Thanks.

Hope you are well? It's been a whole month since I blogged, heck. The blank page becomes so frightening, doesn't it? And then you start thinking: why would anyone want to read my nonsense...Thanks for writing in and getting me back into it. It's the day after Thanksgiving here, bright and shiny. We had a quiet-ish one, but a good one. My brother, Tony, and his family came over the bridge, he has four girls: Pietra, 23, Devan, 20, Mirabelle, 11 and Cecily, nine, so for once it was girls galore.

The whole fang dang family

The front garden knew visitors were coming - old show-offs

Can you believe our hibiscus are blooming, Oakland in November.

It had all the ingredients of a traditional Thanksgiving. The day opened bright and beautiful with requisite yelling at the kids dispensing of repeated instructions about scrubbing the outdoor chairs.

The mish mash of chairs, tablecloths and wobbly tables from the garage that makes up Thanksgiving.

A day like this would not be complete without Kevin and I having a marital about how to cook the bird. Last year Kevin opted for Tarquin, the Ashtanga practising eco-bird from Sonoma. It was a mite tough so (after a few reminders from moi) this year he purchased one that was pre-brined. Friends, it was perfect.

Tallulah and Kevin with his golden pre-brined bird

Like childbirth, by the time the guests arrived we'd forgotten the pain. What a great day. It was all there: the early tension and ranting, the competitive ping pong, the loosening of the belts, the talk of surgeries past, the differences of opinion over who was the hero of childhood reminiscences. And many good chortles.

I did the roasted potatoes (serrated and covered in flour - how do you do yours?) plus roast yam and butternut squash in lemon. We had kale salad (loads left over in case you're wondering)

Plates of food never photograph well do they? But it was yummy

Brother Tony made the speech, his wife Grace behind him (love her dress!)

Tony's younger girls made the pies under the tutelage of their babysitter (who is a pastry chef by training...this is the Bay Area after all)

It was so warm we ate the pie on the deck out front

Tony

Tallulah, Teddy and Cecy

Cy taught the girls to Ripstick

Tony, 54, had double hip replacement last month. But the old man still beat Harley, 17.

Corner shop flowers performed well

Groundhog Day on the outfit, same as last year, Alice and Olivia trou

I know you to come to this blog for bunion-kind outfits but these are one aberration...the old YSLs are the most comfy (all relative) high sandals you'll find in the land

That old holiday staple, the clink of young children taking bottles to the recycling bin, was missing this year - Kevin and I have been on a two-month no-drinking binge (is that a thing?). We've got two weeks left.

And the line-up that makes it all worthwhile...

Cousins; Mirabelle, 11, Harley, 17, Cecily, nine, Cy, 10,  Jackson, 15, Devan, 20, Tallulah, 13, and Li'l Pietra, 23.

Family.