The weekend before Thanksgiving, my wife, Tia, left for France to visit our daughter studying in Paris, so I gave Saturday the attention a pirate gives his map – which movies to see, which writing to finish, which Fresh Market pre-cooked feasts to savor.

Dawn evolved cold and bright. Lucky, our Bichon-Cockapoo mix, scratched on the back door. Noticing the slick deck, I remembered Tia warning me all fall, “Don’t go out back when it’s slippery; you might fall.”

Ha! Slippage happened on Slip-n-Slides, not on stairs navigated by mature husbands left in charge of the family pet.