Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thinking of my Fiddler Kin today and hoping that all of you have safe travels, good visits, and full bellies.

Trent and I are having a quiet Thanksgiving today. We've got the turkey breast in the oven (Cajun again this year ... last year, I got the Cajun breast on accident; this year, that's all they had left. Oh well, it will still be tasty). I've made my mom's cranberry sauce, and we'll peel some potatoes soon. We'll also have green beans, sweet potatoes, dressing, and rolls. And, of course, Trent picked out a French Silk pie. Mmmmm. We started off the day by sleeping in and going for a run around the neighborhood. During our cool down walk afterward, we visited with several of our neighbors, including a family who was frying a turkey in the street. It smelled GOOOOD.

I actually just got back from the NCTE (English teachers) Convention Philadelphia on Tuesday night. I departed on Thursday amidst all the air traffic control glitches (or whatever was going on that day), and my flight was canceled and then my new flight was delayed several hours, so I sat in the airport for about 6 hours before departing for Philly. The conference itself was good, and my presentation went well. I also introduced a young adult author, Maureen Johnson, in front of a crowd of about 400 on Monday, and although I was nervous, my delivery was amazingly good (thanks, Betty McDonald -- 7th grade speech teacher), and afterward Maureen told me it was the best introduction she'd ever gotten. So I asked her to sign not just my copy of her book but also my speech. :-)

In between sessions, I had time to explore Philly a bit (I'll send pictures after we've returned from our Savannah trip). Here's what I enjoyed:

1. Reading Terminal Market. Oh Mylanta. Every city needs a place like this. It's a huge indoor market place with butchers, flower shops, chocolates, bakeries, diners, and all kinds of other restaurants -- Middle Eastern, Asian, Italian, sandwich shops, traditional Philly meals, etc. I had my first cheesesteak there. First and last, probably. I also had fabulous pretzels, lamb pita sandwiches, lo mein, chocolate covered marshmallows, and baklava. Actually, the baklava was total crap compared to my mom's, but everything else was fabulous. Plus, there were so many people to watch and listen to -- so many languages, dialects, etc. On my first stop there, I ate my cheesesteak across from a man named Santos, and he told me his life story. With mayonnaise on his cheek.

2. Liberty Bell. Pretty cool.

3. Chinatown. I went for a stroll around the city by myself on Sunday afternoon (there were tons of people out and about -- the Philly Marathon took place that morning), and I spent some time in Chinatown looking at shops. I stopped in a bakery and enjoyed a Taiwan Pineapple sweet bread of some sort. A young women who was obviously high on something sat down next to me in the bakery and promptly fell asleep in her egg drop soup.

4. The architecture and the feel of the city. There are some amazing buildings in city center. Lots of sculptures and statues and murals too. The city feels a little old, a little dirty, but also really cool. I loved listening to the car horns (a little like NYC, but not as incessant), and I stopped to watch about 50 skateboarders work their magic in a dry fountain in a square near city hall. Suddenly, they all began running toward and past me like a flock of birds. A few moments later a single police officer appeared strolling toward the park.

5. Good food. We also ate outside of the Reading Terminal Market, and we were never disappointed. On Sunday evening, I attended a publishers dinner at a kind of classy restaurant that served all of our meals family style, so I got to sample everything ... shrimp, sea bass, steak, chicken, and fabulous desserts. Monday night my colleagues and I ate at Portfino's, an Italian restaurant, where I had my old standby, fettuccine Alfredo. Mmmmmm.

I would definitely go back to Philly for a visit, and I'd recommend it as a destination for all of you, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!! I love you!