Thanksgiving - The most 'North American ' of all experiences

           We were informed by Dr Jim in October  that we were invited by one of our PDS co-ordinators Robin  for Thanksgiving dinner and this was followed by an invitation by the lady herself.I did not remember what  Robin looked like, as I had seen her  very early on, in one of the September UMD programs.The entire group of DAT scholars , except the three who had gone visiting their local relatives , were taken by two vans to Robin's house on the 25th at 4.30 PM. I traveled in the van in which Robin's younger daughter , Darren ,had graciously agreed to drive us.With Lindi and his 'straight and daunting' questions directed at Darren, we made are way to our destination.With barely any traffic on the road , she was able to concentrate on fielding Lindi's 'googlies' regarding the origin of the name 'Black Friday'.Unfazed by all the conversation Darren drove us to their house situated in a lovely neighbourhood.
          Once there, Robin came out to greet us with the webcam in which she recorded our  arrival.We went into the warmth of a very lovely house.Her husband came to greet us and we settled down with a drink.In between the conversation with us,  Jim ,Robin's husband would tend to preparation of the food for dinner .It was such a nice experience.He talked to us about his experiences in Argentina as he prepared the food.Robin too discussed her husband's passion for mountaineering and how by the early 1980's he gave it up when they settled to start a family.We took a tour around the house and settled down for some time in their 'cave' .It had a state of art music system , stuffed animals that Jim had hunted ,some pictures of his mountain climbing days and some very comfortable seating.
           Robin went to get the turkey that they had placed in the neighbour's oven ' A Whole Turkey'.It was a sight to behold. Robin then rang a bell to announce dinner and we were arond the kitchen table , they discussed the significance of Thanksgiving as started by the Pilgrims who first came to America. We then sat down to dinner around 7.00 PM.They had prepared both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food .It was excellent .Both Robin and her husband had prepared every thing. The decor in and around the table consisted of artwork made by school children ; placement mats and turkeys  and pilgrims made from paper.Sooo creative! During dinner Robin and Jim shared the recepies they had used for the dinner. After dinner we sat down in two groups ,one in the living room talking and watching TV and the other group went down to the 'cave' to listen to music.Lindi had a great time ,playing golf indoors.Close to 8.00 PM we had dessert.There were 3 types of pies with whipped cream;pecan pumpkin and apple.I loved the pecan nut pie.
           When Lindi rode his hobby horse again about the woman's place being in the kitchen, Robin said 'Lindi I think I need to talk to you.Better still , I think you should follow Jim around.'
We went around shooting pictures of their beautiful house. After that it was time to leave.This visit will defintely leave us with some wonderful memories of American hospitality.We were there for 5 hours but we were so comfortable I never felt like an outsider.Remember, we were 15 guests in the house.Robin packed  leftovers to carry home  for some of us . It takes a lot to play hosts, in such a delightful manner.All good things must come to an end ! We left for our homes at 9.30 PM.Darren dropped us back with no incidents '.

Thanksgiving

    

The calcite splendour

Luray Album           On Nov 6th we were escorted by Dr Jim Greenberg and Holly Emert of AED to the Luray caverns in Virginia.We started out at 8.00 AM on a very cold morning.We went in 4 vans.After 30 minutres or so we entered the state of Virginia after crossing the bridge of the American Legion over the Potomac. we were in the last  but one van and were driven by Dr Jim.Within 5 minutes or so we heard a big bang and  our van which was travelling at  a very high speed ,tottered to a shuddering stop with Dr Jim carefully directing it to the right shoulder on the Beltway. I suspected that there had been a pucture.We got out to investigate and I saw that what I had suspected was true.The last van with Mikko also came to a stop and he jogged  out to our car .Then we started removing the extra tyre fixed at the bottom of the car.Raj also joined us and mikko,raj and me set about removing the puctured tyre and replaced it with the temporary one.It was icy cold.Li Heong with her red jacket deflected the traffic away from our side on the Beltway.After fixing the tyre we went to a mechanic shop where we bought a new tyre , but as our rim was dented we had to wait around 1 1/2 hours for the car to be fixed. Some of us had breakfast during this time.We had the accident at 8.30 AM we got the repaired car only at 11 Am.The other group had reached Luray and started the tour inside the cavern.We arrived close to 2.00 Pm .The other 2 vans departed for home while we just set off to the caverns.Though it was icy outside,once we got in it was quite warm and moist.
The colours and formations of stalactites and stalagmites were spectacular.Initially we were close to the surface,so the formations were small.But as we went deeper in to the caverns ,the pillars got bigger and finally in the central part they reached from the ground to the ceiling.The "Dream Pool","Pluto's ghost","Persephone","The Bride and the Groom", Draperies"are some of the names given to the formations we see.It was very beautiful.In the "Ball Room" as it was called earlier ,there is an organ which uses these formations to generate sound of different frequencies which were generated by a rubber mallet hitting it with the help of  an electrical circuit.These sounds were amplified and the music thus created at different parts of the stalactities were then put on a PA system.With the colours that we saw and music we heard and scenes of the formations and pools of
water all swirling through our minds we came out of these caverns into the harsh biting cold outside.After a lunch ,we headed for home.We stopped for some apple pie,cider.... at the Apple House.A nice quaint looking shop with very expensive products on sale.After 30 minutes, we then set off and returned to the Mazza at 7.30 PM.
It was another very different experience.A  suitable addition to the very colourful repertoire of experiences that were already present.