Maryland Thanksgiving Day 1

Wednesday morning its up early in the morning to begin my trip to Maryland to spend Thanksgiving with Mike and Marge Staed. Mary very kindly drove me to South Station in downtown Boston. It looks like train #83 will depart on time./


I have time to visit the Au Bon Pain kiosk to buy a raspberry cheese danish and a glass of orange juice to take onto the train.

I buy a copy of the New York Times and board the train which leaves on schedule.

There is an occasional view outside the train window of open countryside and water but it is mostly urban landscape so I turn to my paper and soon it is lunchtime.

I walk forward to the snack car and get a turkey and swiss cheese sandwich on chiabatta bread to take back to my seat. It is surprisingly good.

The New York Times crossword puzzle is easily solved today.

The train is overheated but the conductor says he is powerless to do anything about. I look around and see that many of the passengers have shed thier outer garments so I strip down to my undershirt.

I pass the remaining time of the trip reading a spy novel reader"Winter in Madrid" on my Sony electronic reader. This small reader holds up to 80 books. The text can be magnified and the background is non-glare.

The trip lasted for seven hours and the train arrived in Maryland on schedule. Mike was at the station waiting for me.

Marge prepared a very nice supper of chicken breast, cheese, apricot preserves, and rosemary wrapped and baked in puff pastry. Delicious.

A couple hours of visiting and catching up on the news and I was off to bed.