Hello and welcome to the fourteenth incarnation of the Thanksgiving Menu-Poem. It will be a quieter thanksgiving around our home this year, the house a bit more empty than it has ever been. On May the 5th our beloved orange tabby cat, and BlazeVOX namesake, Blaze passed away in the middle of the night. It was a peaceful death, if there is such a thing. As a memorial to her life and marvelous presence, this years Thanksgiving Menu-Poem will be my way to express my gratitude for the splendid fifteen years in which we were friends. It is my hope that it will be a touchstone moment for each of us to celebrate our friends and family, the ones who love us as we love them, and be thankful for their presence in our lives.

These fifteen years of Blaze’s life also coincides with the press’s fifteenth anniversary. She was instrumental in the inner-workings of the business as she was always nearby when I was working on the computer. Her company was always a comfort in the long, involved hours that writing, editing and setting texts. I will miss her more than I can adequately state. This year’s menu is set up in a traditional thanksgiving meal, served family style. There is only one story presented, it is a retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s Nightingale. This is one of the last pieces I was working on before Blaze passed on and it is fitting for the feelings in which I find myself wishing to express. I hope you enjoy. Thank You, Hurray and Happy Thanksgiving

 Rockets, Geoffrey