Giving thanks!

 

T'is T-week on ABC Wednesday and Troy reminded us all that time is of the essence.  Last week there were all the preparations for Thanksgiving to be taken care of and thus I found myself running out of it and never even getting an S-post up.  How terrible!  How could I even try to make it up?  Suddenly I had a taste for more of that wonderful gathering of family and food (the best of American traditional foods: a stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, cranberry relish and pumpkin pie)

So, I am taking you to another time and place for this second Thanksgiving and celebrating with you my ancestors from a photo I found again the other day.  The place is still St. Joseph County, but in Indiana this time and the date is 1939 not 2011.   Gathered for the Thanksgiving celebration are my parents, grandparents, aunt and uncles, and a bottle of Hoosier Beer.  Sitting are my Uncle Willy Archambault, my father John McCauslin,  and my grandmother, his mother, Marie Evelyn (Archambault) McCauslin.  Standing are my other grandmother, Helen (Stuckey) Turnock, my Aunt Anna (Charron) Archambault, my grandfather August (Buck) McCauslin, my uncle Chuck Borowski (waving the Hoosier Beer above the teetotaler Aunt Anna's head) and my mother, June (Turnock) McCauslin.  Since Grandma McCauslin has on her apron, I am assuming that they had all gathered at her home on Notre Dame Avenue.  Missing from the photo are my Grandpa Ted Turnock and my Aunt Evy (McCauslin) Borowski.  One of them must have taken the picture. 

So, please take Troy's advice, waste no more time here, but take a trip with all the tantalizing T-words brought to you by the teasers of ABC Wednesday.

the glimmer of hope on a snowy morn

For Skywatch Friday, another look at last Friday's first heavy snow and the glimmer of sun on a snow-filled cloud.

Keeping warm

Two golden-haired ones huddle by the fireplace flames to drive away the cold and forget about the lake-effect snow flurries that hang over the day.

Ramiferous on ABC Wednesday

It feels like I am rather reaching with this R-word.  The recent snow and cold has reduced my rationality and rattled my brain.  Sensible restraint has been relinquished and I reluctantly offer you “ramiferous,” defined as bearing branches. 

The first Google entry (ramiferous in botany) is from a less than recent 1832 report and the next from 1920.  Before I retract this recondite entry, let me retire repentantly.  I do not want to leave you recumbent and so I refer you to Reggae music to revive you!  And check out this story from NPR on the newest Reggae stars: Non-Jamaican Reggae: Who's Making It And Who's Buying It
 

Another kind of reflection: What is this place?

Here is Joanne's answer to the question as she posted it in the store several years ago:

Winter came with a snow that began around noon and didn't stop until a heavy, wet two inches was covering everything when we went walking this morning.  The clouds were trying to part to let the sun come through and hopefully take the snow burden off the trees.  It was the evergreens that were groaning under the weight since most of the deciduous trees are bare now.   Luckily we did not receive the snowy blast that hit the U.S. east coast almost two weeks ago.  Some have just had electricity restored this week.

To escape snow skies, please stop by Skywatch Friday. 

A Flowering Quince for ABC Wednesday

 

In order to find a contribution for Q on ABC Wednesday, I had to search through last spring's photos to find this closeup of the flowers on my quince bush.  The flowers emerge generally before the leaves and make the still cold days of spring brighten with their intense hues.  Today those blooms are gone and even the leaves have deserted the branches.  Fall is queen today!

I can guarantee more Q's to quaff your thirst can be found at ABC Wednesday.

Apple Poster for ABC Wednesday

You are inside the  barn at the Spirit Springs Farm just across the county line from us in Cass County.  If you seek an amazing variety of apples, this is the place to come.  We have a standing order each year.  The farmer who started these orchards, filled with heritage apples, is dead, but his four daughters return every fall to pick and sell the 70 + varieties of antique and unusual apples.  One of my favorites is the Roxbury Russet, small and slightly tart but tasty.  And I found out researching for this post that the Roxbury Russet may be the oldest variety of apple in the United States, according to the website, Orange Pippin.  Click here for some interesting facts about apple production in Michigan.

By the way, speaking of P and Michigan, our new tourist industry motto is "Pure Michigan."  And for more postings on the prolific P, please pop on over to ABC Wednesday.  Thank you to Mrs. Nesbitt and her crew for pushing me every week into exploring our world!