WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS…

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS…

Now they tell me. I have 200 4-inch blocks in my crumb box and decide to check out Bonnie's site for setting options. There I discover her method for dealing with those overwhelming crusts and crumbs. Just a basket full at a time! I have been running through crumbs for a couple weeks now and it was getting difficult to scoop out enough space on the table for DH's meals. Kept needing to add one more of this or that color, this or that hue; so it was downstairs to haul up a few more possibles. First thing you know there was a mountain of possibilities and I couldn't see the trees for the forest.

So…taking good advice to heart, I sorted through all the scraps on the table – two-inch slips and real crumbs in a basket; two-inch strips in one bag (yes, I confess, I invaded the 2-inch strip box for wanted variety) and larger squares, rectangles in another. An hour or so later, I have a single basket of bona-fide crumbs and a new start of smaller (if not itty-bitty) slips and slivers for more squares. Now those squares already cut that showcase only 3-4 fabrics are staying in the mix. But now perhaps it will look like I've done less cheating in the process.

Speaking of crumbs…I had cornbread crumbled in buttermilk for lunch. When I was a child, we often had cornbread with sweet milk for Sunday supper. That's still one of my take-me-home favorites. Several friends have mentioned cornbread and buttermilk, so I've been wanting to try that for a while now – was just waiting to think about it and have reasonably fresh buttermilk at the same time. It was every bit as good, maybe even a schooch better! Shocking, I know. So this will serve as notice that, although I may be tardy about instructions, I am NOT YET too old to learn new tricks…at any table function.

GREEN, GREEN, IT'S GREEN THEY SAY...on the far side of the hill...

If my camera were working I'd take a green, green green photo of the evening. We've had rain - mostly gentle, but lots of it - every day since Wednesday or Thursday of last week. The spring greens are looking pretty summery, with the biggest contrast seen on the new shoots of pine!

Our supper green was sauteed asparagus...YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM. I could eat my weight in fresh asparagus. I even find myself munching the 'tough' ends that snap off raw as I prepare to cook the rest. Thank you DS!!! (She sent DH the plants.)

DH lit a fire in the wood stove. No it's not THAT cold, but under 70 feels chilly when you're over 60 and it's this damp. We had a power outage, which fried the freezer compressor yesterday. A very small casualty of weather, considering other calamities here and abroad. We moved all the corn to the refrigerator freezer; and most of the venison, I think. Let DH take command of the transfers, since he knows what food stuffs are more valuable to him. Perhaps this will be "enforced" downsizing. We could manage without that freezer - and not miss it at all 'til the corn comes in.

I'm still playing with crumbs between household chorelets. [It's hard to scrounge up a full-sized chore some days...changing a bed, doing a couple loads of laundry -- naw, grandma Oe wouldn't call that work!] The 4-inch squares are adding up; but I'm not stopping to count them...I might find out I need to stop if I do that. But you can only twist crusts in so many directions, so I'm sure their days are numbered.

Don't think Grandma Oe would call piecing crumbs work either, but I'm sure as rain that she would approve.

CRUSTS

You know, the part left over that nobody wants.You might even call them crumb orphans.

Well to me they look like another scrappy quilt. I can't find my direction color wise. I'll just keep making them and then divide them by zones. I'm really liking the blocks with brown in them.

But if they are all combined we'll just have eclectic crusts. Hmmm.....

TODAY'S TREASURE

Every day has it's treasures. Many times the smallest are the most precious. The picture is of DH's tiniest sister. She's always been tiniest. (I couldn't choose the sweetest if my life depended on it...and I'm too wise to try.) We went to visit an Aunt today, who had this photograph in one of her MANY envelopes of hidden treasure. I asked to borrow it so that I might make a copy for DH and she graciously agreed.

Something about youth...this sister has retained. The size, the blue eyes, the caring spirit, the inner beauty, the sincerity, the intensity? Leaves one to ponder. But something in the picture, taken not too long before I met her for the first time, brought back a treasure to be enjoyed today ... and through a good many tomorrows.

FRINGE BENEFITS

My current computer project is compiling a set of verses for a new volume of poetry (authored by a dear friend of the family). I had the honor of illustrating the first volume, published circa 1989; and this will be no less a work of love. Though new illustrations have yet to be discussed, it's only natural to want to extend those latent possibilities...

But first, the verses must be scanned and made 'computer ready' for the printer. Beginning that process has been surprising. Some new gear has made the scanning process so much quicker and easier. I feed 10-12 sheets at a time through the magic HP machine and begin minor corrections and formatting changes, forthwith. Yes, I'm very thankful the author -- who hunts and pecks and has an unerring eye for grammatical perfection -- supplied the originals to start.

Another surprise comes with the substance. I've read these lines betimes - yet they are fresh and timeless. That, to me, is the defining quality of good poetry. When you read it every time, like the first time and still catch your breath or find chills running down you arms...you know it's a winner. Of course it also helps that the writer is, indeed, our kindred spirit.

For example ...

WHEN

When my body suffers pain,
My heart reflects the same refrain
And I wonder how much more
The flesh can stand;
My eyes behold a special tree,
That rugged one on Calvary
With the nails in the feet
And in each hand.

When the surgeons intervene
With their septic scalpel keen
And the blood seeps out to
Stain a bandage white;
I see a jagged, dirty spear
Then I watch the blood appear,
I see souls released from
Darkness into light.

When by cares and burdens great
I seem a prisoner of Fate
And I find no remedy for
Grief and tears;
I hear a prayer of agony
Coming from Gethsemane
And I know a loving Father
Sees and hears.

When the trail is rough and slow
And the cause I do not know,
When the skies seem overcast
And always gray;
God is watching and He knows
Every kind of wind that blows
And the footprints of the Lamb
Will lead the way.

PJC 10/13/91

I rest my case...

...love it...or NOT

This sweet shrub is one of those May flowers you may choose to love at a distance. Like Lily of the valley or prolific lilacs. Nothing is sweeter than a lily of the valley...but they have a very powerful scent.

Must be a sign of old age...I'm leaving more and more blooms outdoors. Maybe my inside space is just too limited for wafting perfumes and asthma both in the same space. I love the blooms no less..from afar, that's all.

DH's DB is visiting this week. They do well at entertaining each other. It's Monday. They cut up a tree and stacked the firewood - a birch whose fresh bark smelled surprisingly like TEABERRY of all things. Yummy smell that! Then they went down and removed a long standing church sign. This one was set in concrete QUITE LITERALLLY and a big job to dig up and haul away. DBIL said it took every tool they had to get it down. Stolie built things to last in the 60's. There was still a dab of daylight when they returned home, so they burned a brush pile for their evening entertainment. Makes one wonder what will be afoot tomorrow. Whatever it is, those legs above their foots are going to be sore before they start!

But it was a perfect spring day. It could be made more perfect -- with an evening whip-poor-will call. With that I'll know it's really May. I did hear two cardinals singing in unison today, one just a nano second behind the other. Nice duet.

ONE MORE SKIRT...

...there is always room for one more skirt. I'm on my way out with spring sewing - you believe that, you'll believe about anything - truly I am. All of this season's odds and ends were left-over notions.

The last one (larger pc) used some of the last quilt remnant from batiks and that scrap happy border. I was thinking dgd Hannah might like her own version of a pieced skirt. Problem is, unlike the smaller pieced varieties that were serged together, this was made of presewn strips. That meant lining it all with a nice tea dyed muslin. I'm not certain dgd will have the strenghth to hold up the weight of it.

We're getting ready for some spring company; so that means the sewing stuff must get out of the way for meals on the table. But the serger for soup ladle will only be a break ... hard to tell what I'll conjure up while I'm stirring that soup.

April Showers

What could be more fun than napping through an afternoon of April showers? Maybe seeing the apple blossoms that pop out after a good rain. Gets greener every day around here. DH is out mowing a bit...his plan is to let the meadow grow and let a neighbor cut it for hay. Maybe he's "trimming." (And he gets the credit for today's photos).

Soon it will be too warm and sunny to stay indoors, so I'm trying to do up a bit of sewing. Just fun stuff. Who am I kidding...any sewing is fun stuff for me. And the more I sew, the more ideas I get for the next project. And surely there will be room for one more quilt top before the machine retires for the summer.

The lettuce is growing and a few things planted in the garden - garlic is up, onions set out and potatoes underground. DH does all the planting, I try to help a bit with weeding and harvesting. But mostly, my gardening season involves canning. DD Nines thinks it's time to give that up. Perhaps if DH has to do all the lifting this year he'll see the prospect of cutting back some. :) But he's not to blame...it's what we've always known, and hard to give up entirely. Before we know it the asparagus will be sprouting...so far we eat that as fast as it pops out of the ground.

DH took me on a bird nest tour earlier today. We saw four of the sweetest little chickadee eggs way down in the hole of a fence post - they look like little jelly-bellies; and six aqua bluebird eggs in a house. DH always knocks and calls, "anybody home" before he opens the front of the birdhouse to count eggs, and apologizes sweetly to the guarding papa on the walnut branch nearby. He has very good fowl manners, you see.

And it's warm enough now to open the rafter windows - the birds like Beethoven and I like birdsong, so we work it out to take turns entertaining.

A-a-a-ah, April. . . and it's almost over.

SPRING IN WV

I know, I know...I'm late, I'm late.

It's been a very busy beginning of spring around Teelside. Besides, it never seems like spring to me - daffodils and forsythia notwithstanding - until the redbud is out. And the redbud is just this week coming out in full. DH says they should be called purplebud...he has a point.

But it must be spring. We've had molly moochers this week (morel mushrooms); a neighbor with a tractor that works is coming to plow the garden tomorrow; DH has set out 18 new apple trees, some of the meadow has become an orchard and the daffodils are on their way out.

On the other hand, there's fire in the wood stove tonight and it feels mighty good.

Do certain seasons remind you of certain people? DH's favorite season is autumn. Spring belongs to loved ones that were April born, summer is for heat lovers, winter for snow lovers. Me, I like them all -still at my stage of life, I do suppose I'd best be getting fonder of fall and winter.

Seasons so well represent security, knowing the Creator is yet in control. The earth's changes speak to His power and reflect His glory. God Almighty is brought near in the dogwood blossom, the smell of freshly turned soil, the ripple of the stream and warmth of spring sun rays after an April shower. Such great promise in the tiny senses of spring. Sometimes by looking down (and around) we are lifted up.

Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

SCRAP HAPPY

THERE'S SOMEHTING ABOUT AN OLD-FASHIONED SCRAPPY QUILT. Maybe it's a reflection of what I knew first. Maybe it's the fun of NOT knowing exactly what it's going to look like until it is all done. I worked on this one, just a little at a time and it was a happy little adventure. Not so large. No stress. Just fun. Well except for one part, maybe.....



FOUNDATION PIECING...
Every time I see that topic, I think 'making underthings out of scraps.' Go ahead and chuckle. I know it really tells my age, too.

So, did Grandma Oe sew her strings on paper before she cut them into stars? I'm working on a sort of string pattern. I say 'sorta' because my strips are close to 2-inches, not down to 1/4-inch scraps like Grandma was paitient enough to save/use. Anyway, the internet instructions said to keep the pieces flat they could be sewn onto paper, i.e., telephone book pages cut to size. True, they came out very flat. But it took all day to get the paper off the back of those squares. (I needed my cheerful grandson John and his sisters for the task...they'd have loved it.). Now I can see paper piecing a wall hanging or even a square or two at a time. But shredding paper from 48 squares took some patience I must have been short on yesterday. The next time, I'm going to take the alternative route and use an old sheet that can just live there.

I did figure out what makes scrap piecing so addictive. You can't really tell what it's going to look like until it is all assembled ...and you can't quit working on it until you see what it's going to look like.
I don't think Grandma Oe had this problem. She was far more patient and sane than I am. Even so, we've had more snow -- perfect piecing weather, so I was making pieces while the snow flew. Well it's raining now and the sewing machine is put away.

If you want particulars on this piecing process go to: http://www.quiltville.com/stringx.shtml In the final stages, mine went together very smoothly....so maybe foundations make a difference. Which, of course, reminds me of one Grandpa Grover's favorite hymns...


How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word...


Nice reminder.

GRADUATION DAY

The dastardly deed is done...one hideous, hopeless, polyester double-knit quilt top out of the hopper. Shew!!

Now on to greener pastures. Case in point - blissfully beautiful batiks. Sigh. What a joy. Thank you Nines for sharing your remnants.

Those 'remnants' made a queensize top with plenty to spare. Sewing with batiks is enough to make you solemnly promise you will NEVER use cheap fabrics again. They cut smooth and stay in place, gliding under the pressor foot almost effortlessly. Nothing fancy. Just a simple nine-patch, cut and turned to make shadow boxes.I've titled the piece "Shades of Perfection" - I love the watery colors so! No, it's not perfect - it's still an improvised top. But I'm thinking it's about perfect enough for one of my angels. [And, I do like Nines' little framing trick, too.]

Also pictured is my last batch of postcards. Not nearly as ornate as my teacher's, but usable and fun. Several feature some fabrics painted with oil sticks; a process I did enjoy. Now I get to make application of all those luscious slips of batik colors. I've got the groundhog's shadow to back me up while I hibernate with my sewing machine another month or so.

OH, SO PRECIOUS

TOO SOON PASSING

Parents and Grandparents fill file drawers and scrapbooks full of such treasures. Nothing quite as captivating as those drawings that are offered as gifts from 2-8 year olds. Although I've been known to keep artwork well beyond that range, it is the 'Sweet part of Me to You' that makes the gift so special.

These were sketches from DGD Rebekah (age 6). I love the skater's rubber legs, the boots (just like my new ones - I guess she liked them too) and the happy eyes, don't you?

WITH THESE HANDS

Hands of gentleness and balm
Swaddling baby soft and warm
Lightly stroking baby’s skin
Feather hair and dimpled chin

Hands of comfort; hands of calm
Cleaning scrapes, erasing harm
Lifting knees to plant a kiss
Every tear and pain dismiss

Hands to clap in praise and glee
With each step of progress seen
Hands to warn of fearful ways
When her lovelies disobey

Hands to strengthen wobbly stride
Tending patiently the tide
Ebb and flow of daily change
Peace and order to arrange

Hands of duty, joyful work
Naught too small or large to shirk
Sparkling dishes, wash and floor
Done to do again once more

Hands to open up the Word
Keenly probe the Shield and Sword
Hands to fold in solemn prayer
Trusting God with toil and care

Hands to mark the days that fly
Catch the sunbeams passing by
Grasping stars and counting time
Blessed by Oversight divine

Hands to look for beauty clear
In the simple things held dear
Scraps of fabric, thread and yarn
Joined to keep her family warm

Hands to clasp all hands around
There by love and honor bound
Hands to rest contendedly
Upon the grandchild on her knee…

Hands of gentleness and balm
Swaddling baby soft and warm
Lightly stroking baby’s skin
Feather hair and dimpled chin

NINES' WAY

I actually finished the binding on TWO quilts today; and I must say the only way that could have been accomplished was to do it Nines' way.

It took Nines' a while to convince me it was kosher to do all the binding by machine, instead of sewing it on the right side, flipping and hand sewing the back. I still think that way is comforting for the quilt maker...but, once you've sewn it on the back, flipped, turned and sewn down the front with a close-edge seam....well, it's just so much quicker!!

I was having a good bit of trouble getting mine to look as neat as Nines' does, but I stumbled over a trick or two today. Besides using my machine quilting presser foot, I pressed the back side forward (not folded) after it was sewn down. That made the final turn so much easier. I also reminded myself to take it slowly on top and always stop with the needle down. That's real simple, you say. Yes it is - I guess I'm a slow learner; but still not too old to learn a thing or two.

The green quilt is for our DGS Josiah. I really like what Nines' did with the quilting. And I pieced this top from fabric that DS Isobel donated to my stash. The light greens remind me of shells and seaweed, so I'm naming it: "Irish Seashells by the Seashore." Josiah's ONLY criteria for a quilt was to make it green.

The whole cloth muslin quilt was Nines' practice piece...when she wanted to master a new quilting design with her longarm quilter she'd pin it on and go to town. The "blocks" have some great designs, but I think my favorite is her first quilted cursive that reads, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog; and he was a friend of mine.' As if the quilt needed more whimsy!

Nina has a way with quilts!!! Her grandmas would also be proud of her for planning to make her practice piece both beautiful and useful.

MAGIC APRONS

Nines gave a friend one of my aprons. The friend soon declared it was MAGIC – it hangs near her kitchen and she says every time she puts it on she gets LOTS of work done. I’m all for making work magic, for big girls and little girls alike.

I had a few pieces of fabric stashed for aprons. (Nina has probably shared her newer ones and hers are looking a bit weathered). While at Nines’ last week I garnered some more of her odds and ends that had no particular destination. This became my week’s task. They didn’t exactly appear like magic, but what fun! Ended up with 23 - half of them are pint-sized as you can see. Nine’s girls wear them like pinafores. My favorite is on the top left – red with ducks. The drakes in the mix are wearing overalls, so naturally that smaller remnant was well suited to Nines’ youngest kitchen helper, Abe.

Least you think four too young to be helpful, I was amazed to see how much he can do in the kitchen – including cutting potatoes for broiling. True, Jacob stood right beside him to make sure he was doing it safely; and he was. It’s quite a treat to watch the Koen kids function together!

Now, if this row of aprons is not magical, it is at least useful…and rather sweet. I like them well enough to keep a couple for myself…But Nines can have the ten pretty tea napkins.

My favorite apron memory is Grandma Oe’s, of course. Her bibs were pinned to her dress sans straps (maybe they hurt her neck, too) and had a generous skirt tied with sashes in the back. Likely the only time I saw her without one was when she went to meeting. If she ever forgot to take it off then, she wouldn’t be the first one, would she?

CLEAN SWEEPS - NEW BEGINNINGS

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES...I keep going back to that quote, "God can do wonders with a broken heart - if we give Him all the pieces."

One has to wonder...

How many problems go unsolved, how many burdens weigh on bending shoulders, how many sins remain unforgiven; simply because we do not give them up to the Lord? How often do we deprive ourselves of the freedom of whole healing and joy of full forgiveness because we want to hold on?

We want to hold on to:
- that little grudge; bitter memory
- that bit of 'pleasurable' sin
- that reliance on SELF
- that simmering anger
- that gulf of self-pity
- that selfish pride
- that love of money; crippling covetousness
- that block of self-will
- that sin of omission; excuse for neglect
- that ignorance study would cure
- that time better spent with God
- that disappointment, disturst, disagreement, disillusionment in/with others
- that weighty burden of guilt
- that sense of slight or injury
- that paralyzing fear
- that ugly envy
- that lazy apathy
- that grief and pain, or secret sorrow

Well, you get the drift of my besetting roadblocks :) Such impediments to peace are harbored in the hidden corners of the heart. Not hidden from God, but held back from His healing. Let's sweep those corners clean (imagine they host huge spiders that build sticky webs and draw flies) and put the trash in God's dustbin. He will sort it with caring Hands; and we will have complete freedom and joy.

Long for His wisdom
Live in His light
Love as He loves
Let go...and LET GOD.

TIMELESS TREASURES

My Grandpa Grover had gifted hands. He could play the fiddle, carve a wooden chain from single block of wood, make furniture, including weaving cane chair bottoms and hew cemetery stones. That’s likely just the few of his talents. Remarkable genes and my DB, Andy, helped himself to a share of them, I’d guess. Just look at this table top!!! I cannot imagine thinking this design through, much less executing it in wood. What a piece of art.

Don’t think Andy hogged all those genes, though. There are several other gifts among us to carry on Grandpa Grover’s legacy. But when I remember Grandpa, I don’t think first of fiddles or chains or chair bottoms. I think of hymns and smiles and prayers. And I’m glad – for these are eternal … a timeless legacy that has blessed so many through generations.

WHERE DID I GO WRONG?

It's amazing how much Miss Molly looks like my dad and

Miss Oe looks like my mom. Grandmothers leave their mark!

So, laying aside a sewing task for today, I turn to the computer corner. Five pair of pirate pants in a row, and the first of the front plackets sewn in is a puckerdy mess. I don’t know what I did wrong…it looked so smooth when I was sewing it together. But I figure tomorrow is soon enough to figure it out. Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you. And I’ve reached the stage of life where I figure it’s better to leave some things alone to fix later if it’s not working out. It’s surprising how well DD Laurie’s “step back” admonition works…and how many stops for later fixing crop up these days.

We’re easing into holiday times with our usual not much fluff and frill. There are reasons a-plenty for being content -though I miss the charm that children add to such times. The Barn is dry and warm; the icicle lights hanging from the cross beams make me feel like a little girl again; we’ve had many sweet greetings from family and friends; and are blessed with warm memories of loving times with so many from the year now passing and those gone before.

The year is winding down and we’re getting reflective. What’s a year without a few bumps in the road? And thankfully things are evening out quite nicely, bumps and all – thank you, Lord. And what’s the prospect of a new year without great anticipation? I think New Years is my favorite holiday. We all need a fresh start from time to time and there’s just something invigorating about God’s gift of a clean slate and new time in which to do a little better!

Enjoy your holidays!

DONE DEALS

DH and I finished separate November projects yesterday...just in the nick of time, for November is surely almost over.

November means deer hunting in WV. I think I'm thankful that DH's ardor has waned in that arena. We still like to can/freeze/smoke the meat; but the whole process is a lot of work for two old folks. Now instead of trying for the 5-6 he would be allowed to harvest between bow, rifle and muzzleloader seasons, DH is content to have gotten a nice big doe with the rifle and anticipate another try with the muzzleloader. The die was cast when he had to lug that big doe up the bank - which in this case was a near 90-degree slope. He was about as tired as I've ever seen him that day, the next day when heskinned and cut the meat and several days later when he smoked and ground what wasn't frozen. We do like those smoked venison hams/roasts, though.

A while back I gave a wonderwallet as a courtesy gift and the recipient was so tickled with it she asked if I could make some for her to give her church friends next month. I don't think she'll need more than half of these, but it was just as easy to cut two from each fabric as one. I can always use such things in my ditty stash. If you're looking at the buttons, you might want to know I've decided the flat ones are much better. The shank buttons, thought showy, add bulk and the whole purpose of the wonder wallet is to be able to tuck it in a small pocket. But I do suppose that if your jeans are too tight to acccomodate a shank button, they're likely too tight anyway.

Today DH will pick up our next to oldest DGS Jonathan for a visit. Life is good.

TALES OF THANKSGIVING...

Fron the Family Album 1990

(Cousin Vernon Miller would ask, "Was It 20 Years Ago, Or Yesterday...")

. . .are so new they are nearly obscured by proximity. As I type, the Moyers are driving back to Louisville. Craig is working his Saturday After shift at Radio Shack and Lisa's out grocery shopping. David is likely replacing the washer pump that left puddles of water on the floor this week, while Beccie tends their pretty ones. Bill extends his friendly hand at 84, while Nina and Joseph snuggle up for a nap on the couch ( I haven’t phoned to verify that news, but I am fairly certain it is accurate.) Papa has had his lunch and is scratching his head over the next procedure. With washer and dryer wheezing and thl~ping in the background, I am enjoying a fresh pot of coffee and the next to the last piece of pumpkin pie. Life after holidays returns to normal.

At this particular point in time, I am beginning to feel a certain affinity with the Hebrews whose nostrils tired of quail. Turkey, turkey everywhere – more than we all could eat. I thought I'd get a jump on the plan and cook one bird two days ahead of schedule. That way, I'd have broth for dressing and leftover meat for the day after. It worked. Laurie also brought a smoked turkey (which matched my first in size) for next day sandwiches. The "real thing" was a 20 lb. baby – and would no doubt have been sufficient in its own right. Of course the good intentions of the cooks were complicated by several factors – the first of which was a nasty virus which sent David and Beccie as far away from food in general, and turkey in particular, as they could get (and home a day early, sob...sob...sob), and the last of which was the "Chili's Fever" that often attacks the Moyers and Koens simultaneously. (They left a note saying they would have waited and taken us with them, but were afraid if they stayed another minute they would succumb and become desperate enough to eat turkey instead. . . and were obviously unwilling to risk that calamity.) Laurie could not be persuaded to take a single slice back with her, either, but that complication (and accompanying morning distress) should disappear come early April and a new little Moyer. But a mother never gives up. I packed one bag off to Lisa and Craig (newlyweds always welcome an extra package in the fridge, I think) and will divide the rest between tomorrow's company and frozen trays for Papa to nuke while I'm exercising. No little gobbler ... or two or three ... is gonna get the best of me!

Lest you think the Thanksgiving Table a failure, lets reverse this tape to mid-Thursday. Get your drinks and Chex snacks, settle in, REWIND: whir-r-r-r, static, snow, STOP – here we go.

For all its preparation (or because of all the helpful pre-preparation) the day has a casual, unhurried feeling about it. Breakfast at ten, with sourdough pancakes and sausage, leaves room for plenty of time between meals. Mama even slips off to rest her back, read a letter, take a short nap beside baby Hannah and dream pleasantly of home. There is no need to rush the clock – just take time as it passes and enjoy it.

It’s raining lightly outside. Papa and "the boys" are laboring (or so they would have us believe) in concert at the barn. The kitchen is at last beginning to fill with warm, sage-tinted shades of baking. Ten pounds of potatoes (yes, the whole bag of Idahos) are peeled and chill in water 'til a later hour. Alabama biscuits are set out for rising on the table. A sweet potato casserole and onion pie have taken their early turn in the oven. Two side pans of dressing wait for the turkey to finish its shift -- one is ordinary, the other boasts of sausage, apples and almonds, just for variety. A cranberry mold will soon be turned out and garnished with Mandarin oranges. [Since only one can of oranges will be required, Laurie and Nina and Beccie nibbled on the other as they shaved the spuds. . .and any cook knows it doesn't take nearly as long (or as much help) to eat a can of Mandarin oranges as it does to pare 10 pounds of potatoes.] A spicy brew of cranberry/apple/orange juice simmers in the crockpot, ready to be sipped at will, but we're too busy stirring around, talking, knitting, tending babies to remember it is there. All that remains to be done is make a bowl of cole slaw, put the green beans in the pot, boil and whip the potatoes, set the table, wait for the guys and put this show on the road. . .or, more precisely, the table.

My memories drift off to my first baked bird : Thanksgiving 1964, in Pennsylvania. We were "boarding" with the Hetzers the week before we moved to Oxford. Our hosts were visiting West Virginia, so Papa and I and 3-month old David were on our own. We couldn't afford a turkey, so we bought a chicken and baked it with dressing. I was so afraid the meal would be a flop, but it was delicious and the day a special memory. There we were...no immediate job or money or place to live; and all kinds of hope and faith and love for the family we were beginning. And here we are. . .that family extended many-fold, our faith rewarded abundantly, our love expanded timelessly, our hopes renewed continually. And, as I travel back to the present, I see children, where we were then. . . and wonder at the circle of our lives. GOD IS GRACIOUS.

The door rattles and in come the carpenters. One by one they whisk quickly off to shower while all hands man the deck at stove-side. That corner is crowded as Papa carves the turkey, Mama stirs the gravy (and almost burns the biscuits) and Nina whips the potatoes (in two rounds). All done, we clasp our hands and listen to the patriarch of Teel-dom speak of love and happiness well wrapped up in the moments that we share as family. Thank you, Lord, for such as he. And in the words of one now round the feast in Florida, "Amen, Go."

But wait. . . . .I didn't tell you about dessert. What? There's more? There is for sure! Nina prepared it all with her own little hands while Joseph rode 'long side to keep her going. If I didn't know better (or didn't want to brag) I'd say she shipped straight from the Greenbrier. For the eyes....what a gorgeous array! There's pumpkin pie (one standard), cranberry-mincemeat pie (with pretty peek-a-boo circles cut in the top crust), chocolate mousse cake (600 calories per 1/2 inch slice, should have been called "death by chocolate"), pumpkin cheese cake with sour cream glaze (embellished with pecans and slivers of orange peel – beautiful!) and grasshopper delight graham cracker pie (a marbled, minty cream cheese/whipped cream filling atop a chocolate mint base). If I've missed anything, I could clearly plead omission on grounds of being overwhelmed.....or over dosed, maybe. Incredible... just incredible!

And that, my dears, is about all the Thanksgiving that any of us can stand – for most of us (with the possible exception of sweet William) are probably due to repent today and diet tomorrow.