Thursday, or Thereabouts - November 26, 2015

I Love a Parade!

Today is American Thanksgiving and that means only one thing - the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. It's a tradition of sorts for me to tune in to this mega event and if you love parades as much as I do, then this is the one for you! It is nothing short of an extravaganza of marching bands (sadly a tradition that never really caught on in Canada), eye-popping floats and those iconic flying balloons (also largely absent in Canadian parades). This parade is a stellar performance from start to finish, including song and dance from current Broadway plays.

Today with temperatures a balmy 10 C (50F) and gentle winds just high enough to get the flags wafting, and easily low enough to permit the flying balloons to do what they do best - lift eyes and hearts up, way up, the parade lead off with the NYPD motorcycle troop. I looked for Tom Selleck but - oh wait, that's another TV show.

The first float featured Pilgrims perched atop a mammoth Tom Turkey - well it is the Thanksgiving Day Parade and legend has it all began with the Pilgrims in 1621.

My favourites this year:
Scrat and his Acorn

Paddington Bear

The Big Apple

And it wouldn't be the Macy's Parade with out Snoopy and Woodstock, the characters with the longest history of appearances in the Macy's parade.
Yay Snoopy!

Some 10,000 volunteers brought us the music, song and dance acts, and the myriad of floats that all lead up to the grand finale, the entrance of emerald and golden sleigh bearing the jolly old elf himself, along with Mrs. Claus.

It's enough to make anyone shout, "I believe!"

This is New York City at her best - colourful, fun, spirited and proud with EVERYBODY working together. Now that really is something for which to very grateful, profoundly grateful.

And here's one more take-away from the parade: if you can step away from the obligations and duties of your life, especially the self-imposed ones; if you can leave behind the 'shoulds' and 'oughts' for a few hours to be amused and amazed, to be a kid again eyes wide with anticipation and bodies bubbling with joy, DO IT!

A very Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family, friends and writers.

text ©2015 April Hoeller
images courtesy of Macy's Inc.

Monday Moanings - October 12, 2015

No moaning at the table today!

Today is

"...a day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

So reads the decree enacted by Parliament in 1879. Though the date has moved around a little - at first it was November 6, then it was the 3rd Monday in October - on January 31, 1957, the government proclaimed that National Thanksgiving be celebrated on the 2nd Monday of October.

Sir Martin Frobisher

But it is Martin Frobisher who is credited with celebrating the very first Thanksgiving in Canada. In 1578, the Englishman and privateer set out on his third voyage to the New World in search of the Northwest Passage. The expedition encountered fierce storms and heavy ice. One ship sank, crushed by sea ice, one ship deserted the fleet and sailed back to England and the remaining thirteen ships were scattered by the storms and currents. By some great miracle they all met up again at the anchorage established on Frobisher's first voyage - Frobisher Bay (now called Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut).

 "... Mayster Wolfall, a learned man, appointed by her Majesties Counsel to be their minister and preacher, made unto them a godly sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankful to God for their strange and miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places ..."

While not a harvest Thanksgiving it was a celebration of homecoming and gratitude for being alive and protected.

Our family celebration was Saturday. As always, it was a feast of plenty, perhaps even a feast of  "too much". I worked too much, I made too much, and we all ate too much. Yet it was also a cornucopia of good conversation, great laughs, and the best company.

It was a celebration of Thanksgiving for the blessings of life, for the great privilege it is to call Canada our home and native land.
Thanks be to God!

©2015 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - October 8, 2015

Thanksgiving - the View from  the Kitchen









Thanksgiving Weekend stands on the doorstep bidding me come, enjoy, celebrate, and give thanks for the harvest; urging me to make the feast.





For both the early pioneers and the indigenous tribes, this time of year in North America was one of both deepest gratitude and fervent hope. Come wind, come weather the land had yielded her best and barns were full. But would the bounty be enough to sustain life through a winter of unknowns?









I have not known such a tenuous life, none of my family have. Sure we've had our struggles, our lean times, but we've always been able to gather together at Thanksgiving amid an embarrassment of riches.

I am as humbled as I am grateful for this bounty. I've companioned others whose lives been flipped upside down by a sudden reversal of fortune and I'm now of great enough age to be keenly aware that good living does not grant any immunity from calamity down the road. A winter of unknowns may give warning but never asks permission to visit, let alone stay a while.

My kitchen these days before the feast is cornucopia of aromas, a sometimes frantic place with a spoon-wielding, dish clattering, occasionally foul-mouthed chef at the centre of things pulling it all together. No one ever claimed that celebrating harvest time was easy! But it is fun.

Bacon - there's got to be bacon!

Celery, onions & parsley for sage & chestnut bread stuffing

Wild & Brown Rice with chorizo, hazelnuts, apricots, green onions, parsley & thyme

Mix it all together and stuffing #2 is done!

Today the cup of my life is overflowing with good things. The kitchen is awash in dishes, but I'm pumped. The Family centrepiece of my harvest will gather around the table on Saturday. We will eat well and probably too much. But more importantly we will celebrate love and life with joy and laughter.

I am humbly grateful to be able to cook up a storm in my own kitchen, looking out the windows of my own house to a landscape that is decked out in autumn splendour.
I am blessed. We are blessed.

©2015 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - October 5, 2015

Dithering

At the top of this week, I'm dithering; just rocking back and forth in my wagon. Ahead of me lies a week crammed to the gunnels with stuff to do, so much stuff that I'm feeling overwhelmed by it all. I don't know what to do first and while I dither away, time flies away and so the needle on my angst meter crosses the red line. One of the things I've noticed since 'Going over 60' - I am easily overwhelmed when my ordinary week gets complicated with special events.

This week, in addition to the usual, there is a Thanksgiving Feast to prepare for the family celebration on Saturday. I know how to do this. I know the tasks - I've been doing Thanksgiving for ... well let's just say... a long time. And it is a joy, a cooking extravaganza that puts me in my favourite place in the house, my kitchen. I can handle this, for the most part, without red-lining.










BUT in just eight days my love and I set off on another adventure, this time to Japan. I know how to prepare for these treks. I know the tasks - I've been globetrotting for a while too. It's a joy, an extravaganza of anticipation and then discovery where the unexpected is often the greatest pleasure. It's also a lot of work - not just planning and packing but briefing the house sitters and getting in supplies for their stay.







AND tonight we're head to the city for the second time in 24 hours to see a play, Cracked: New Light on Dementia. I'm hoping to find some some touch stones for the memoir about my journey with my mother through Alzheimer's. While perhaps not a joy, this will be a discovery with maybe an intriguing turn to the unexpected.

Now put these three very special events, Thanksgiving and Travel and Theatre in the same week that has the usual two blog posts, gym and chores...

And yes, I do know the best way to 'eat the elephant' of tasks before me, is 'one bite at a time'. But I'm having trouble taking the first bite - where do I begin?

Well with a Monday Moaning of course!

It's now just past noon and time for me to kick off into the week.
Let the cooking begin!

©2015 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - October 13, 2014

Thanksgiving Day

"...a day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

So reads the decree enacted by Parliament in 1879. Though the date has moved around a little - at first it was November 6, then it was the 3rd Monday in October, but on January 31, 1957 the government proclaimed that National Thanksgiving be celebrated on the 2nd Monday of October - the feast remains a celebration of plenty.

Back when I was growing up, there was never any thought of celebrating on any other day than the officially decreed Monday. It mattered not a whit that folks had to be rough and ready for work the next morning, or that kids had to be up and out to school. Thanksgiving back then was a single day, a great day of family and food mind you complete with all the good china and silverware, and of course we ate in the dining room.







Saturday was spent grocery shopping and silver polishing, If we did a really good job on the silver for Thanksgiving, only a few touch ups would be needed for the Christmas feast! Sunday was for church, and maybe even a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum afterwards. In the afternoon, Mom made the pies.

On Thanksgiving Day, "the bird" - always at least a 22 pounder! - had to be stuffed and in the oven by 10am. My mother was in the kitchen by 8 in the morning and didn't leave it until supper was served at 6 and then she was back in there cleaning up until late. Honestly I don't know how she did it all. No microwave ovens, no automatic dishwasher, no convection oven, and one small fridge, with a 1 cubic foot freezer section. Yet it was always a feast of plenty including leftovers for turkey sandwiches, turkey stew, or pot pie during the week. And she loved every minute of it (well maybe not so much the clearing up, for which my Dad was conspicuous by his absence).

In my household, today is a day to kick back, relax, enjoy and Clean Up - our family celebration was yesterday. As always, it too was a feast of plenty, perhaps even a feast of  "too much". I worked too much, I made too much, and we all ate too much. Yet it was also a cornucopia of good conversation, great laughs, and the best company.

And I loved every minute of it - but maybe not so much the clearing up. Even though my love, along with the rest of the family are very present and helpful there remains one thing conspicuous by its absence today - enthusiasm. I'm beat.

But I am also humbly thankful on this day for my family, my friends, our health and prosperity. I am truly grateful "for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

Happy Thanksgiving!

©2014 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - October 9, 2014

An Embarrassment of Riches...

Thanksgiving Weekend stands on the doorstep bidding me come, enjoy, celebrate, and give thanks for the harvest.

   






For both the early pioneers and the indigenous tribes, this time of year in North America was one both deepest gratitude and fervent hope. Come wind, come weather the land had yielded her best and barns were full. But would the bounty be enough to sustain life through a winter of unknowns?

I have not known such a tenuous life, none of my family have. Sure we've had our struggles, our lean times, but we've always been able to gather together at Thanksgiving amid an abundance of food, laughter and love - an embarrassment of riches.

I am as humbled as I am grateful for this bounty. I've companioned others whose lives been flipped upside down by a sudden reversal of fortune and I'm now of great enough age to be keenly aware that good living does not grant any immunity from calamity down the road. A winter of unknowns may give warning but never asks permission to visit, let alone stay a while.

Yet today the sun is shining, the world just outside my door is decked out in Autumn splendour, and the cup of my life is overflowing with good things. So I accept the invitation to enjoy, celebrate and give thanks for the harvest. 

My heart is full of "Thanks Giving."

©2014 April Hoeller

A Prayer of Gratitude

"We are grateful for eyes that see and ponder, for taste buds that know the sensuous pleasures of eating and drinking, for hands that hold and touch and feel, for ears that can delight in music and the voice of a friend, for a nose that can smell the aroma of newly mown grass or delicious food, and can also breathe the air that gives us life. 

We are grateful for the treasure of loved ones whose hearts of openness and acceptance have encouraged us to be who we are. We are  grateful for their faithfulness, for standing by us when our weaknesses stood out glaringly, for being there when we were most in need and for delighting with us in our good days and our joyful seasons.  

We are grateful for the eyes of faith, for believing in the presence of God, giving us hope in our darkest days, encouraging us to listen to our spirit’s hunger, and reminding us to trust in the blessings of God’s presence in our most empty days. 

We are grateful for the ongoing process of becoming who we are, for the seasons within, for the great adventure of life that challenges and comforts us at one and the same time. 

We are grateful for the messengers of God - people, events, written or spoke words - that came to us at just the right time and helped us to grow.  

We are grateful for God calling us to work with our gifts, grateful that we can be of service and use our talents in a responsible and just way. 

We are grateful that we have the basic necessities of life, that we have the means and the ability to hear the cries of the poor and to respond with our abundance."

©1992 Joyce Rupp: May I have this Dance?  p. 151

Monday Moanings - October 14, 2013

Thanksgiving Day in Canada

In my household, today is a day to kick back, relax, enjoy and Clean Up - our family celebration was yesterday. As always, it was more than of a feast of plenty, it was a feast of  "too much". We all ate too much, I made too much, and it rained too much. Yet it was also a plentiful cornucopia of good conversation, good laughs, and great love. We feasted on the usual roast turkey with two stuffings (my Mom's traditional sage and thyme bread stuffing with chestnuts and a wild rice & rye stuffing), candied sweet potatoes - also my Mom's recipe - and oven roasted veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, beets, butternut squash, radish topped with pomegranate and bacon bits).


We pushed ourselves away from the table to take a breather before tucking into a dessert of apple pie with ice cream and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

And the wine, all Ontario of course, ... we polished off rieslings from Thirty Bench and Cave Spring (my family are lovers of this varietal and it's a great choice for turkey, though personally I would have gone with a Gewurztraminer or Viognier), a Malivoire Old Vines Marechal Foch, of which the turkey enjoyed a really good snootful and an Angel's Gate Pinot Noir. Phew!





Good thing we got some exercise on Saturday taking in the Erin Fall Fair. Humongous pumpkins, cute animals, humongous trucks, the usual rides, humongous tractors, great french fries and to top it all off a tractor pull. Nothing says southern Ontario farming better than a good ol' tractor pull (unless of course it's a ploughing match).

 

This year we didn't have to wait until 11pm for the fire and smoke of the modified tractors. The order was changed to place the noisy classes of tractors earlier in the evening. Apparently the seniors in the nearby houses complained about all the raucous way past their bed time. Yup, I get that! Thanks to my sister Cathy and her hubby Bill for offering soup, sandwiches, free parking and clean washrooms! Love ya!

It's been a great weekend of thanks giving.
We are safe.
We are happy.
We are healthy.
We are free.
My heart is full, love and gratitude woven finely together. It can't get much better than that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

text and photos ©2013 April Hoeller