I was considering the subject of the menu for our Free Thanksgiving Dinner at The Sonora United Methodist Church from 1 to 4 on Thanksgiving Day - which is a week from THIS Thursday. We will no doubt have the traditional dishes - turkey, dressing (I avoid stuffing my turkeys and just pour copious amounts of the flavorful turkey juice laced with the flavors of the vegies, herbs and turkey, plus the sauteed onion and celery of course, over the dried bread cubes!) We will probably need four to five big birds. I asked #1 son if he could provide some from the flock of wild turkeys that eat the bugs in his grass each evening. He said that he would have to have a license and didn't know when "turkey season" started, so I guess we will have the normal "store-bought" turkey. Good thing that those Pilgrims didn't need a license or a season, they would have STARVED. They were thankful for all that GOD provided each day, as we should be. It should NOT take a Presidential or Federal LAW to make us be thankful.
I read that the Pilgrims probably had a variety of wild birds, anything that they could snare or knock out of the sky with their blunderbusses. Also perhaps venison and seafoods - clams or lobster, oysters, or other mussels - were included in that first feast. We will undoubtably include corn as one of our vegies, and I know of yams and sweet tators and a green bean casserole on the list. Our congregation is so generous and willing to help out with this endeavor. GOD BLESS THEM!!
In the seven years that we have been a'doing this we have met some lovely people, fed some homeless folks who really get their fill of turkey that week - the local A/G church does a dinner out by the Coffee Store on the corner the night BEFORE Thanksgiving Day. Theirs is on disposable plates and with plastic table ware; ours is on china with real silverware - we are very thankful for the NEW Dishwasher!!
The first year with 27 guests swelled to over a hundred two years ago. Last year was a bit under a hundred, so don't know what to expect a week from Thursday. Last year my prayer was enough food for the number that came and enough guests to eat the food that GOD provided! My prayer was answered!! We have experienced divine multiplication at other times and in other places, GOD is capable! Come and enjoy the companionship and the food if you are in SONORA on Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
SNOW
Just as the leaves reached their PEAK of color, the snows came! I tried to take a photo today only to discover that my camera had dead batteries! (:-(
The six inches on Thursday night had melted in by Sunday morning when just four inches carpeted Strawberry in white again. By this morning - MONDAY - there was very little to be found. The garbage truck even made it up the hill to the dumpster - he did have the chains on though as I am sure that Old Strawberry Road was hazardous.
I love living where there is a change of seasons - it gets the "juices" flowing anticipating the change and then when it actually happens it is with a sense of relief that we don't have to WAIT. I was never good at waiting!
I remember the Christmas when a HEAVY smallish box sat wrapped for a month before Christmas; it was a gift from my husband and we had only been married for a couple of years. He delighted in picqueing my curiousity. By the time that Christmas morning had arrived I was READY for that sense of relief and instead of a brick, I found four place settings of our silver pattern. I felt like a queen and we still use that silver some fifty years later, but not every day as it has to be hand-washed to preserve the patina - that tarnish in the deep grooves that adds to the beauty of silver. I doubt if anyone bothers with any flatware that cannot be washed in the dishwasher in this day and age - unless they happen to have a MAID!
It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, perhaps that can be said of spending money on things that you only use occasionally. Is it better to have pretty, and pricey things, to use sparingly or to have less to care for and protect so you have less to worry about caring for, and less for your offspring to off-load when you are gone. If everyone felt that way there would be no market for second homes in the mountains, boats for those fishing trips, airplanes to take the family on vacations that would have been impossible / memories that would not have been made.
Snow comes when it comes; life is an adventure; your memories are the only things that make life interesting when you can no longer go for the adventures. My MountainMartha is philosophical today, perhaps because TWO old friends are in hospital and life is short. ENJOY!
The six inches on Thursday night had melted in by Sunday morning when just four inches carpeted Strawberry in white again. By this morning - MONDAY - there was very little to be found. The garbage truck even made it up the hill to the dumpster - he did have the chains on though as I am sure that Old Strawberry Road was hazardous.
I love living where there is a change of seasons - it gets the "juices" flowing anticipating the change and then when it actually happens it is with a sense of relief that we don't have to WAIT. I was never good at waiting!
I remember the Christmas when a HEAVY smallish box sat wrapped for a month before Christmas; it was a gift from my husband and we had only been married for a couple of years. He delighted in picqueing my curiousity. By the time that Christmas morning had arrived I was READY for that sense of relief and instead of a brick, I found four place settings of our silver pattern. I felt like a queen and we still use that silver some fifty years later, but not every day as it has to be hand-washed to preserve the patina - that tarnish in the deep grooves that adds to the beauty of silver. I doubt if anyone bothers with any flatware that cannot be washed in the dishwasher in this day and age - unless they happen to have a MAID!
It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, perhaps that can be said of spending money on things that you only use occasionally. Is it better to have pretty, and pricey things, to use sparingly or to have less to care for and protect so you have less to worry about caring for, and less for your offspring to off-load when you are gone. If everyone felt that way there would be no market for second homes in the mountains, boats for those fishing trips, airplanes to take the family on vacations that would have been impossible / memories that would not have been made.
Snow comes when it comes; life is an adventure; your memories are the only things that make life interesting when you can no longer go for the adventures. My MountainMartha is philosophical today, perhaps because TWO old friends are in hospital and life is short. ENJOY!
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