A Thanksgiving Moonlight Walk

Heaven on earth is when the grandbabies come to stay with their parents, and this is what we were enjoying this week. Emi, Kevin, Sapphie, Teo, Cooper and Cabot came to stay for Thanksgiving, bringing their funny little sayings and ways with them. I had made a Thanksgiving Tree, and had a dish of 30 leaves right beside it from Ann Voscamp's website. Each leaf had a scripture verse on one side, and the other side was blank, so you could fill in a 'thanksgiving' and hang it on the tree. All the leaves were the beautiful colours of Autumn..Sapphie is really into her letters these days, and at 4 weeks shy of her 5th birthday, I was so excited to see her sounding out and writing her letters, and with a little help from her Lalla, she filled out and hung a dozen or so leaves!! I scribed for Teo. "I like dinosaurs...they stinct." Sapphie: "No, Teo, they're not 'stinct'! They're a-stinct...a-stinct, Teo!" He nods appreciatively."A-stinct!" I could eat them up, I love them so!

Here we are, off to shut up the chickens for the night after enjoying the most wonderful Thanksgiving Feast: roast grass-fed turkey; shaved Brussels sprouts with pistashio nuts and dried cranberries; Kevin's famous cranberry sauce; Emi's roast pumpkin (utterly delicious!); and my EatingWell's wild rice stuffing; and a jug of the au jus from the bird. Sapphie had helped me in the morning to make the apple crumble, which was served with Breyer's vanilla ice cream! And so, off we set! Hoping for a good half an hour walk after shutting up the chooks; but it was so frigid that we just made it a little way up, and had to trundle back to the warmth of the house and hearth before we snapped in two from the cold!!

They left yesterday...

Had they stayed for just one more day, they would have seen the crazy antics of the Red Fox jumping up into the air and coming down on a mouse! I'll have to paint a picture of that and send it to them with a little story to go along with it!

This morning, I made my way to the chicken coop with scratch and feed, and, although my little darlings are back home, they left their tiny footprints in the snow! It was enough! 

PART I

I have recently learnt how to scan on my printer, and this is one of the old photographs that I have in my 'scan' folder.  It's one of the very few (3, I think!) photographs that I have of our wedding on June 8th 1974, in the beautiful garden of Greenrange, the home of Sandy and Ian Bennett, and their two children, Christie and Jeff.  Greenrange is in Manchester Village, Vermont.

The entire wedding cost Larry and me the grand sum of $153, which included the Mexican wedding dress, which was $50! The nickel ring that Larry found at Fleming's Hardware Store in the Depot could well have jacked the total amount up to $153.05, but who knows?

My parents flew over for the grand event with much trepidation! I'm astonished and love them both all the more for coming.  They weren't at all sure about the outcome of this marriage to a Puerto Rican Catholic house-painter! The unwritten law for perspective future husbands was i) No foreigners; and ii) No Catholics!

The first glitch was that they flew into Montreal. Luckily for all, Pop and Tink Neilson let us borrow their red car, as we only had Ruby, Larry's red pick-up truck, and I don't think they would have appreciated being picked up at the airport in that!! We would drive up to meet them, and bring them back to Vermont, where they would stay in the gorgeous guest house belonging to Pat and O White, where we would live following our marriage. Well, that was the plan. But, unfortunately for everyone, I failed to carefully think things through, and arrived at the international border with nothing on me for identification except my fishing license!! So..I had to stay at the US-Canadian border while Larry drove up to meet for the very first time his as yet unknown in-laws-to-be. He had no idea what they looked like, and they had no idea that their daughter wouldn't be there to meet them!  On top of all that, the weather was not co-operating at all. The ferocious thunderstorms and high winds had made many of the roads unpassable, so not only was Larry late in picking them up, but he had to find a different way home since many of the Canadian roads had been closed to traffic!

My time at the border was terribly exciting, and I watched in wonder as a woman decked out in a long fur coat was arrested for smuggling watches, which had been carefully sewn inside the lining of her extravagant coat. I'd never seen anything like this before. And she was not alone on the arresting front! A 'gentleman' was promptly handcuffed and led away for trying to cross over with rather a large amount of heroin.

Hours and hours later, Larry, Daddy and Mummy arrived, bedraggled, to say the very least, at the Canadian-Vermont border. We were allowed to leave without further delay, and quickly found a very nasty motel in which to spend the rest of the stormy night. I remember the relief of it all, even though it was quite filthy, but good old resourceful Dad had had the foresight to buy a few duty-free bottles of the very best Johnny Walker's Black Label, which we inhaled by means of questionable paper cups found in the bathroom!!

Things seemed so much better the next morning, and we made our way home.

God in Me

God be in my head, and in my understanding;

God be in my eyes, and in my looking;

God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;

God be in my heart, and in my thinking;

God be at my end, and at my departing.

Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep its own appointed limits keep;

O hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea.

 O Christ, Whose voice the waters heard and hush'd their raging at Thy word,

Who walkedst on the foaming deep, and calm amid the storm didst sleep;

O hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea.

O Holy Spirit, Who didst brood upon the waters dark and rude,

And bid their angry tumult cease, and give, for wild confusion, peace;

O hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and power, our brethren shield in danger's hour;

From rock and tempest, fire and foe, protect them wheresoe'er they go;

Thus evermore shall rise to Thee glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Father, whate'er of earthly bliss Thy sovereign will denies,

Accepted at Thy Throne of Grace let this petition rise:

Give me a calm and thankful heart, from every murmur free;

The blessings of Thy Grace impart, and let me live to Thee.

Let the sweet hope that Thou art mine my path of life attend;

Thy presence through my journey shine, and crown my journey's end.

The mercies of my God and King!

When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Unnumber'd comforts to my soul Thy tender care bestow'd,

Before my infant heart conceived from Whom those comforts flow'd.

When, in the slippery paths of youth, with heedless steps I ran,

Thine arm unseen convey'd me safe, and led me up to man.

Through every period of my life Thy Goodness I'll pursue,

And after death, in distant worlds, the glorious theme renew.

Through all eternity to Thee a joyful song I'll raise;

But oh! eternity's too short to utter all Thy praise.