A funny thing happened on our way home. . . .
In my last post, “Three Weeks on the Road,” I told you abut our trip this summer. When we got home, however, a slight glitch came to light. Here’s the saga:
Setting: Don and Ruth’s kitchen (their old home, not the new) on St. Joseph Island, Ontario, just east of Sault Ste Marie.
Principle characters: Ruth and Jim.
Plot—Scene 1: Ruth has cooked a turkey and is hurriedly carving the bird and disassembling the carcass. I marvel at her deftness, especially in light of the magnificent turkey dinner she is about to set before us AND the wedding shower she has to attend that very evening. She thrusts the carcass in a plastic bag and hustles it off to her cellar freezer.
Scene 2: Two bagged ice containers in our cooler need to be refrozen. Ruth takes them down and brings up a blue thing or two to tide us overnight.
Scene 3: Next morning, we eat Ruth’s delicious and HEALTHY breakfast, then make sandwiches with leftover turkey. Ruth wraps pie for Jim from the TWO pies she had served the night before.
Scene 4: Time to swap ice packs and get on our way. I send Jim to the cellar, and he comes up with only one. I send him back, and he installs the second in our cooler. (You can probably see where this is going.) We hug everyone in sight, even Leah the dog, and wave goodbye.
Scene 5: Home at last and emptying the cooler. One ice pack feels strange. I open it and find……….Ruth’s turkey carcass!
Scene 6: Red-faced Jim on the phone confessing his sins to Ruth. She, gracious hostess that she is, laughs. I, however, am not amused. Any serious cook sees a turkey carcass in the freezer as a pot of gold. Think turkey broth and the delicious soups that might have been made! And how often does anyone even roast a turkey? (Remember, this is Canada, not the U.S. with our Thanksgiving.) That alone speaks volumes of Don and Ruth’s love for us. But oh, the fringe benefits of a turkey carcass…
Finale: I cooked the Gilbertson Carcass this week, and we had our first soup—doubly rich with grace and forgiveness. Even richer, though, is the honor of SUCH a friendship!
