For a farmer like me, I was interested to learn that the lyric “Keep Your Eye on the Prize” is a variation of the song “Keep Your Hand on the Plow” by civil rights activist Alice Wine. The new lyrics were first sung at the Newport Jazz festival in 1958 when Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington performed the song.

The phrase “Keep Your Eye on the Prize” is defined as, “To remain focused on achieving a positive end result, without being distracted by problems or setbacks.”

Great light pours into our world. Meanwhile problems and setbacks surround us- so much so that we can drown in the daily problems and setbacks.  I like this song’s reminder to keep our eye on the prize. And what is this prize, this positive result?

I’m still thinking big when it comes to the prize. World Peace. Tolerance. A Healed Earth. All sentient beings loved and cared for. I’m in the mindset that radical change for the better can and will happen.  I’m firm in my belief that the incoming light is helping humanity give birth to a new more loving version of itself. 

About this incoming light, I like it when I hear astronomers speak of Earth moving to a new part of the galaxy, a place of greater light. However, my experience of this incoming light is first and foremost a felt one, and therefore this is the main reason I believe positive change is coming.

I don’t mean to suggest this incoming light is what’s saving us. To clarify, since we are one with everything and nothing is separate, the incoming light and us receiving the light is like us shaking our own hand. We can say that a part of us is ready to receive the light and a part of us ready to bring the light, but there really are no different parts.

Because this greater light is pouring in 24/7, we can experience it at any moment. Sometimes this happens to me, say when I am pausing to look at the clouds.  It does seem that right now I need to be quiet and still to feel this light clearly.  This means it is mostly in the quiet of the night that I feel this energy pouring in.

Each night I welcome this light, first by asking for help from Angels, Elementals and Ascended Masters to release all that needs to be released from within me, all the shadow bits that are taking up space that could be filled with this light.  I ask for the support of these higher aspects of oneness because they know how to integrate the light into lower vibrations. The Ascended Masters in particular have done it for themselves. Then I try and open to receive this light into my energy system. I ask for it to be grounded into the grid of Green Hope Farm too. How amazing to be here now, for it seems we need only settle down and close our eyes and there it is, this generous loving light.

This light is for everyone, no exceptions. Do we have to ask for guidance or open to receive it or even notice it in order for it to fill us? I don’t think so, but I like working with it in this way. I believe our willingness to receive the light helps it fill our world and that helps all creation.

One of you asked that I keep on trying to share my understanding of things in 3D and 5D terms. So here I would say I break my request into two pieces; a request to release 3D patterns that keep me vibrating in the illusion of separation (things like judgement, anger, hatred, fear) and a request to welcome into my energy system this light with its gift of 5D and higher vibrations of love and healing.

 As I experience the light coming in, I find it impossible to imagine that this light energy doesn’t reflect a big shift underway.  I am glad for tools like Flower Essences that help smooth the integration of this energy. I am also grateful for Flower Essences’ support with releasing the old as well as welcoming in the light. This light is a big deal, and I am grateful for all the support we are getting to remember it is part of us.

 In the quiet of the night when I sit with this light, it’s easy to have my eye on the prize because it feels so close.  I don’t know exactly what shapes the prize will take in our world or exactly how the old will give up the ghost and the new will be born. But it’s like transition in labor. The part of us that has been submerged in the pain doubts a birth will ever happen, let alone soon, but the body knows, the baby knows and the midwives know. Yup, this baby is coming.

So yes, I am aware that we haven’t gotten to the birth yet, We’re still in the pain and suffering. No doubt there will still be bloody towels to clean up even as the baby takes its first victorious breath. But this moment of new life is upon us.

This is such an enormous paradigm shift that I don’t think we can even imagine all that is being born right now, but I do think we will know more soon. The blissful quality of this incoming light informs me that the baby born will be worth the mess.  These glimpses of the light, thrilling and astounding, keeps me going with my hand on the plow. 

I return to the earlier lyric “Hand on the Plow” because we have to keep going through this turmoil not with hand wringing or by washing our hands of the whole mess or by handing off the problems to another but by keeping our hand on the plow.  For me this is cooking the meals, doing the dishes, reading books to grandchildren, knitting for babies, packing your orders and writing you notes, walking the dog, planning the gardens, dreaming of Flowers, trying to make the best of difficult birth canal moments, digging deep to find morsels of humor, trying to work through the problems and confusions of this time- just keeping going in the most ordinary way in a most extraordinary time.

And I know from your notes that you are peaceful warriors too, doing what needs doing, a dishtowel in one hand and eyes crinkling to reflect a reassuring smile underneath the mask. It’s a privilege to be with you in this time.

The kitchen table is covered in wooden boxes of seeds and a pile of seed catalogs. My idea of bliss. Most seeds stay viable longer than a year so I save leftover seeds from season to season. The Kitchen Garden seed catalog notes how long different flower and vegetable seeds stay viable, so I keep this catalog close at hand as I sort through my old seeds.

I like this catalog for its illustrations by Bobbi Angell.

She also illustrated one of my most beloved plant identification books, Flora of St John, US Virgin Islands.

During the years when my family camped at the now gone Maho Bay Campground, I would check out the campground’s copy of this book every afternoon to identify Flowers I had found during the day. This seemed to irritate the activity desk folk, because while no one else wanted the book, I was clearly hogging it. Finally I bought myself a copy, and I would lug it back and forth to St John from home. It remains one of my favorite books (and also one of my heaviest). What a wonderful adventure it must have been for Bobbi Angell to live on St John for a year and draw all the Flowers that botanists found for her.

I also like this catalog because Kitchen Garden carries seeds for extremely delicious varieties of vegetables. They really ARE thinking about the kitchen.

The catalogs I lean on are Seed Savers Exchange, Baker’s Creek Seeds and Johnny’s Selected Seeds, but I get seeds from a lot of companies including Burpees who carry things that no one else does. Mehera Marigolds for example.

Fifty years ago, Burpees sponsored a contest asking home gardeners to hybridize a White Marigold. When someone succeeded, many seed houses joined the bandwagon to offer these seeds. Now that the dust has settled on this creation, most seed houses have lost interest in White Marigolds. Not me and fortunately not Burpees. I can’t imagine our gardens without this Flower or our collection without Mehera Flower Essence.

Seed discontinuation is a frustration. Today’s mid afternoon rabbit hole happened when I discovered that Baker’s Creek Seeds no longer offers Kikinda Squash seeds. This was a bad moment. Not only is Kikinda Squash a gorgeous presence in the garden, it is a mainstay in our collection of Flower Essences for fertility concerns.

I found a company in Serbia and also one in the Ukraine offering seeds, but some dodgy things were going on with payment on their sites (Webmaster Ben blocks ALL Ukrainian traffic from our website because Ukranians have crashed our site many times. He would not have been pleased if I had opened that doorway in any way- and even naive me got the feeling all was not well on this site). Anyways, I was relieved to find a little old lady in Florida who had the seeds. I will do a better job of saving these seeds this year, so this doesn’t happen again.

I was also surprised to see that Baker’s Creek had temporarily shut down its website to cope with too many orders. They do wonderful work offering non hybrid, non GMO seed varieties so I shouldn’t be surprised they are already swamped….. but it is only January 5th!

I don’t actually know what I will need for seeds until after the Winter Solstice each year. This is when the designs for the year’s gardens are ready for me to receive from the Angels and Elementals. I’m reminded that not everyone is operating on our particular co-creative model of Angelic and Elemental input and get on with their garden plans earlier than me.

After the Solstice, I spend time in the dormant gardens, tuning into what the Angels have planned for each garden this season and drawing mandalas and other directions in a note book. The Venus Garden for 2021 was the first design they explained to me. Among other things the garden has a lot of verticality thanks to vines like Scarlet Runner Bean. There is also a beautiful spiral which includes a lot of Zinnias. In the wake of 2020, I relish a Venus Garden offering energies of Joy (Zinnias) and Fearlessness (Scarlet Runner Bean). We should even be able to plant in the ground this year as the construction that impacted the garden last year should be over by spring.

As I wander the vaguely snow covered gardens of the farm, I try not to freak out at how much work I have ahead of me come spring. Staffing in the office was limited in the key gardening months of 2020, so I was mostly inside looking out the windows at the weeds proliferating with abandon. I didn’t have time to reign them in (or Netflix binge), but hopefully this spring will be different.

The Angels and Elementals reassure me that the most important thing is that the vibration in the gardens is in good shape and that together we will come up with solutions for bringing the garden spots that didn’t get weeded back into the fold.

The topic of Zinnias and joyful vibrations reminds me of a quantum physics article Lizzie brought to my attention recently. It explained how those of us working to hold higher vibrations offset those vibrating at a lower rate not in a one to one ratio but in a surprising big way. One person vibrating a love and reverence vibration counterbalances 750,000 individuals in a lower ego frequency. One individual in the bliss vibration counterbalances 10 million people in a lower ego frequency and one enlightened God realized individual counterbalances 70 million in a lower ego frequency. Sometimes when I’ve let myself be pulled into a lower vibration fight and I’m trying to recover and “go high” as Michelle Obama calls it, I can feel like it’s a one to one ratio and my efforts no matter how successful or unsuccessful don’t make THAT much difference.

I found these actual ratios a wonderful reminder why working to raise our vibrations and keep them high really matters. Just as one candle can illuminate a pitch black room, our love, our reverence, our bliss helps us all. There is nothing selfish about trying to raise our vibrations and stay in a place of love, generosity, gratitude, happiness and joy. Your efforts to do so truly matter to us all and I thank you.

How are you Dear Ones?

I hope you are well. I also hope you are finding a few laughs in all the “learning lessons” 2020 brought us.

As this year grinds to a close, I cling to humor as to a life raft. As big a life raft as possible because the weight of some of our collective and personal learning lessons would sink an ocean liner.

My children have mastered the art of embedding memes and funny tiktoks in group text chains ( okay, so that is a sentence I never thought I would write). I love these and BEG FOR MORE. Yes, I know, it’s annoying to receive the text, “It’s your mother and she wants another meme.” Could be worse.

Maybe in 2021 I will learn how to find and post these too. Not likely.

In the meantime, I want to applaud all of you out there who slogged through this year because, let’s face it, if you did, you had to learn a lot, hopefully sometimes with a smile under the mask.

Here are a few things that I learned or relearned in 2020:

#1 Dogs are great conversationalists. As one of the few friends that can sit up close to me, Sheba is my “Go to” for chats. My conversations with her have gotten a lot more interesting and snappy in 2020, if I do say so myself. And I need to say so myself because the cat certainly wouldn’t say anything nice like this. She remains indifferent to my verbal repartee. In fact, she sniffs at my wit and wisdom.

Thank goodness for Sheba’s lower standards.

#2 It is possible to concoct delicious tempting edible meals from strange supplies. Yes, things are fairly routine at the grocery stores again, but there was a stretch back in the spring when capers were the miracle food improving every weird casserole I made from “things I found in the pantry.” I bet you have a miracle ingredient too. Are you a bit tired of this miracle ingredient? Like never want to eat it again? Will 2020 end with a symbolic burning of said ingredient?

# 3 There is always more to learn about mask fashion and construction.

First, the topic of mask construction. I made a lot ( I mean A LOT) of masks this year. I imagine many of you did. My early ones were basically squares with tucks. Then I found a pattern with padded pipe cleaners sewn inside for that swoosh up and over the nose. Friends and family asking for masks enjoyed giving me “feedback”. I began to use different patterns for different people. I began a notebook to keep track of their exact specifications. Who could have known quite how particular people would be about the tightness or materials used for their ear straps ( yet another sentence I never imagined I would write).

For every mask that granddaughter Grace liked for school, there were four that needed to be reworked or sat unused. Who knew that unicorns could suddenly be passe? Grace’s favorite material showed smiling cups of cocoa. Picking up on this cue, I made several masks for her with this same material. This proved to be a problem because she is expected to wear a fresh mask every day, yet it looks like this isn’t the case with my five repeats. So many unexpected mask issues, so much sewing….

With adults, I found that some liked to wear their heart on their sleeves masks and enjoyed my choices of “hobby” pattern materials. Frankly I went a little crazy in the fabric store. It was so thrilling to be out on a legitimate errand and there were just so many FUN options for mask material.

Apparently I was not alone in getting 1/4 yard of 17 materials. The patient clerk cutting my pieces told me mine was a modest group compared to many. Anyways, there were dogs for dog lovers, bugs for bug lovers, flowers for flower lovers, Japanese umbrellas for Japanese umbrella lovers. You get the picture. Some for example my husband wearied of wearing a literal face mask news blitz. Maybe it was tiresome to explain why the day’s mask showed the cross section of a dragonfruit. Maybe a mask with a sloth on it didn’t set the right tone as the teacher of sixth graders who were supposed to be paying attention despite the distractions of a global pandemic. Some for example my husband asked for plain material, blue to be exact. I drew the line with black masks. Why the attraction to black masks? Batman? This leads to the auxilliary topic of…

Mask Fashion. In the office, staff goddess Hannah set the bar for mask fashion. Every day a gorgeous mask compliments her outfit in the most wonderful way. Hannah and the masks she sources remind me that #4 Art happens in the most unlikely ways.

Don’t you like our cute aprons? This is so we only use our own pen and scissors when we pack. I mean really there is only so many times a day one can ENJOYABLY douse one’s hands with hand sanitizer.

#5 On the topic of arts and entertainment…… I learned that entertainment standards can be lowered and then lowered again. Who knew that riding shotgun on the school drop off could be that much fun? I have become Homer Simpson, “Look! A red car!”

#6 The miracle of recycling begins at home. 2020 didn’t get me examining my navel so much as examining every overstuffed closet in the house. Apologies to you Marie Kondo. Your book went to a thrift shop along with a ton of deeply cherished items much loved items items I couldn’t live without specialty items items I’ll need for those special projects I’m going to get to soon all of the items above and more junk. You inspired and then I retired (your book).

#7 Outdoor socially distanced masked gatherings in the summer are more fun than in the winter. Gone are the relatively normal except for the masks, the social distancing and the not touching gatherings of summer when we lingered in the warmth of the sun and each other’s hidden smiles. It is COLD to meet outside in winter. We tried a bonfire last week for an outside birthday party. A brisk wind off the arctic kept blowing smoke in our faces. Babies cried. Dogs shivered. We valiantly celebrated for a good hour before retreating to our separate (warm) houses. Another recent socially distanced walk with a visiting toddler also abruptly ended when frostbite threatened. More arctic winds combined with 5 degree temperatures made grandbaby Etta’s cheeks a bit too red.

#8 Restaurant meals…… I can live without them, but I would rather not.

#9 Nothing says anachronism like “current” TV shows.

#10 I am not an introvert. I thought I had become more of one with the years, but I was misinformed. Just ask my neighbors. When Sheba alerts me that someone anyone is walking by the farm, we race out together to stand at a safe distance and bark shout inquire what’s new.

#11 Garlic can be eaten with impunity when you wear a mask all the time.

#12 You can play charades via zoom, just don’t expect to hear or see exactly what your teammate in another state is doing.

#13 You can teach any dog, young or old, new tricks. In the spring we had to create all kinds of new systems for getting your orders out. Some systems evolved when I was the only person here (GULP). Later we created safe ways to have people return to work (THANK GOODNESS).

Yesterday three feet of snow fell in the night. No staff could get here except intrepid Vicki who snowshoed the mile from her house to the farm. Together we resuscitated our earlier no staff systems and managed to get all the orders off.

We even got them to the post office. No dog sled necessary! Just a couple hours of shoveling out the truck! Thanks Jim!

In any case, I am pretty sure that if you weren’t in a coma in 2020 you too came up with creative adaptations for arising problems. I am really proud of all of us for rolling with the punches.

#14 This has been a time which will give us a lot of stories to share in the coming years. I like stories. I look forward to hearing them in person. As Thomas Moore said, “Enchantment is the willingness to live in a bungalow of stories rather than a warehouse of facts.”

So yes, stories! I can’t wait to be gathered round, too close, admiring everyones’ smiles and listening to tales from 2020. In the meantime, hang in there. I know you can do it because you are doing it! Take precious care and keep telling the dog your stories until you can share them with the rest of us!

As we support those who are recovering from the virus but have not regained their full health, we find ourselves learning which Flower Essences are helpful in what is proving for some to be a long road to recovery.

Today a GHF friend requested Flower Essences to help with his continued loss of smell. He got the virus at the very beginning of the pandemic in early March and still has not regained his sense of smell.  This blog is a discussion of the Flower Essences suggested by the Angels for him.

As we continue to gather suggestions for individuals, we will learn which are general suggestions for all and which are Flower Essences needed specifically for an individual’s unique electrical system. While the Angels chose the group for this particular person, they indicated that this is an excellent list for all those in recovery to consider. The commentary about the Flower Essences comes from the Angels explaining their choices to me.

After the Angels they made their suggestions, they asked me to organize the Flower Essences into categories for discussion.  I found this very clarifying. I hope you will too.

The Angels describe some of their Flower Essence choices differently here. They mention strengths I hadn’t understood these Essences to have. When I was surprised by their list, they reminded me that Flower Essences have so many healing gifts that a relatively short description (such as that given on the website) can’t possibly mention them all. They reminded me that when different situations arise, they have me rewrite Flower Essence descriptions to highlight how they are needed right now.

One case in point is Pansy Flower Essence. The Angels asked me to draw attention to its great wisdom about dealing with viruses. Our old descriptions focused on Pansy‘s spiritual gifts not its more pragmatic ones.

NERVE REPAIR

Watch Your Back– The focus of this powerful remedy is the health of the central nervous system as it relates to the chakras. It helps to restore nerve damage and the full flow of electricity through the chakras, the meridians as well as the spinal column. With those recovering from the virus we have seen it used for chronic fatigue type symptoms as well as for this man’s situation with nerve issues in his upper chakras.

The Alignment Garden– This one offers support for the proper reorganization of the nerves after the virus. The Alignment Garden required the most fine tuned and precise work in creating, planting and maintaining this garden and created a Flower Essence combination unlike any other in its wisdom about reorganization and alignment for maximum health, well-being and the full flow of light energy.

Musk Thistle– This is another Essence which focuses on helping us restore order in the chakras and nervous system after our energetic system has gone through tumultuous ordeal like the virus.

Yerba Mate– Yerba Mate helps with remapping cell patterns especially in the upper chakras.

Pansy– When I went to write this blog the Angels noted that Pansy was an under appreciated and significant energetic tool for handling and overcoming viral infections and that anyone would do well to include this Essence in their Flower Essence regime right now.

MOVING HIGHER VOLTAGE TO THE RIGHT PLACES

Mango– Mango cleanses and revitalizes energy meridians especially in the three upper chakras. These are the passageways for electrical voltage to move. They connect from the main chakras or energetic epicenters to other energy points out from the center of the chakras.  In this case the Mango helps move the electrical light energy out from the fifth, sixth and seventh chakras to the related meridian system. This improves healing in the physical vehicle as more light means a higher vibration which means greater health. This Essence is particularly strong for post virus repair.

Silver-rod– The I AM affirmation of this powerhouse says so much about its immense healing strengths; I AM aligned with the electromagnetic field of my Creator and thus can ride disturbances in the field with ease and grace. Isn’t this exactly what we are being called to do right now- deal with and rise above a viral disturbance in our collective and individual energy fields? Thank goodness Silver-rod is there to support us with this as well as support the pituitary gland in its organizational role for so many flow systems in our body.

Celandine– Excellent for cell to cell communication which positively impacts the movement of healing energies. Specifically it offers wonderful support for any illness in which cells are not acting in harmony.

ESSENCES WORKING TO REPAIR THE PHYSICAL VEHICLE

Timely Virus Mix– This Combination Flower Essence created by the Angels in early 2020 can be used in the recovery period as it will continue to offer significant electrical wisdom just as it does during the active virus period and as a preventative tool. Each ingredient is dovetailed for healing from this virus. For example Corona del Inca holds immense wisdom about moving healing light through the crown or corona of the head which positively impacts longterm recovery from the virus.

Recovery– This Combination Essence helps rebuild from the foundation up and is useful in almost any recovery process. It has been a mainstay of our collection since 1994.

Restore– As this remedy was first developed as a tool for smoking cessation, it has a particular affinity for supporting the restoration of health from any damage done to the respiratory system. It will prove helpful for those dealing with any sort of respiratory concern post virus.

Breathe– Again, this is a dynamo for repairing the respiratory system as it is affected by this virus. Ingredients like French Marigold have a specific resonance with respiratory repair after a viral infection.

Little Ironweed– This Taiwan beloved makes sure the healing housecleaning is meticulously complete so that all that needs to go as part of the healing process is removed.

Immune Support– Always a support for any healing process.

WELCOMING ENERGIES OF HEALING

During this global transition from one vibrational frequency to another higher one, it is important to know you deserve to welcome in the higher, healing frequencies entering Earth and that you are essentially one with these higher vibrations. These Essences have a particular wisdom about welcoming in healing and other blessings.

The Eight Garden– Our first Venus Garden iteration was called the Eight Garden. Two decades later we did a second Eight Garden because this Essence had proven so vital to people’s healing that we needed to make the Essence again. This beloved helps us release into formlessness all that needs to go and bring into form higher vibrations of healing, light and love. Among so many other strengths, it a powerful tool in manifesting restored health after a health crisis like this virus.

Morning Glory– Healing light floods this planet. It’s our free will decision to open to receive it. This Flower Essence helps us relax and welcome it in.

Belerephon of the Open Door– This Essence brings the element of grace into our healing. Even if we sometimes get lost in a place of feeling undeserving, this one pries open the situation and ushers healing in anyways.

Flow Free– If you have read this blog at all, you would probably be shocked if I wrote a blog that didn’t mention this one. What can I say? I have taken it daily for decades and still find it an astounding friend.

Sea Campion– This Irish mainstay helps us fall into the natural rhythm of the inbreath and the outbreath. This has the benefit of bringing us into a place of welcoming in abundant healing on the inbreath and discarding on the outbreath crusty old self doubts and criticisms that interfere with healing.

SPECIFIC TO THE RESTORING THE SENSES

Jasmine– This is the most important Flower Essence for restoring a damaged sense of smell.

Spice Tree- This Essence works to enhance all five senses and will help repair any sense if it is damaged. We ran out of this Flower Essence a few years ago, so I grew a Spice Tree in the greenhouse. It is now six feet tall and blossoming up a storm. I will restore it to its place in the Bermuda collection asap, especially as the Angels have indicated it will be so helpful post-covid.

SOLVING HEALING LOG JAMS

Have you ever tried to explain something to someone and the person doesn’t get what you are saying and you try over and over again? Then suddenly, something is said and everything unlocks and becomes clear for the person. Essences can serve in that role of unlocking a misunderstanding that is preventing healing.

Wound Healing– This is a comprehensive combination remedy that seeks to bring light to anything that keeps us in a wounded place unable to move forward towards greater healing.

Coralita– The Angels call this the “missing link” Flower Essence for its ability to resolve divisions and tangles that leave us unintegrated or in poor health. Coralita unleashes a free flow of healing energy through our electrical systems.

Rose Campion– I found our description of this Essence, written at least a decade ago, really interesting in light of what we have all been through in 2020; “When it has been nearly impossible to find a bead on love in a particular circumstance, Rose Campion opens the door. The Angels describe it as a skeleton key that can open up myriad numbers of diverse ‘locked down’ situations to open us to receive a flood of forgiving, expansive, ever replenishing love.”

Larkspur– This one offers complete support for a health course correction. It is a dynamo.

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT

Grief and Loss– Losing the bead on health even when a temporary thing is difficult. More specifically, losing a function like smell which is so central to the pleasures of life is a sorrow. This old friend of a remedy offers layered support for these times.

Redwood– Healing from this virus and other viruses requires great patience. Redwood is a great teacher of patience.

And so now I will offer up these choices to the GHF friend who contacted us and see what calls to him. I have been feeling so grateful to him today for having called me to answer this question. I have learned much that I hope will be helpful to many others.

Take precious care and stay safe!

Like most everyone, our Thanksgiving plans have dwindled from a cast of thousands to two people and a sandwich. I can’t say that no tears were shed as we drifted towards this reality. But it was the right thing to do for the safety of all, and so I dipped into a bottle of Grief & Loss, put my big girl pants on and let everyone know that a family Thanksgiving gathering here was a no go.

Then I decided that instead of having a pity party of me, Jim and some cranberry relish, I would remember all the Thanksgivings memories I have and be grateful. Cue the Gratitude Essence.

When I was a kid, my three grandparents spent Thanksgiving at our home in Connecticut. My paternal grandfather, a lanky gentleman with a wonderfully bald head, travelled from Philadelphia the day before Thanksgiving. He never left Philly early enough to beat the traffic. Half a century before cell phones, we would get many calls from rest stops along the highway to report his glacial progress. “I’m backed up at the George Washington bridge.” was an annual call. He also drove the most enormous car which always seemed to arrive with a few more dents!

When my mother’s dinner was dried to a crisp, he would blow in with the biggest basket of fruit the earth could provide, a beribboned tower at least three feet high. This offering would not absolve him from my mother’s wrath, but us kids were happy to see him at any hour. He was a human jungle gym there for the climbing, and he had an impeccable sense of what kids found fun.

My other grandfather was the big deal grandfather with the stratospheric career (The patriarch with a capital P). He always carved the turkey. One year, he invested in an electric carving knife. Sadly he assembled it wrong, and it shredded the meat. As the slices fell away in clumps of gnarly gummy wads, he kept declaring what a fabulous improvement this was on the standard carving knife. He thought anything called progress was good, so he insisted on sawing the bird to pieces before acknowledging defeat. As he was big into teasing us, we were all delighted he had served up something we could tease him about forever.

One year we broke tradition and went to my grandparents in Massachusetts (Yes I know, only a New Englander could call it a “break from tradition” to go to a neighboring state). This was the infamous holiday when my grandmother served consomme madrilene, and all her grandchild thought their beloved grandma had gone wild and was serving us JELLO instead of the usual fancy fare. How she laughed when we choked on the salty stuff.

Then there was the Thanksgiving when the oven broke but no one noticed until dinner time. In an era when no stores were open on Thanksgiving, some sort of meat was dragged from the freezer, the hibachi was lit and we enjoyed a grilled meat of sorts. Nothing says Thanksgiving like stuffing with “steak”. This reminds me of another time when I was first married to Jim. His father tried to use his grill to cook the bird on some kind of jury rigged rotisserie. I well remember the flopping parts as the rotisserie turned as well as the eventual presentation at table of raw poultry.

Once I took over the reins of Thanksgiving, I especially enjoyed asking lots of people to dinner, sometimes strangers. One year a vague acquaintance came from Santa Fe. We had epic sledding that Thanksgiving and we spent the day yelling our heads off as we whizzed down our hill. Catherine endeared herself to us forever with her sledding antics. She and her husband, Michael, would come to Thanksgiving for the next couple of decades.

I actually met Michael at the next Thanksgiving. When I asked him what his family ate for Thanksgiving when he was a child, he said, “whatever I shot.” Thus I learned Michael was a Mohawk from the Hudson River valley of New York.

After 911 we invited a crowd of people who’s lives had been through the wringer. As we had just built our office building but hadn’t moved in, we decorated the space like a restaurant. It looked so beautiful with twinkling lights and a long, long table. My brother in law, Stephen, got seated next to a New York City native who somehow knew way too many plot spoilers for the Sopranos. He is still irritated about that.

Michael isn’t the only guest I’ve grilled about their childhood Thanksgiving menu. I think this is about the most interesting conversation one can have with anyone. People ALWAYS say, “the usual” then describe a menu that has unexpected twists and turns. It’s always a wonderful reminder that America is a melting pot.

Other than my grandmother’s “Jello”, the menu of my childhood was rather spartan. There was never any gravy and no more than two pies. Sides were bland things like peas and rice and the stuffing charmless. So when I got to be in charge I first rebelled with outside the box menus like paella. The paella year was a year when the house was packed with visitors, and my brother Sam decided to put his sneakers in the dryer at 2 am, waking everyone up. Ahh good times!

As the family grew and annual attendees revealed their talents, we returned to a more traditional menu with new exciting sides. Perennial guest Michael was a gravy master, so that became a fixture. His wife Catherine brought her Lebanese roots to the table with hummus, kibbeh, baklava and a rainbow of olives. Emily’s husband’s family comes from the mushroom territory of Kennett Square, PA, so Charlie got us going on sides with mushrooms.

When half the clan went vegan we found a way to navigate it all with a sense of humor. It could have been the Hatfields versus the McCoys, but we managed to make it more McHatCoyfields. Analog meats sat cheek by jowl with roast turkey and a heck of a lot of side dishes were earmarked “yes dairy” and “no dairy”.

And now we get to Thanksgiving 2020. In preparation, many moons ago, I purchased a potato ricer. I kept reading what a difference it made to the texture of mashed potatoes, but somehow I didn’t envision ricing potatoes for two. However, I am fortunate to have a new ricer and potatoes from the gardens and people I can connect to by facetime to show off my well riced mashed potatoes.

In considering my Thanksgiving memories, I notice they are mostly about funny things that happened. Thank goodness that in a few years, 2020 will be just a memory. For me, perhaps one with a funny story about a ricer and for all of us, I hope, a story of a safe holiday, different but safe.