This is Bill Who?

Last night as I was channel surfing, Cool Hand Luke was on the old movie channel. It starred Paul Newman and George Kennedy. Kennedy received an Oscar for best-supporting actor that year. I shared the story with you last year that my daughter Kelly and family had bought the Kennedy home in Idaho
This one night last December I was in bed trying to get over pneumonia when the phone rang and a booming voice said, "Hello, Shirley? This is George Kennedy!" It was the man in person and I thoroughly enjoyed the call.
I was reminded of that call when one night last week the phone rang, and a voice, not booming, but loud enough, said, "Hello. This is Bill Clinton." I held my breath for a second until it dawned on me that George Kennedy would probably be the only celebrity I would ever talk to in person. Bill Clinton was a recording. I didn’t finish the one way conversation. I hung up just in time to get another call from Governor Doyle’s wife. I didn’t finish listening to her recording, either.
The next night the Democrats and Republicans called. At least they were real people. I told each of them that this is the first time I was going to vote a straight ticket. They both said .Thank you." I didn’t say I was voting their party, but I guess they were being positive thinkers. (I didn’t vote a straight ticket. There are some good people and some stinkers on both sides of the aisle)
All these calls came after a day of work, and in the later evening when I am on automatic pilot anyway. Not to mention the unending nasty commercials on TV and the crowding of my mailbox with red, blue, and green. It almost made me not want to vote. But vote I did.
I don’t know why I thought I was the only one who would be at the polls at the crack of dawn. There were a lot of people ahead of me. Had I been paying attention I would have known if you hadn’t registered since January, you had to register that day. But things went fairly fast and I got to work on time. My ballot was number 67.
That evening my granddaughter, Jade, came over for pizza. She said, "I thought you were going to call me to go vote with you." This would have been her first time voting. I felt guilty. She said, "We have time now" We called Uncle Ted and told him to leave his cold and sneezes at home, and come vote.
There was still a long line of people an hour before the polls closed. Jade stood patiently in line and said, "This is exciting." Wow. All the irritations I had were gone. I was proud of her that she felt that way. We should all feel that way. It is a big deal. She and unk were somewhere close to the 1250 count for votes. To take a word from the kids, "Awesome."
Some of my people and issues won, and some didn’t. But that’s okay. We voted. And as I was told, ":This is exciting."
Besides November being for voting, it’s also turkey time. I don’t know what Thanksgiving would be without turkey and all the traditional trimmings. I thought this year I would try and keep the old, but try some new dishes, too.
Sunday I got hooked on the Food Network Channel. Every program from Paula Deen to Rachel Ray had a different way to make the old bird. I decided to make it like my mom and grandma always did.. I will try a few different things I have not made before. The first one being pumpkin soup. This one sounds the best to me. And the easiest. I’ll have to tell you after Thanksgiving how it turned out.
THANKSGIVING PUMPKIN SOUP
(This can be made the day ahead)
to serve six you will need:
2 T butter
3 T diced onion
2 T flour
5 cups chicken broth
1 15 oz can unsweetened pumpkin
1 8 oz applesauce
1 t salt
½ t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
2 cups heavy cream
freshly ground black pepper to taste
croutons (optional)
Heat butter in large saucepan and saute onions
Sprinkle flour and stir
Add chicken broth and pumpkin. Stir until smooth
Add remaining ingredients except cream, pepper and croutons
Stir, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until flavors are blended.
If this is the day ahead, refrigerate and add cream and pepper the next day.
Other wise, stir in the cream, ladle out the soup, grind the pepper and add the croutons.
Save room for the pumpkin at the other end of the meal, and enjoy.