Thanksgiving Table

I set up the table last night for Thanksgiving. Now it is 4' wide and 12' long and seats 14 quite comfortably. I'm sure I could seat even more if I used benches, because really it's the chairs that limit the seating.

I found three nice large gold table runners at Home Goods. Usually runners are only about 14"x70", but these are 20"x96" and two fill the table and the third one is on the buffet.

I'm using these gold chargers, white plates with gold rims, and white tablecloth and napkins.

I finished it off with plain wine glasses, and water glasses with a little gold band. I gathered all white serving dishes for the things I'm making. We decorate our table with food and serve it family style so the center of the table will be full of food, but I still need to put a little something decorative in the center. Maybe the soup tureen? Or maybe fresh flowers?

These napkin rings echo the stag on the Lord of the Manor's family crest.

Now it's on to the cooking! Happy Thanksgiving from Amongst The Oaks.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Bishop Stone asked about how Thanksgiving is celebrated here in America so I'll try to explain it a little bit. Thanksgiving means many different things to the 300 million people in America, but here is a brief history:

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in the Fall of 1621 at Plymouth Plantation. The year before had been devastating because the Pilgrims had a poor harvest and many of them died over the winter. But the friendly Indians had shown them better planting techniques which resulted in a good harvest. To show their gratitude they hosted a three day feast, invited the Indians (who brought venison) and gave thanks for their bounty. They had lots of meats and some vegetables, but no breads or pastries because they had no flour and no ovens. Below you see a picture of what the first Thanksgiving might have looked like.

Thanksgiving was celebrated sporadically over the next two hundred years, but was not an official holiday. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the first official Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November and it has been celebrated in America ever since.

Below is the average American Thanksgiving dinner in the 1950s. My earliest memories resemble this photo quite closely. They were held at my Granny's house. There was always turkey with bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, some kind of jello salad, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was all homemade from scratch by my stay-at-home Mom and Grandmother.

Now days families still get together to reconnect, relax, and feast on turkey, but the menu and preparations are much more flexible. Some families go out to eat, some order it all precooked from a local grocer or restaurant, some purchase premade things at Cosco while some still make it all from scratch. Some families don't feast at all, but volunteer at a local charity to serve food to the less fortunate. However we celebrate Thanksgiving, the important part is to give thanks for our blessings, and celebrate the bounty of the season.

There are also other traditional activities on Thanksgiving like watching football on TV, taking a nap after dinner, and planning your Black Friday Christmas shopping spree, but I don't do any of those things so I'll let others tell those tales.

(lifted from the Internet, not my family)

So how will your family celebrate Thanksgiving this year? I'm sure we'd all love to hear, so please share it on the comments. And Thanks for visiting Amongst The Oaks.

Fall Color

Here in California's Central Valley we don't naturally get a lot of fall color, but gardeners have planted non-native trees to make up for that. One of the most stunning trees this time of year is the Chinese Pistach. The leaves vary from yellow to deep red and the trees have red berries even after the leaves fall. Our city has planted lots of these as street trees, so we are enjoyed their color all over town.

Another favorite is the Liquidamber. They look like columns of fire against the other trees.

Their pointed leaves are often collected by children, carried home, and incorporated into seasonal decorations. On a recent morning walk with Teen1 we did just that.

One of my favorites is the ancient Ginkgo. There is a beautiful specimen three doors down. It drops a delicate coating of yellow leaves all over their roof and lawn. Unlike the other fall trees, the Ginkgo only goes to yellow, never orange or red.

Several older neighborhoods have streets lined with the Modesto Ash which turns a beautiful yellow too. These near the college are just beginnning to turn. Wouldn't this be a boring street without all these trees? Not only do they provide cooling shade in the summer, but they give this brilliant show before dropping their leaves.

Thank you beautiful trees for all the comforts you provide. That's it from here Amongst The drab brownish green Oaks.

Catching Up

I bet you thought I'd fallen right off the edge of the world, didn't you? I haven't, but I've just been soooo busy lately, I haven't even had time to think about blogging. Heck, I almost forgot how to sign in! We've been busy at work, busy at home, and busy with Band Reviews and there's so much to tell you about.

We have done a few fun things. We went on the annual AAUW Home Tour. It's always fun to see people's home and how they decorate. And frankly, I'm tired of the same old, same old Mediterranean/Italian look that is so prevalent in California; tan stucco, tile roof, wrought iron, arched doors, museum kitchen, over-scale furniture, that whole staged look. Three of the four homes were just like that. Ah, but the last house, built in the 1920s, was my favorite. It had original divided light windows and french doors, beautiful built-in cabinets and mouldings, and wonderful flowery drapes and wallpapers. Classic style and so comfortable looking. I could have moved right in and been happy.

I helped at an out-of-town band review three weeks ago. We rumbled to a nearby town on the old yellow buses, french braided hair inside the bus because of the rain, walked the parade route carrying backup equipment, helped put it all away, watched the awards ceremony in the rain, then rumbled home again. And we did it all again this past Saturday, but it was Championships so that means it was the last one! There were some tears as the seniors realized they'd never march together again. But hey, guess what starts in January? Winter Guard. At least the percussion and guard will perform together in the second half of the school year.

And now about our Band Review. About three weeks before it, the Lord of the Manor and I went to a meeting to get up to speed regarding the signs, which we always make and install. It was quickly obvious that they desperately needed help with the food committees. As in they had no chairman. So guess who volunteered? Needless to say we were immersed in that project for days; planning, shopping, transporting, setting up, prepping, cooking, cleaning up, and putting it all away again. And we still did all the signs too. We left our house at 4:45am on the day of the Band Review and put up the signs first. Then we started our kitchen duties; the Lord of the Manor ran the industrial BBQ and I supervised the kitchen. That lasted for hours, then after everyone left at 10pm, we cleaned up and didn't get home until after 11:00pm. Then the next morning we went back and took down signs. I am SO glad Teen1 is a senior.

Then there was an anniversary celebration for the in-laws two weeks ago, the Lord of the Manor's birthday last week, more work on the studio/cottage, and all the usual yardwork, housework, laundry and groceries. And my poor old Dad had a burglary last week and they took all his cameras, a gun, some cash and credit cards, and *here's the worst* all my Mom's jewelry. I've been trying to help him figure out what she had and offering moral support, but we'll never replace it and he seems so depressed.

So the bottom line is that Thanksgiving is only three days away, we've invited twenty people, and this is the sum total of my preparedness:

One tiny little pumpkin plopped on the buffet. How pathetic. Looks like I'd better get busy, doesn't it? Actually, everyone brings something and we only do the turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy. So I should easily find some time to decorate a bit and set the tables. And Thursday when we all gather together we will have lots to be thankful for; snug homes, jobs, plenty of food, and each other.

A Walk

Would you like to go for a walk with me this morning? I don't have a lovely woods to walk in, but I'm sure we'll find something of interest. This is my usual route; along this sidewalk here beside the elementary school. It doesn't look too exciting, does it? But let's look more carefully....look up there. It's a beehive in the oak tree.




And over there is a cedar waxwing. And look there on that shrub - three spiderwebs.

This bottle brush is blooming. And look at those tracks in the mud along the creek. Racoon maybe? And those pine cones are pretty.

And look at how the sun shines through the turning leaves. Beautiful, isn't it? There's beauty all around us, sometimes we just have to look a little to find it. Ahhhh..... the beauty of nature.

And the beauty

of

a

GARGAGE SALE! And now the beauty of a place to rest after my walk here Amongst The Oaks.