CEDARHILL

Thanksgiving Feast

   The rains came this year on Thanksgiving Day and so the party had to move inside! Luckily we only had 21 for dinner instead of the 30-35 people we've had in the past and by moving the sofa out of the living room (into the hallway) there was just enough room for everyone! Thank you Ev for those beautiful flowers! They bloomed on Thanksgiving and kept our tradition of live flowers ...alive!  One of the lovely things about T-Days at CedarHill is the  serendipity moment when someone says - yes, I do think spending thanksgiving here would be fun. So, in addition to our true and tried friends, we had the pleasure of John, Laura and their daughter Pearl (who is 9 going on 18..). They were trying something new this year and hit the road for an adventure. They booked a room at CedarHill for Wednesday night and took me up on my offer to join us for Thanksgiving. But first - they spent 3 hous at the local Salvation Army volunteering to serve meals. This economy has already hit them hard, as John was a general contractor. Need I say more? It was great to have them for the Holiday and Pearl enjoyed everyone at the house... from following AJ around the house, to helping peel potatoes (with me) and making vegetable trays with Guy. She wanted to make sure she could come back and I assured her....Anytime! We also put our new ping pong table to good use! Even got Betty playing and she said it had been 60 years! Darin got into the swing of things as well after a few Pings... as did AJ,and Pearl.  And no Thanksgiving would be complete without AJ and her guitar. She is really quite good and added to the ambience of the day. Pearl was enamored with everything about AJ...including her glasses. I'm sure Pearl hopes that her eyesight DOES go bad some day just so she can wear glasses! More pics to share later, but again, it was a thanksgiving...to give thanks for....
  

A beautiful day

Our Thanksgiving table this year..

more to follow...

too stuffed and tired to say much more about the day.... atleast tonight.

hope your Day was wonderful.

~L

"Thanksgiving 2007"... Check out the PHOTOALBUMS to the left and take a look at pics from yesterday.

This year our groups was smaller - down to about 15- from last years high of 32. People were more scattered this year; Ev,s brother John was in Singapore working and couldn't make it back to the States, and the Hoffs had other plans this year. We missed them. But it was nice to have the group we did this Thanksgiving. It was a nice mix of ages, and outlooks...and cooking talent. I love the day long process of "getting ready" for everyone to sit down to the table...almost as much as I love the food. I am grateful for the friends and family I found myself surrounded by this year.

Giving Thanks

We at CedarHill kicked off Thanksgiving yesterday- officially- when Sue and Helen Armer made up two big batches of Helens HOMEMADE eggnogg...complete with two cups of rum. It contains all healthy ingredients- heavy cream, eggs, sugar and alcohol. MMMM. This is a tradition in the Armer household where Helen has been making it for years...and now it is a tradition at our house!

The weather here continues to be unusually warm for November, but mother loves the sun. ...and her new sunglasses.

Give her alittle sun...and a cigarette and the woman is happy. Course alittle egg nogg didn't hurt either..

She complains about her mind...loosing it that is. But then there are moments in the sun like this that makes everything seem ok.She is also constantly asking what she can do and so I set her up to iron enough table linens for 18 people. I remember when she used to iron table linens for the B&B and....pillowcases! If you've never slept on a pillowcase which has been ironed...you're not living. You should do it once. We don't iron pillow cases any more around here; but, hey...I snuck one in the pile yesterday just for old times sake!

Here I'm reading my latest article on an upcoming Smithsonian exhibit coming to Globe in January: "Between Fences".  I am my mothers daughter, so i try to draw on poets words to help make a point...and of course there is that Frost poem which is so often quoted: Good fences make good neighbors"...                           but it is only part of his poem in which he also says ...

"...Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence."

The exhibit examines how fences have impacted our lives... Here in the West you have to look no farther than Barb Wire. What a history that is!
You can read the full article in the January issue.Mother is not a critical audience and always thinks what I write is wonderful...So, it's nice to start with her as an audience but to become the writer I want to be depends on others who will give me more measured feedback.

The EGGNOG project was a great way to kick off the Holiday and share the kitchen with Ev, who just got back from Austrailia and Guy and Tracy, Sue.... and the remarkable women who share the talents and experience with us younger-set.     

(These pics are from Guy, despite what it says at the bottom. its a glitch of my new computer.  So- thanks Guy for helping to record the memories here at Cedarhill!)