Taylor’s Mistake (and Happy Thanksgiving!)
*reeeeeeeach*
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Had a nice and lovely cruisy day yesterday with Kat. After a very late start to the day (we’d been up till nearly 3am planning our Christmas Roadtrip), we drove out to Sumner and Taylor’s Mistake to enjoy the sunshine and blue skies. The weather in Christchurch has been really craptastic for the last few weeks (cold, gray, rainy), so it was a welcome surprise to see that Sunday dawned so amazingly.
We weren’t the only ones with this idea, the beach had quite a number of people just sitting and chilling (the water was too cold for swimming, although a few kids and brave dogs were splashing about in the waves). There’s also a walking track that leaves from the far side of the beach that we plan to go back and do another day (we weren’t really wearing walking shoes), the Godley Head Walkway.
On a side note, Happy Thanksgiving! It’s my favourite holiday back home in Canada this weekend, and it’s the first time Ive been away for it. I called home this morning for a quick chat with my family. Turns out they’re eschewing the turkey (again! A worrying trend, this.) for a roast beef dinner instead. I told my dad that next year we were having turkey, as I wont have had it in over two years by that point. He laughed and said we could have it when I got home in April — although I think the proximity of my return to Easter means a ham is more likely. A lot of people here ask what the difference is between Canadian and American thanksgiving. The short answer is that ours falls earlier in the year: ours is always the second Monday in October, theirs is the last Thursday in November.
Pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving 2007 @ James and Mayla
The slightly longer answer is that we are giving thanks for different things than the Americans. While they are giving thanks for the harvest and remembering the Pilgrims’ arrival in the New World, we instead are celebrating “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed”, a day whose roots trace back to Martin Frobisher’s successful return from finding the Northwest Passage in 1598.
This year I’m thankful for my job, my friends back home (some of whom have the lovely habit of telling me how much they love and miss me on a regular basis) who I miss more than I thought I would; my family, and the continued presence of my Grandmother who is now 104 (105?) years old and still going strong; my friends here in New Zealand that make life interesting and amusing. I’m also thankful that I’m able to live the life that I do. I never thought I would end up here, on the other side of the world, but I’m thankful that I am!
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