granted, Virginia Tech will most likely not win the ACC this season, nor will they be conference door mats. Again, it's amazing to me that after so much turnover, both of players and the head coach, that Virginia Tech could play so well at his point in the season and defeat a very strong Michigan State squad.
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