Dec.
16, 2007 - Thanksgiving with the "Family"
by Beth & Al Liggett
It
has been years since we have shared turkey and all the trimmings
with our regular family members. The parents are gone, and we have
many brothers and sisters, but mostly we have been on the outer
edges of some far-flung piece of land when November rolls around.
Nevertheless,
wherever we are, we still manage to have turkey with all the trimmings,
and a great Thanksgiving with our cruising "Family".
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Time out from the hot kitchen for a "Pool Cool". L-R
are: Paul, Glenn, Pat, Beth, Jim (hiding), Erja, and Susan. |
We
arrived in Langkawi, Malaysia, about a week before Thanksgiving
of 1998. We joined our longtime friends Peter and Sandy who had
just sailed RAI REVA across the Indian Ocean from Kenya.
We hadn't seen them for almost 6 years - a reunion that was a "thanksgiving"
just by itself! I remember going shopping with Sandy for some of
the food items we needed to prepare our dishes to share with a gathering
of cruising friends at the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Cranberries?
Never heard of them. Celery? We bought the local version; it would
work in the stuffing at least. I'm not sure just how or where we
scored a turkey, but there actually were 3 birds for our table that
day! Turkeys here are small - 8 to 10 lbs - and it seems everybody
wanted some leftovers!
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|
Star Swimmers! |
We
stored the provisions and sailed around to the fjord anchorage by
the Fresh Water Lake. It was our first time there, and it was to
become one of our favorite anchorages. Joining SUNFLOWER
and RAI REVA, we met up with Paul and Susan of ELENOA,
Jim and Pat from BEAU JEU, Glenn and Erja from AKU
ANKKA, and Ralph and Connie aboard ARJUMAND. They
already knew each other and Peter and Sandy, and although we were
the new kids on the block, they adopted us readily into their "family".
It was a great Thanksgiving!
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Carvers carving. |
It
certainly was one that ELENOA will never forget. Just before
dessert was served Paul went back to the boat to turn on his ice
cream maker. We'd have ice cream to go with my pumpkin pie. (I know
- how decadent!) He started ELENOA's engine to power up the
ice cream machine. He was busy with the mixture below when there
was this horrendous CRASH! Seems his engine had been slightly in
gear when he started it, and the boat slowly motored forward until
it struck another sailboat in the stern! OUCH!! That was expensive
ice cream!
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Al thought this Thanksgiving with the family just PERFECT! |
Fast
forward to this year's Thanksgiving. BEAU JEU is in a marina
in Phuket where Jim and Pat have bought a house. ELENOA is
in Mexico, but Paul and Susan took passage aboard the STAR
CLIPPER for her repositioning cruise from the Mediterranean
to SE Asia, and they arrived in Phuket a few days before it was
time to eat turkey again. AKU ANKKA and SUNFLOWER
sailed up from Langkawi to be with the gang. So that's four of the
original cast of characters once again celebrating Thanksgiving
as a "family"! (RAI REVA is in Australia; ARJUMAND
is in the Caribbean.) We added Jack and Sandy from ZORANA,
and Alain and Odile from MANNIKANADA to the family this year.
And, thank goodness, this time serving ice cream with my pumpkin
pie was totally uneventful!
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|
Special guests Paul and Susan Mitchell from yacht ELENOA. It
was the first time in over five years that we all had a chance
to visit together. |
Al
and I are very thankful to have been blessed with such wonderful
friends who have indeed become our family over the years. And Al
says...HE is really thankful that they are all such good cooks!
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Paul, Odile, and Glenn help themselves to the Thanksgiving food. |
