Happy Thanksgiving

My favorite Thanksgiving Dinner food is Cranberry Jello. I don't remember where this recipe originated. Somewhere back in the recesses of my brain, I recall Speecie (Florence Speece), my parents landlady from days gone by. Not all of my family likes this recipe, but Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it. In fact, if this is all that was served I would still be very thankful.
It contains ground cranberries, sugar, grapes, walnuts, celery, crushed pineapple mixed into cherry jello.

This is what my recipe looks like:















I used to grind the cranberries in the blender with a little water. My blender is broke. This year I used an old fashioned meat grinder clamped to the kitchen stool. ( The counter is to thick for the clamp) I remember grinding the cranberries this way as a child. I also remember this recipe taking a long time to prepare. It is soo worth the effort.















As with all holiday traditions, this is so good because it is only made at Thanksgiving and Christmas. If we treated every day as a holiday: hey, maybe a gift from God, every minute would be savored.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The Changing

For Christmas, many years ago in 1994 my younger sister made me a cookie jar with a hand-painted lid. Three years later in 1997 she gave me a new lid for winter. (Another new one would be nice.) This is what sits on my counter most of the year:














Now that the snow has arrived and is planning on staying around for awhile, it is time to change the lid of the cookie jar.

Now, sitting on my kitchen counter:

As for cookies.....

They are all for Sunflower.

Sienna Mohawk

It is difficult to tell from this photo, but the Toyota ended up with a mohawk of snow....I guess that makes it a snowhawk!

More Snow

Before the next storm arrives tonight, I thought you might like to see a few more pictures of the snow. the treehouse...

the trailer...

the stump...

A New Kitchen Window View

Revealed through the kitchen window this morning was a fresh 2 feet of snow. Can anyone say lake effect?

Identify the bird
on the feeder for bonus points.

Grandma Lane or Just Call Me Florence

(I've been working on this post for awhile. )
I remember my Grandma Lane's kitchen always looking like this. Yes, I am going to blame this on heredity! Her counter, stove, refrigerator and table were always full of 'stuff'. She WAS a busy women.

The ability to clutter flat areas, make piles balance precariously, and save useless objects because 'that might be useful someday' has been genetically past down through the bloodlines of my father's family. I constantly fight against this tendency. I lose more often than I win. But I fight the fight!

That is until I get sick.....After a week or so of not feeling well this is what my kitchen counters looked like. This is a sampling....I have 3 counter spaces this size. I think I could make a case for abiogenesis.

















This week's mission in life has been to clean this area.
Mission accomplished!
YEAH!
See the empty basket on the right? That holds the household papers that need to be filed.
It holds a whole year's worth!

Like I said, "I've been working on this post for awhile."