Terrapin Station

An American Thanksgiving and World Peace

Friday afternoon I had a function that kept me busy most of the afternoon.

It wasn't until I got home that I learned of the terrorist attacks in Paris, and that one of our former exchange students had died at the Bataclan venue.

Saturday I curated social media and did errands with Ken. That night I acolyted at the 5:00 service. Fr. Jesse Smith was our celebrant, which is always a joy. He brought me a lot of peace.

Sunday I shopped and cooked for that afternoon's event, and curated social media some more. Such heartbreak. Such vituperation.

Sunday afternoon was the Global Interact American Thanksgiving for International Students. This event has been held for over 30 years and provides international students from the 2 universities in town with a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal, plus a skit about the first Thanksgiving (which is pretty standard history, what I was taught in first grade) and singing.

Look at these beautiful faces...from the US and dozens of other countries. There's a building block for world peace for you.

Who Knows?

Later this month, Ken and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. That, in context with the previous post here, have me thinking how mysterious this life really is; how we never can really know what's coming down the road, and how we grow as we go along.

15 years ago, I was a different person, but still me. How does that work? Who knows?

I couldn't have known how my relationships with my kids (who are mine courtesy of Ken) could have grown and changed me. How time would gift me with two great people and their partners (and a baby granddaughter!)

How could I have known how greatly my understanding of God and God's role in my life would change? that associating with a group of women clergy and supporting them would become a major passion of my life?

Recently I took one of those Facebook quizzes that tells you what flower you are, who your evil twin is, etc. This one was about "which denomination should you be in?" and the answer I got was "Unitarian Universalist." It didn't surprise me...I once had a counseor, raised Episcopalian and worshipping Unitarian, say, "You sound awfully Unitarian to me." I'm not particularly orthodox. Looking at my beliefs in EFM has helped me to see that I believe a lot of church doctrine, but I would not fight for it. The virgin birth, for instance. I believe that God is totally capable of doing that, if God wants to. And if that were not to be the truth, it would not upset me at all.

How could I have guessed it would go that way? How could it be predicted? It couldn't. That's what makes life interesting, I guess.

Tonight I made mushroom stroganoff and walked the dogs and did laundry. Things are good. Life is good.

 

Friday Five: Thanksgiving Food.

This week’s Friday Five is because of my preparations for our Thanksgiving dinner celebration, which here in the US will be next Thursday, November 28th. I hope our RevGals and Pals who are not in the US will play along, particularly as it relates to menus and food!

Be sure to link us to YOUR blog post by pasting your link into the comments.

1. Turkey: love it? hate it? self-basted? fry it or roast it? Tofu-turkey? Tell me more. (I’ve only had one roasted turkey come out totally delish so I’m fishing for your tips!) I love turkey, because I make it the way my mama taught me: with a Reynolds Turkey Oven Bag. Testify: it works every time.

2. Stuffing: bagged? homemade? sage? sausage? cornbread? oysters? nuts? Got any inspiration for me? I call it dressing, because it is never stuffed into anything except the mouth. I make bread dressing with cubed bread dressing starter, lots of onion, celery, butter, and chicken stock. Mmmm.

3. Cranberries: When we celebrated Thanksgiving in Europe one year, our French friends thought we were nuts to choose a very sour berry and then load it with sugar. (Let alone the stuff that comes out of a can in a blob of gelatinous ooze!) What do you do with cranberries? I learned to make whole berry dressing from a former student assistant (who was horrified that I used the canned kind...!) 

4. Potatoes: (Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew…) What’s your pleasure? Yes, please. I prefer butter and cream. My husband thinks they should be made akin to hot potato salad, with mustard, onion, chopped egg and dill pickle (that's not even how I make potato salad!) But if he likes it, I will make it.

5. Pie: I’m married to the Pie Man. Anything but coconut pie floats his boat. What do you make? (or buy?) Pumpkin? Pecan? Apple?  Usually a pecan. I don't like cooked apples.

BONUS: A recipe that you’ve tried out and will make it to your table this year.

I don't have one, but need to find one fast. We are going to Thanksgiving dinner at Courtney's parents' home...the first time we will have met them! Woo woo.

Friday Five: Thanksgiving

Jan, over at RevGals offers this Friday Five:

I've been home from Russia for less than a week, and in less than a week it is Thanksgiving Day in the USA (Nov. 24). So for this Friday Five, answer these questions (and if they don't apply to you, list five things you are grateful for):

1. Where will you be on Thanksgiving Day? With whom? I will be at home with my sweet husband.  Because he is still taking all nourishment through a tube, attending an event where it's all about eating would be unkind to him, to say the least.  Also he's not feeling great a lot of the time, so going somewhere seems like a bad plan.  We are just going to chill.  I hope to get at least a little deep cleaning done (don't want to go overboard) and maybe start decorating for Christmas.  I have vacation on Thursday and Friday.

2. Are there any family traditions or memories associated with Thanksgiving?  Oh my, yes.  We always (in my memory) had all the Butler family over to our house.  I remember many Thanksgiving mornings helping chop celery & onions for dressing, or setting many many card tables with various sets of china and silverware, or raking leaves in the yard to get ready.  There would be 30 or 40 people there. That same group would gather for Christmas at my Gramma Beth's house and later Aunt Emily & Uncle Oliver's home on Lake Jackson.  What a wonderful gift:  a solid feeling of belonging to a solid family full of love.  (Really.  That group really did get along.  No joking.) 

3. What will be on your Thanksgiving menu?  Well, we are eating a lot of dressing (my personal favorite part of Thanksgiving) with giblet gravy (made by Ken).  We each eat it as we are able.  :) 

4. Are you trying anything new this Thanksgiving? Staying home and not entertaining. 

5. What is the weather forecast for this day (next Thursday)? Sunny.  High 62, low 47.  Can't beat that!  Looks like I may be doing some lawn cutting, too.

Bonus: Prayer, poem, song, or whatever you choose to exemplify your image of Thanksgiving (giving thanks).

At Butler gatherings we say grace before meals by standing in a circle, holding hands, and singing this:

 

                                                                

(While I like this inclusive version of the words, using only the word "God" to represent God, know well that the Doxology as the Butlers sing it refers to God as Him.  And we have a Father, Son and Holy GHOST.  No newfangled wording for us, thanks.)  (That's TRADITION for you.)

Thanksgivings and Clarion Calls

My parents are here! My mom was sick last night but is better now.

It's sunny and I'm having coffee.  9 am and I need to get off this computer soon...

I still have some cleaning and setup to do in the dining room (recently known as The Dump for Office Stuff) but it's sunny and pretty there and won't take long.

We have some Bradford pear trees down the street with nice color. Their fallen leaves will do well for decoration. The dogs and I will take a walk to get them soon.

Ken is home all day. No work on Thanksgiving this year!

I brought in the paper and put all the BLACK FRIDAY ads firmly in the recycle bin

I had a card from friend Jane yesterday. I am grateful for her.

I am grateful for you, you reading this.

I ran around yesterday saying, "Happy Thanksgiving!" to everyone.  I just love saying, "Happy Thanksgiving!" to people, because (I thought) everyone you meet, says it back. No one gets offended or doesn't celebrate it. No matter how much or how little they have, they celebrate Thanksgiving.

***************

But I realize, writing this, that the above is only true because the people I was meeting, at the university and the grocery store and church, are generally as fortunate as I am.  They have homes, they have families.  They have a way to celebrate.  

It is, in fact, NOT true. 

Last night at church, we collected baked goods for our local fire and police stations, to thank them for their service over the holiday.   We delivered 13 bushel baskets full.  We also collected canned goods to go to Christian Community Action during the holiday season.  

When I told my sister earlier on about the basket delivery, she challenged me: "Why are you taking food to the firemen on Thanksgiving, and not the poor people?"   

Um....because this is our tradition of probably 15 years?  It predates me at this church by a long time?  But then when I took my basket to the Lewisville Police station, I waited behind a man who was there to bail his friend out of jail (been there, done that).  He asked me, "Oh, are you bringing Thanksgiving food for the inmates?"  "Uh, no," I said, "for the staff."

Would they even LET me bring Thanksgiving food to people in jail?  Probably not! - little bitty files in loaves of homemade banana bread...but I wonder, I wonder.  Next year, I want us to take some extra baskets out.  Not sure where, who, how.  We shall see.

God, help us all to love and bless one another today.  Make me mindful of the needs of others.  Teach me to see needs in front of me, and give me the courage to find ways to address them.  Make me, my family, and my friends: your people in the world today. 

What's for Dinner!?

  For dinner tomorrow I am serving:

• Free-range turkey, roasted

• Dressing (cubed, seasoned bread dressing with lots of onion & celery) (NOT in the bird!)

• Mashed potatoes

• Sweet potato casserole (yuck, but it's not for me)

• Shrimp fried rice (Trinidadian style, from a guest)

• Green bean casserole (yes, that one)

• Cranberry sauce, both jellied and homemade whole-berry

• Pumpkin pie

• Pecan praline pie

• French silk pie

• Coffee

• Tea

• Apple pie - not pie, but a liquor I made my own self with: apple cider, apple juice, sugar, cinnamon, and, er, Everclear.  It's 'lish. 

• Mints

• Alka-Seltzer

Come on over!  Dinner is at 2, with games to follow.

Giving thanks

A lovely and peaceful day.  It grows colder and colder outside; a storm's a coming.  The radar online is all bright pink and bright green, meaning freezing mixture and rain.  It quite reminds me of being in the middle of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Southwest Regional Conference in Austin earlier this month.  (I was attending another conference, one without such a strong pink-and-green identity).

We got up to sit in the side yard hot tub...went back to bed to read paper and watch TV.   Ken had steak and eggs for breakfast, and I had oatmeal.  I paid moldering bills and wrote some letters, with real stationery and stamps! Later I made rum balls (a new trick for me) and made pizza for lunch. 

We had expected it to just be "us" today as Brandon had plans with his girlfriend's family.  Imagine our surprise and pleasure when he called at 1:30 and asked if he could come over "to give thanks with us."  We had pizza together and now he is crashed on my side of the bed.  I have a good knitting chair in there, so I'll go in shortly and begin to cast on my new experiment! a silk sweater. 

We had been planning, at his request, to go see Beowulf.  I said I had heard it was not a very good movie.  He asked me, "Well, have you seen the REAL movie of it?"

Um...

I said, "Beowulf is a REAL BOOK. A classic."  "I know," he said.  "I've read it."  This seems odd to me, as I didn't read it until grad school, but whatever. 

For now he is sleeping and the cares of being an adult have slipped away.  If he wakes up and still wants to go, I will go watch CGI animated Angelina Jolie.  Worse things could happen.  :) 

Blessings on all.

 

THANKSGIVING on Thanksgiving!

JANET IS COMING HOME NEXT WEEK!

HALLELUJAH! 

Thanks to you all for your prayers!  She is to go home early next week.  We learned this at last night's Thanksgiving Eve service.  Giving thanks, indeed!

Grouchy Thankfulness List

Dadgummit.  I was looking for something cheering before coming over here to grump...so I went to Mindy's place because Mindy always lightens my heart.  If I were going to have a daughter (which I'm not) I think I'd name her Mindy because I just love Mindy, Princess of Everything. 

And she said this in her last post: "Mary Beth is right, this is going to be an awesome year." 

And of course I was right, but now I can't really grump, can I?  It IS an awesome year.  So instead of grouching, I'll do a grouchy thankfulness list.  Here goes.

1. I and the people I love the most are healthy and well.
2. I am teaching a teenager to drive (!!!!), but I'm grateful that I have one to do that with.  Several of his school friends took out a parent's car about five years ago...unlicensed, without permission, and with a bunch of beer in the car.  Half of them were killed and the rest damaged for life in various ways, along with their families, friends, and the community at large. 
3. My church rocks, largely because my God rocks.  WooHoo God!
4. It didn't get icy last night after all.  Of course, I cancelled the Daughters of the King meeting just in case, and now I feel like an enormous dope, but at least my ladies stayed safe and warm.  I hope!
5. It is probably going to get icy again this weekend (we have had 2 ice days so far this week!) but that's what it's spose to do this time of year.  And I do have a warm house to stay in and I am working on a warm knitted hat for ME for when I have to go out of it.  If I finish it, I'll post a picture here.
6. I have a job I really love despite those turkeys. 

Y'all have a great day.  Friday Five to appear soon.

Thankfulness List

A la Mindy.

I have been feeling pretty cranky, which I think is attributable to still not feeling 100 percent after being sick, but being back to work and other responsibilities.  SO: time to give some thanks!  For...

• Ken who is so sweet to me - especially when I was sick and even now when HE is so sick
• My funny dogs
• That my car runs! and well, too!
• That I asked for help with this retreat (in planning stages) and am getting it
• That Gina's pain is ended & that her Requiem Mass (Saturday) will be a beautiful celebration of her life. 
• My house
• My therapist
• My body - which works amazingly well
• Jazzercise!
• 30 good minutes of office organizing this morning...lots of recycling! 
• Coffee & water drunk together
• Lunch with V. today. 

That's all I've got.  Nothing profound.  What are you grateful for?