Happy Thanksgiving!

If this were Facebook, the first line would be "Julie wishes everyone a happy Thanksgiving."

What I'm really wondering is if the two friends who are spending the holiday in New York City went to the Macy's parade. Reports on NPR this morning made it sound fun, colorful - and cold!

Here we have a light gray day, with the sun working hard to break through. "Light gray" is a term I borrowed from a long-ago workmate, whose children (raised on the sunny side of the Cascades) informed her that there were three kinds of days in Puget Sound - light gray, medium gray and dark gray. It's an efficient way to sum up the weather, especially in winter, although this year we've had more sunny November weekends than usual.

Later today a neighbor and I are headed for the Edmonds ferry, to join friends in Kingston for dinner. On Saturday, L is cooking dinner for everyone at their new house on Vashon. Today she gets a welcome holiday from major food preparation because the restaurant is closed and they plan to spend the day quietly.

Last night I made two different recipes of Liptauer cheese, as contributions for various Thanksgiving feasts. Radio news was 90% Mumbai disasaters (BBC World Service, thanks to HD radio) with some amazing on-the-spot reports from reporters and survivors.

One businessman who lives in Mumbai said security around the Taj Mahal hotel had been noticeably increased in the past few weeks. When my brother visited India with a group last month, their original plan was to work part of the time in Mumbai. However, after a quick sightseeing visit, local contacts moved them quickly to a smaller city, explaining that Mumbai was not very safe.