Well. Thanksgiving was abbreviated, a shadow of its former self. We went down to Youngstown in the morning, stayed for a brief three-hour visit, and headed home. This was way too short, in my view; I felt bad because Kathy and Richard assumed the lion's share of the burden of cooking and cheering up the elders . . . but mine was a minority opinion. Even Uncle Carl asked, "Why did you bother coming down?" He wasn't bitter or angry or upset at the short visit; he was just genuinely puzzled about why we would have made the effort. It's a strange sort of sexism running through the previous generation of the Bauman clan. Emil gets that reaction, but Kathy, well. If Kathy hadn't shown up or had spent such a short time, there would have been words, believe me.

And I didn't cook a single thing this year, which was odd in the extreme. Kathy made the (wonderfully delicious) dinner, and Emma made the pies. (All by herself -- really. She's been claiming to have done this for years, but mostly, that's been a stretch of the truth, to say the least. But this year, all I did was buy the ingredients.) There were intimations (from my daughter, mind you) that my turkeys over the years Have Been Dry, which, to tell the truth, crushed me. I used to enjoy cooking them so much . . .

There are rumblings that Thanksgiving could be Very Different next year, and I must say, I am alarmed. We won't be able to (haven't been invited to) participate if that's the case, and I'm feeling really left out already. I am trying not to fret. Maybe we'll go to Hawaii. (Or Australia, like Alexander wanted to . . . )

But not if we don't sell the Ann Arbor house, that's for sure . . .

In the meantime, though, I've resolved to enjoy that house, as long as we're paying for it. This weekend, Emma and I are here camping out. At least, it felt like camping when we arrived yesterday, but the longer we stay, the less that's the case. I got a cheap TV from the Salvation Army yesterday, and have hooked it up to the antenna. (So cool that we have a functioning antenna! Several years ago I got the rotor fixed for Emil for Christmas . . . ) I turned on the TV this afternoon, and CBC was showing curling . . . I was charmed. I have no idea how curling works. At any rate, it was followed by downhill skiing, which really did captivate me sincerely . . .

And someone around here has an unsecured wireless network, which is ganz ausgezeichnet . . . I hope they never realize we're stealing access. Last night Emma and I went to the Michigan Theatre to see For Your Consideration (a disappointment, although the organ player beforehand was a delight, as always). And this afternoon I went for a lo-ong bike ride along the Mighty Huron, which was totally relaxing and just what I needed, as I have been wrapped way too tight lately, worrying about money and the future on what feels like a cellular level, it's so deep.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to the UM library to check out books in preparation for my Multimedia Rhetoric class next semester. It's been interesting being here, because I realize that, aside from my friends, all I really miss is the library (and the rest of the university). The city of Ann Arbor itself increasingly seems bland and expensive to me.

And everything is so far away, relatively speaking . . . in Lansing we're about a mile from Meijers, a half mile from a totally cool grocery store, and of course a scant two and a half miles to work for me . . . in A2, we're close to a lot of stuff I can't afford. And there's a ton of traffic, even on this relatively quiet weekend. I guess I'm just not much of a big-city person, and this place feels more and more like the suburb of a big city (absent the big city . . . )

At any rate, it's a strange sort of limbo we're in, owning these two houses. But it feels good to be taking advantage of that limbo. All in all I'm having a good, if unconventional, weekend . . .