Thanksgiving x 3 and Traveling to Zimbabwe

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My brother Don and his daughter arrived from NJ and NYC on the 18th of November.  We went and spent the day in San Francisco on the 20th with Kathy Rose, Marc, Derekca, Don and Hannah and I.  Don had lived in SF for many years and so we looked for his old houses where he stayed, ate on Fisherman's wharf and walked Pier 39.

On the 19th of November some nurses I used to work with at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital (1989-1990) met together at Judy Lindburg's house in Santa Rosa.  It was so great to see the group--many have retired and some are continuing on.  We had many great times together in Labor and Delivery and were able to share many of those stories laughing about them now!

Our family met together on the 21st of November for our first Thanksgiving--the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  My oldest brother Don came from NJ with his daughter Hannah from NYC.  Then my oldest sister's husband Mike from Reno, my niece Tracy from San Jose and her son Nic and then my nephew from Elk Grove, Greg and his girlfriend Peggy and Greg's eldest Kelsey, then next brother Dennis and his wife Kathy Rose and their son Marc and his wife Derekca and their sons, Alec and Maximo, then my youngest sister Kim and Sylvia my Zimbabwean sister, all from Santa Rosa.   We all met for a big traditional lunch at Dennis and Kathy's clubhouse where they live.  We ate and ate.  We also laughed a lot and also were sad as we missed my eldest sister, Carol, who died 3 years ago and this was our first full family gathering without her.

Everyone left by Monday the 23rd except my oldest brother Don who is staying for 3 weeks.  He has not been to California in 9 years and so wanted to spend some extra time at home. 

On real Thanksgiving Day on the 26th I got to have breakfast/tea with the John Barnett family and their kids and grandkids who had come from Southern California (all Chidamoyo alumni).   Then in the afternoon Derekca, Kathy Rose and I took Maximo and Alec to see the new Charlie Brown movie.  We all enjoyed that as Charles Schultz worked and lived in Santa Rosa for more many years before he died.  We then went to Marc and Derekca's for some Mexican food and Family Game night.  A relaxing day and no one had to cook much!

On Black Friday I took my brother out to do some last minute shopping and we were surprised the stores weren't that crowded!  We then met up with the rest of the family for Chinese food for dinner.

Saturday we had our third and final big Thanksgiving dinner at Sylvia's house with 14 people (my family, hers and my forwarding agents Gene and Sue).  We had Turkey, Prime Rib and all the trimmings.  We were all finally tired of eating!

Sunday night we gathered at Kathy and Dennis's for a family farewell dinner as I prepared to go.

Monday we left at 10:00 for the airport--stopping for breakfast on the way!  Wow--we all pledged to stop eating so much! I am going back to my sadza diet!

I left at 3 p.m. Monday from San Francisco to Paris.  I am now in Paris on a 12 hour lay over.  Got some sleep and now waiting a few more hours to get on the plane and continue to Johannesburg, South Africa and then Harare tomorrow night (Wed) at 9:30 p.m--home at last!




 Family eating Thanksgiving


 Cousins and great cousins playing games

Thanksgiving Mexican food

Dinner with former colleagues from Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital


 Showing East Coast family San Francisco for the day


 The whole family at Thanksgiving #1

Sylvia with great-nephew Alec

Thanksgiving #3 at Sylvia's




Beautiful maple trees at Sylvia's turning bright red

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