Friday, December 24, 2010

Volunteer'ism'

Students' cedar garland lights up downtown streets.


Once dark storefronts shine brightly!

Leadership Class puts on the finishing touches.

Hard working HS students working together as teams.
Michael Pollan talks of 'ism's in his book 'In Defense of Food' as ideologies. I never thought of the act of volunteering philosophically until I read that. However I have always believed in the power of the volunteer. A few dedicated individuals can accomplish many things............ and so began my re-submersion into the ranks of a 'volunteer'. It all started innocently enough. Our local paper ran a story about the small town where we live wanting to 'Light Up the Town' for Christmas. "If you were interested in helping, come to the meeting Monday morning at 9" ................... I thought .. why not? .... The dedicated group of community leaders and business owners gathered for discussion of ideas. Both the committee and the project grew exponentially with each meeting.
SB had taken out some cedar too close to his shop, so we offered to teach the high school students how to make cedar garland. With the help of volunteer coordinator SM and the Horticulture instructor, 5 classes of energetic students put together 5 garlands totaling more than 250 yards! with lights! We forgot how 'social' this age could be, but they really worked hard and finished in less than 5 hours!

Our original project was to decorate a vacant store front. We (SB and I) lit up a small antique store on a corner. Great fun! and took us back to our retail display days. Like many small towns today, there are numerous businesses closed and empty buildings. Many volunteers hung donated lights throughout downtown.

More than 100 families attended the Tree/Town Lighting event and munched cookies as the children had their pictures taken with Santa. A successful 'warm and fuzzy' evening. Merry Christmas CR! You proved that you are a small but hardworking PNW community capable of lighting up not only a Christmas tree but the whole town!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Sleds and Soup


With it's blanket of snow still hanging around from early in the week, Thanksgiving morning became a sledding day. SB, also known as Boppie, (aka Grandpa) and oldest granddaughter 'Little E' tear it up on the 'bunny hill'.
Turkey Soup Another first!
I've only cooked an entire turkey a few times in more than 38 Thanksgivings since SB and I were married. This year being one of them. The bird turned out perfect! I was so proud and as daugher-in-law K and I were cleaning up she asked what were we to do with the carcass and all of it's parts. "I'll make soup!" I told her. I've never done that before and so in the spirit of 'SixtytoEighty' I made turkey soup. (With rice because I can't eat wheat. ) K was a good sport and picked that bird clean. A heroic undertaking as she is vegetarian and this was a stretch for her. With a little help from The Food Network website and patience as the stock boiled down, I have to say this was the BEST SOUP I've ever eaten. Another first as I continue to fill the months between 60 and 80 with new adventures.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Another Day in Paradise

A toast to 'another day in Paradise' is a tradition for any day
we are able to eat lunch and/or dinner on the deck. Maybe not today.

Six inches of snow has fallen since 8 this morning.
Thankfully I had all day to work on my first Blog entry. Yes, it took that long!

Fall gave way to winter and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!
Can't help but wonder how many 'snow days' we'll have this year?