Last of the leftovers

This is it. No more stuffing, cream sauce, cauliflowers or onions.

Down to the last scoop of sweet potatoes, turnip, cranberry sauce, potatoes, gravy. But there might be one or two more turkey samwiches for lunch in my future.

Exciting times!

Today, my afternoon errands brought me into the neighborhood of the niece and the nephew. When I drove up, they were all sorts of excited because they were putting the finishing touches on their Christmas lawn decorations. Even before I got out of the car, I was pestered with questions about the lights, the wreath and the trees. In fine Auntie form, I managed to look right past the obvious and ask about the poor pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns and corn stalks that had been replaced. After a quick pose by one of the trees, I got a personal tour of the back yard....

and was allowed to see where the pumpkin was composting the garden. I was also invited to come jump on the pumpkins. On account of the fact that I had on fancy boots, I declined.

When you are a five year old, the squishy, yucky, messy things are some of the greatest things on earth.

First Sunday in Advent - Waiting in Hope

Advent begins today. It's the first season of the Christian calendar prior to the 12 Days of Christmas which begin December 25th. Advent means 'coming' and is a celebrated each Sunday by lighting four successive candles which symbolize the coming of light into the world at the birth of Jesus the Christ on Christmas Day. It's my absolutely favorite season of the liturgical year and has been since I was a little girl and purchased this little brass calendar with my Nana for the grand price of 15 cents. Obviously, my cherished Advent calendar needs a little cleaning and proper candles if I'm going to be able to use it the rest of the season.
And that is appropriate - because Advent is about preparing; preparing ourselves and organizing our lives in such a way that we are ready to not just celebrate the Christmas holiday, but preparing ourselves and organizing our lives in ways that tell the world that as Christians, we proclaim Jesus Christ to be not just Infant Holy, Infant Lowly but King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Traditionally, the first candle of the Advent season symbolizes hope, expressed poetically by the words of Charles Wesley in 1744;

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thy own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.

Looking to fill your pie hole?

We have a few choices for you...pumpkin, pecan, mince and apple.
I think the pumpkin has my number.

Awaiting Advent

Thanksgiving 2010 is one for the books. It was a wonderful day of family and friends gathered from near and far here at the Homestead and thanks to cell phones and Skype, we got a couple more gathered in as well. Today I did nothing spectacular other than play Auntie to two overnight visitors and I ventured no farther than the garage to empty the recycling and snap a photo of these remaining, resilient leaves refusing to 'leaf' their perch. It's been a good day to hunker down and nurse the headache that I've held at bay all week long that came with the family cold we've been passing around since last weekend.

As I recuperate from the busyness of the week, I am prepping for my favorite season of the church year - Advent. It's the beginning of the calendar for the Christian Church and I've come to a place where I wonder how much we really celebrate and savor this special four week season culminating in Christmas. This morning as my niece and nephew played, we talked about counting down to Christmas using Advent calendars, which is a traditional gift I give them every year at Thanksgiving. I didn't go into deep theology with them, but discussed some of my most cherished memories of having to wait until the third Sunday in Advent to begin to decorate the house for Christmas when their daddy and I were their age. Now, my parents weren't and aren't Christmas cranks - indeed, some of you readers may know my father works as a secret agent for the North Pole! However, when we were kids, at the end of the Thanksgiving Parade, when we saw Santa arrive in Herald Square, we understood that Christmas was coming - not that Christmas was here. There was still a full month to go about our business of school, swim team, scouts and other activities all the while beginning to make room for the coming 12 days of Christmas which starts on December 25th.
Over the next four weeks, my posts may take on a more reflective and introspective nature as my studies and schedules allow. Why? Quite simple. I'll be making my case for Advent; why we wait, how we wait and what it is we are all waiting for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing
Sing praises to his name, he forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning;
thou, Lord, wast at our side, all glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,

and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Taking a breather

Pumpkin, mincemeat and apple pies made. Preparing dinner for 14 people. Two last minute trips to the grocery store. One done by me, other done by Dad. Mom is sick in bed with a bad cold and horrible cough. Table set. Silver polished. Serving dishes and serving utensils prepped. Cider purchased and iced. Stuffing ingredients ready to rock and roll in the morning. Busy day. All the more reason to take a moment and find a quiet moment to say "Thank you, God, for the incredible world you've created. How blessed we are, indeed."

Time to get serious

Once in my life I made pumpkin pie from a pumpkin. I never saw the need to do it again because Libby's makes it simple dimple. All I have to remember to do is make half the recipe on the label.

Pumpkin pie and mince are done and ready for desert on Thursday!

I let a cookie cutter help me with the mince pie decorative top.

Getting the cloth pressed off now is as good as tomorrow when we'll set up the tables.

And thanks to our neighbor Jane, I was surprised with a delivery of the best cranberry chutney ever. She's sweet enough to make plenty to share, but keeps the recipe secret.

TIme to start the pies.....

Thanksgiving and tradition. And at my family's Thanksgiving celebration there is always a mincemeat pie. It's the only time of year we make one and thanks to Bordons, the recipe is easy peasy and only needs a little bit of doctoring.

The older generation insists that this pie be served and added to the jar is more raisins, diced apple and a little blackberry brandy. My Nana taught me to rinse the jar with the brandy thereby getting all the mince out of the jar w/o having to scrape it.

Some chopped apples and raisins to suit by look.

Stir heat on low to let the brandy soak through and the alcohol to cook out.

Forty five minutes to an hour later, its bubbling and the apples are softening. Time to turn it off for the night, let it cool and tomorrow it'll bake in its own pie shell.

Actually, I rather liked it.....

Early this afternoon, I went with my friend Tracey and her daughters to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I". In my estimation, it was the best of the movies in the series thus far in that it stuck with the plot, didn't leave gaping holes as previous movies did (which this movie had to fill in either seamlessly in the case of Bill Weasley or not at all in the case of the mirror fragment), added a few wonderful elements (an early scene with Hermione as she left the Muggle world behind her), allowed me to wonder (what's going on with Hedwig?!?! along with maybe Alan Rickman's performance could have given me clues to Snape that I refused to see in the books), and best of all, the movie didn't make me nauseous (that happened in Goblet of Fire and Half Blood Prince when I saw them in the theater originally).
The movies do not at all compare to the books - most movies never really will when it comes to stories that originally spring to life on the pages of a book. And it is easy to become critical of an actor's interpretation or a director's vision when they aren't yours. But this one did ok in my mind, better than what I was expecting, but then, like most of my friends who love literature or Harry Potter, we just set our expectations low after the first six movie releases and decided to enjoy the ride.
When I reflect on the fact (some) friends think I'm a Harry Potter nutter, (I am not, by the way, because I know at least a half dozen people who are likely to read this blog who know they can wipe me off the floor with their wizarding world knowledge - one couple named their pair of Honda cars 'Sirius Black' and 'Remus Lupin' in accordance to the exterior color of each respective car and another friend sent me the British version of Deathly Hallows you see on the right (which I arranged 'just so' for this photo)) I laugh because back in the day, these books didn't register on my radar at all! I didn't have an informed opinion when the debate started raging on campus at Asbury about whether or not a Christian should read Harry Potter back when the fourth book was released.
I only bothered to start to read them nine years ago right after Thanksgiving because I managed to get ahead of the semester's work load during Reading Week and a friend (that's you, Joy!) had them all in her personal library. I thought I'd just read them to judge for myself how I could intelligently answer any concerned parishioners I might meet in parish ministry. By the end of that weekend, I was a fan and halfway through Book 2. I waited to read Book 3 when I finished that semester's workload and refused to read Book 4 till I finished my last paper prior to graduation that spring. And then the only sage advice I could offer was, "I have no personal problem with the books, and I think you should read them for yourself if you have reservations about your children reading them" the half dozen times I was consulted on the issue (and each time I wondered/hoped that I could be responsible for helping to create a new fan!).
Since then I've been to the midnight release parties for the last three books, driven thousands of miles while listening to Jim Dale read the whole series on audio book, knitted a several bookmark scarves or little sweater Christmas tree ornaments for HP fan friends who have gone out of their way for me and dressed as Minerva McGonageal for Halloween one year. Since I have no foreseeable plans to visit the theme park in Florida and haven't even thought about registering for a HP convention, I am pretty certain I haven't gone over the edge. I figure the now and again escapism the movies afford isn't such a bad thing, especially since the last one is coming this summer.

It blooms 'early' every year!

My Christmas cactus needs to be renamed to Thanksgiving cactus - because in the seven years I've had it, it has never bloomed for Christmas. Its buds start forming in October and I keep it outside as long as possible to keep it cool and slow the blossoms. By the middle of November, it has a few blossoms and it normally peaks just in time for Thanksgiving Day. This weekend I think its reached its maximum profusion of blossoms. Now the trick is to figure out how to make them last through the week so family can comment "How gorgeous!", and "What a beautiful cactus in bloom!", or "That Christmas cactus is so pretty!"- just like they do every year at Thanksgiving!

Must have been

a perfect morning for a balloon ride! When I went outside to get a picture of the maple tree in the morning sunlight and was grumbling that the frost wasn't heavy enough to get picked up by the camera, I heard the familiar roar of a hot air balloon. I was a little surprised to look up and see the balloon so low, but they were almost done with their ride and on their descent. I am kinda glad they went over The Homestead and found someone else's yard to land in, because I had some books to retrieve and library visits to make in Princeton this morning. I simply didn't have time to help fold up a balloon, and I think even if it was a light frost on the ground, it would have been a little cold to get all the air pockets out of the balloon!

Bubble and Squeak!

When I got home early this evening, the fact that the dog dish on the floor signaled dinner plans weren't quite what they were when I left in the morning. Indeed, Mom and Dad had a huge lunch out and weren't interested in dinner. They thought it would be a treat for me to order from a local restaurant, but I wasn't so keen on the idea. I searched the fridge and cupboards for inspiration and finally decided on making some leftovers of corn beef and cabbage. But first I decided to "kick it up a notch" and create my own bubble and squeak....or hash as it is more commonly called here in America. So I started off with cooking up some bacon which both brought a new flavor and provided the skillet with a little grease for cooking. Meanwhile, I chopped up the left over corn beef, cabbage and potatoes from last week and heated it up after I cooked up a small amount of onion in the pan. Yes, it looks like hash, but I prefer to call it bubble and squeak. Not only is that the name of the dish in most UK countries, but it is named for the sound the food makes as it heats up in the pan.

I don't know why exactly, but the bacon must have gotten me thinking about eggs. So, when the everything was heated through, I decided it needed a little something else.....

So, less than a minute later, thanks to the hot skillet, an egg scrambled up easily, a little paprika on top and my dinner was perfectly satisfying.

Morning Glory

Warning: I may duplicate this shot on different mornings if the sun hits the maple just right.

Don't call him patient - call him pre-wash!

Well he does wait patiently, sort of. But Jake's main job at the table is to make sure you know he is there and that he will help with the cleaning up.

He is very well trained and waits for the 'ok' signal....

and then after he's done inspecting, the plate is ready for the dish washer.

Morning fog interupted by splashes of color

Well, if I waited till 5Pm or even the hour preceding 5PM there are lots of great fall foliage shots I would miss. Good thing I've bent my own rules about the blog photo rules before this!




I will do my best to get this tree again if the sun obliges by shining on it some morning before it sheds all its leaves.
I still think the fog and cover offers its own beauty.

Field Trip to Woolrich!

Today, Mom, Dad and I went for a field trip. We drove out to Woolrich, PA and visited the original company store. It was a wonderful store - not a huge box store at all. Kinda like LL Bean used to be in Freeport, ME. Not that that store isn't a great place to go visit - but it has lost the quaint charm it had until it remodeled and expanded sometime in the 1980s. This store has obviously done remodeling since it was founded 180 years ago. They don't have the factory store they used have on the premises when my grandparents used to stop here, but its stuck with what made it famous - wool products and buffalo plaids for home and outdoor use. We did some Christmas shopping, some personal shopping and found some deals we were very impressed with. During lunch at the little cafe adjoining the store, we discussed our bargains and decided to return and make another purchase or two for dad. Though we filled up the trunk with bags of treasures and bargains, I did leave the little sheep that symbolizes the store on the shelf when we were ready to leave and explore the little town.
The whole town is centered around the store and I think there are some historical markers describing the significance of the cabin - but we were tired from shopping and ready to head for home that I didn't take the extra time as we left to go read the markers.

We were interested enough to drive around the town and see how much John Rich influenced the area with his little mule cart that he used to peddle his woolen goods he manufactured at a mill in Plum Run before relocating to this spot where he had a steadier supply of water. If you know your 19th C American History and anything about the spread of evangelical denominations across the country, it will come as little surprise to you that a circuit rider made his way to the settlement that resided around the mill to bring religion to its inhabitants.

And today it is known as the Woolrich Community Methodist Church!

I just loved the little pine trees in the porch fence.

The road into town is lined with 2 miles of pine trees just on the road's edge. Don't know who took the initiative to plant all those trees years ago - but it made an impressive procession on the way in and out of town.


Mom managed to get this video from the front seat on our way out of town. Coming or going, it offers the same stately effect.

Chores or Playtime?

Dusting off Auntie's MG will guarantee me a ride later

See, Auntie - there's no sawdust on it now!

And when I turn the steering wheel, the tires turn.

Helping Grandpop with the leaves means I go for a ride on the tractor.

Grandpop, this does NOT go as fast as Auntie's car!

What's next? I might still be a little small for this job...

But just the right height for this one!

Loading up the freight!

Being a conductor is definitely one of the hardest jobs I've done all day!

Honestly, trying to get one decent picture at a church dinner can be a challenge.
Seven photos and this is the best one of the lot!