Thanksgiving

I experienced two significant firsts yesterday: Thanksgiving and snow. I woke up early, about six am, ran to the window, and the street was all white. Fortunately Heather's friend Kara had loaned us snow jackets the day before, so we put those on (dressing is such a damn process in the cold) and eventually went outside. It was snowing lightly, and to my surprise the snowflakes reminded me of bushfires, because ash falls just as delicately and unpredictably as small snowflakes. We made little snowballs and threw them at each other. Heather told me how to walk in order to avoid slipping. I tried to catch snow on my tongue. It was all so fabulous, but the snow only lasted a couple of hours after that, and then it rained. We spent the rest of the day inside.

J. cooked the Thanksgiving turkey, and Heather's aunt cooked almost everything else. Heather and I roasted some pumpkin and sat around for the rest of the day, talking and watching everyone else do things. At around 4:30 we ate the most delicious meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin, peas, cranberry sauce, and gravy. And wine. Afterwards we had coffee and pumpkin pie. This is such a fantastic tradition! I think we'll have to celebrate it in Australia (at our place, I mean) from now on. It's very important to embrace Heather's cultural traditions and make her feel at home. If it means we have to consume large amounts of roasted foods, so be it.

More weight

On Monday we went to Salem and were shown around by Heather's friend M.L. and her partner Heather, who live there. We ate luch at a kind of diner called Red's where all the waitresses are funny, know all the customers by name, and talk with thick Boston accents. I ordered a roast beef sandwich with fries. When my food arrived, I thought I must've mumbled, for there was no sandwich to be found, just mounds of roast beef and chips. I didn't want to say "but I ordered a roast beef sandwich", so I began moving the slices of roast beef around, hoping that some bread might appear. Finally, deep beneath the layers of meat, I found a couple of very thin slices of white bread. Sandwiches are different here.

After lunch, M.L and Heather took us to the Salem Witch Museum. The town is famous, or infamous, for its witch trials of 1692, as described by Arthur Miller in The Crucible. Nineteen people were hanged after being falsely accused of practising witchcraft. Another was crushed to death when he refused to admit his guilt. Stones were placed on his chest to try to force him to confess. He wouldn't confess, but simply said: "More weight." His accusers added more weight until he was crushed to death.

We watched a retelling of the events and then wandered out into a display called something like "Witches through the Ages", which talked about changing attitudes to witchcraft. Finally there was a wall with the words "Fear + Trigger = Scapegoat" painted in really large letters. Underneath there were examples of how, using this equation, fear leads to persecution. For example, Japanese Americans (fear), plus Pearl Harbor (trigger) equals war camps for Japanese Americans (scapegoats).

Today the morning news reported that a group in Massachusetts is lobbying to have gay marriage banned again. It is currently legal here, and has been for two years. The conservative lobby group is collecting names on a petition, because they strongly believe that marriage should be between men and women only.

Peace

On Sunday, Heather and I slept late and wandered into town for breakfast at around 11. We bought Dunkin' Donuts hazelnut coffee and sat in a little square in the weak sunshine. Nearby, a small group of protestors with rainbow-coloured banners and bright coats held a very small rally against the war. They told us to tell our friends in Australia that all Americans do not support the war. "We are here protesting every Sunday," they told us. "And support is growing. Resistance to the war grows every week. Tell your friends."

Dinner in Boston

On Saturday night we had dinner with four of Heather's friends and her cousin, J. We drove into Boston's South End, and although the parking was extremely limited and the traffic was crazy, the drive gave me a good chance to see a bit of Boston. We're really busy with family commitments at the moment, in the lead up to Thanksgiving, but we'll do some sightseeing in Boston as soon as possible.

We ate at a restaurant called Garden of Eden and the food was delicious. Afterwards we went to a tiny jazz club called Wally's Cafe. For me, the best part of the evening was walking from place to place and looking at the beautiful brownstone buildings. Everything is so old and gorgeous. Often there was steam spilling out from the buildings, from steam heating, and I got Heather to take a picture of me and J. in front of one of the vents. When we returned to our car at about 2am, there was frost on the top. Driving home, we passed a clock that told us the time and the temperature in big neon letters. At 2:30am, it was minus four degrees.