We Ate and We Laughed But We Didn't Sew

Yesterday was our craft co-op holiday potluck. I only had to drive up the road to Arlene’s house, which was good because it snowed all day. I didn’t feel like going any further. Sixteen of us gathered for an afternoon of fun.

The table was set in a fall theme—Arlene joked that we would have Thanksgiving first, then change the table to Christmas for dessert.

We had a business meeting followed by an amazing potluck lunch. I took a simple egg bake with eggs and our sausage. Sarah, who (like me) does not do gluten, brought lasagna with thin slices of turkey as the “noodles.” I thought that was brilliant and plan to try that soon.

[Gluten doesn’t kill me, but it does make me uncomfortable, so I have to have a really good reason to eat it. Potlucks are tricky sometimes. I usually take something I know I can eat.]

We had a gift exchange and I got the bag Susan had brought. It contained dried pears (yum), homemade raspberry jam, this lovely blue tea towel—which at first I thought she had purchased, but which she appliquéd herself—and a tin of ginger snaps from Trader Joes. (The husband is enjoying those.) Sarah brought a bar of soap for each of us, and the “napkins” at each plate were dishcloths made by Arlene.

The husband saw that little mug rug and said, “Did they make that just for you?”

I so enjoy this group.

Susan and I had a quick brainstorming session after lunch because I volunteered to head up the plant sale this coming spring to raise money for the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation. That was Elysian’s brainchild from last spring and it was so successful that they would like to do it again. Because a lot of what they sold started in my greenhouse—and will again in 2022—I said I would be in charge. Susan will help me. And I think there will be another garden tour. My garden will look much nicer this year.

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I attended an online meeting last night hosted by the Forest Service. The area across the road from us is a combination of state and national forest land that is used for hiking, camping, skiing, and other activities. A few months ago, we were notified of a “collaboration project” to move forward with making the national forest land across the road a “focused recreation area.”

It sounds as if this process started even before we moved here. I was unaware of that until this meeting, and we’ve owned this property since 1994. Thankfully, there are some people in the neighborhood who were part of that earlier process 30 years ago and know some of the history. They were also in attendance at this meeting.

I am not opposed to people using public lands. That’s why they are called public lands. What those of us who live here do NOT want to have happen is for those areas to be overrun. We already have enough traffic on our road as it is. There is a buffer of state land between us and the designated forest land, but it is possible that access to that area would be from the road that currently runs through state land. We also don’t want the area opened to motorized vehicle access.

The next meeting is in February. We will have to see what happens. I plan to continue to participate in the process.

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I spent an hour rearranging freezers Wednesday afternoon. The big freezer in the garage is empty and ready to be defrosted. The Christmas ham has been located. What’s left of last year’s sausage has been moved to the freezer in the laundry room to be used up. I’ve got a roaster full of chicken stock simmering and I’ll can it tomorrow. I’m going to put my last couple of tops together today (including my Christmas top) and organize the other bedrooms so they are ready for guests next week.