Just Another Day To Be Thankful For

     Sorry I didn't get a post up yesterday.  Sometimes a day gets away from you and you have to just let it go.
    As I ended up having  to let Thanksgiving go yesterday when the day unexpectedly took off in an  direction of its own.
    Our traditional Thanksgiving family game plan is that our out-of-town children who are able to come home for the holiday arrive the night before and on Thanksgiving morning we pile into our van and head to Amherst, Ohio to Tom's sister Mary Jane's house for a family reunion and the feast that Mary Jane always prepares for us.
    But microbes care nothing for plans or traditions, and one of my visiting children woke up feeling sick and so decided to stay home rather than show up at Thanksgiving dinner with a bug to share.
    And though she insisted that she would be fine and that we should all go without her, I decided to stay home and spend Thanksgiving with my sick chick.
    But my chick wished only to spend the day lying on the couch and needed little from me except to bring her an occasional glass of Sprite, and so I found myself with a day to fill.
    I felt  at loose ends, though, like I should be doing something Thanksgiving-y,  making a turkey dinner or something.  But since I wasn't doing what I felt  I should be doing, I couldn't seem to decide what I should be doing instead:  Working on my novel?  Balancing the check book? Putting away the laundry?  Hanging a picture in the guest room? Researching new pieces for my piano students?  Practicing the piano? Dusting the piano? 
    After spending the morning more or less spinning my wheels by afternoon I came up with the idea of spending the rest of the day:
    1. Trying an experimental cherry cobbler recipe and
    2.  Getting a head start on a few desserts for my piano recital next Thursday, and maybe while I'm at it:
    3. Practicing my recital piece
    The only snag was that I'd need to run to the store to pick up the ingredients for the cobbler and the piano desserts. 
    Of course this wasn't a true snag - Kroger's was opened on Thanksgiving.  But somehow I felt a wee bit funny going grocery shopping at a time  when people were supposed to be with their families and friends eating or preparing turkey dinners.  I wondered who, if anybody, would be at Krogers in the middle of the afternoon on Thanksgiving.  Then it occurred to me that it would be interesting to find out. 
    Surprisingly, Krogers wasn't empty when I got there at around 2:00.  People were shopping.  So was I.  It actually felt kind of liberating, freedom from convention. I wondered what all these people who, were not currently esconced in a turkey dinner were doing for dinner?
    After I picked up my baking supplies - and some herb tea for my sick chick - I came home and, after making a nice fire:

     ...commenced my baking. 
    I started with the experimental cherry cobbler, which was actually just my recently-discovered Dollar Tree peach cobbler mix (see post from 11/14/2014  ) using canned sweet cherries in heavy syrup instead of peaches: 

    Except that I forgot to set the timer and then while the cobbler was baking I got all up in my practicing:

    So that my experimental cherry cobbler over-cooked a little:

    But ended up tasting pretty good anyway with a side of ice cream:

    Still, I do think the peach was better.
    Then for the recital I made  fancy brownies (not yet cut up) from a mix:

    And, of course, my mini-cupcakes:

   By the time the cupcakes were done it was evening, my daughter was feeling better and I felt I'd had a productive day.  Another day to be thankful for.