Thanksgiving Pics

 
 
 
 

So here is the table all dressed with the meal and the folk seated. The 4 empty seats were for the troopers who would show up for a brief time. The one pic with the pies has Stan keeping guard over the table. We had pecan, pumpkin, apple, chocolate cream, and coconut custard which mom brought. I did not get a shot of my fruit cake, but boy is it ever yummy! An old Irish recipe from my gram, dads mom, which I made my own with a few changes (for the good). Got rid of the citron and added dried cherries and craisons. use a heavy gage bundt pan also and viola! I also found out that I am basically lactose intollerant that evening and suffered mightily! Thank goodness for Melissa and lemon water. Tom actually suffered a bit also and she had to treat him to a glass also! Maybe it the Irish in us.

Mom and Peter

This was a nice photo of mom, sitting with Peter chatting it up. She is doing well and is 72. Peter likes talking with her, they were from the same neighborhood in Masspeth NY in the city. Just different eras is all.

A Country Thanksgiving!

What a Blessing! We had many seated at our table this year. Mother, my brother Jack, Melissa, Matt and wife Susan. Michele and Stan with Stans brother Peter and their son Paul, Matts best friend. My 'sista' friend, Kathie and her hubby Paul. Matt was on duty so he had 4 other troopers come for a Thanksgiving meal. Unfortunately they had to respond to a call before finishing their meal. His buddy Tom came back and visited awhile with us and had desert. The menu consisted of our traditional food choices and a little bit more. I had celery stalks, scallions, and olives to pick on. The meal was fabulous, hats off to the cook!
A good friend from church raised a dozen natural organic turkeys and was giving them away. Yes, I took Hector up on his offer!
The bird was stuffed with our families traditional plain stuffing, croutons, sauted celery and onions, sea salt, pepper thyme and eggs. We still stuff the bird and we are not dead! We had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam casserole with apples and marsh mellows, the biggest and sweetest brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, creamed onions (skinned the easy way), ambrosia, buns, gravy, some vegi dinner Roast for Susan. Jack brought some cider (not hard) and green bean casserole. A new dish for my table, second Thanksgiving in a row, Corn Pudding! YUM! As usual, to much food and some cancelations to boot! We were blessed with good weather good friends and good conversation. No issues, no arguing, just lots of love and thankfulness! To God be thanks!

Canada goose

 

I noticed one goose on the cow pond, next 2 flew in and assessed her situation. Apparently she was stuck in the ice. They left and came back with help, more geese. I finally went for the camera when I realized what was happening. Some left again and even more came back. Their weight eventually broke the ice and she was able to free herself. Talk about nature at work. It truly was a blessing to see God's creatures care for just one of their kind. Maybe us humans should take note. No one exploited this poor thing because she was down and out and in a predicament!

Carving our squash!

 

 

 

 

Susan and Matt came over tonight and we all carved pumpkins together! From left to right, dads pumpkin, mine, Susans then Matt! They all came out nice and not to scary! It was a blast and we have quite a bit of seeds to bake tomorrow. Tonight they shall be washed well and laid out to dry on tea towels. Then spray them with some olive oil and a little sea salt and bake them in a slow oven until lightly browned. A little more salt and put them on paper towels to cool, yummy!

Be still my soul...

I thought this was quite a picture. The sphere of the sun glowing through this multiple trunk tree.
The mountain is getting ready for winters rest as the leaves fall as a carpet laid on the forest floor. Soon it will be blanketed with snow, never to be seen until springs arrival once more. Amazing how the world as we know it spins out of control, but God in his mercy causes the sun to rise every day, the seasons to come and go. The worlds are in the palm of His hand and yet as humans we think our way is better, we run to and fro, looking for answers that are in front of us at all times.
Be still my soul, be still and know that He, Jesus the Christ, Yeshua, is thy God.

country roads

The top photo is our road at Bearfoot Corner,
our retreat in the fabulous mountains of NY.
The bottom photo is a logging road that
was made when we had trees taken down this
past year. Amazing how the colors are past peak.
There were many leaf peepers out and about!
Beautiful weather this weekend.
Ahhh, Country Roads
take me home, to the place where I belong!