Editor's Notebook

This is Thanksgiving week and my mind is drifting back to a time when my grandparents lived and Thanksgiving meant a time for all the aunts and uncles and their children to gather at my grandparents' home for a special meal. The main course included a bird. One year my father had fattened a goose which grandmother dressed and served. Another year the meal featured wild quail which my father had shot and grandmother also fixed. Most years the meat was turkey.

There were mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, a variety of salads, sweet potatoes, frozen peas and dressing. As good as that all was, o...