Thanksgiving Week

I remember a time, long ago ('o how these bones ache), when I went hunting with my friend up around Helena, Montana. We were both university students at the time and needed some food, a freezer full of deer meat.

One of my memories of that experience--hiking around in deep snow in freezing weather in the beautiful Montana outdoors--is of the lunch my friend's mom packed for us, in brown paper bags, no less, as if we were schoolboys. Wheat-grain bread with peanut butter and honey . . . let me tell you, that is really great after hiking around in the snow all day.

The other memory is mostly a bad one, but funny now. I had forgotten a can of soda in my friend's car. Oops. It froze overnight and exploded. We didn't know it until we were on the way back to university in Bozeman. Once the vehicle warmed up the previously-frozen soda drops that had adhered to the interior of his 4WD started dripping on us . . .

Ahh . . . amid all of the stupid, bad things in life, it is good to still have some wonderful memories to reflect on. And hopefully some new ones to make . . .