Monthly Archives: December 2013

Happy Thanksgiving

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November 2013

What Happened? Can you help me? I must have turned two pages on the calendar because mine shows November. What is yours showing? We celebrated with our Dawson Creek children sharing turkey and pumpkin pie. A few days after that little people appeared at our door dressed in costume calling out, Trick or Treat” (we always ask for a treat – some are willing to share, others just look at us like, “not a chance”), so Thanksgiving and Halloween must have been here and gone. Donna, a person who was/is a good friend of our daughter, spent time in our home while the girls were in high school, even lived with us a short time after her Mom died and when things were not going well with her at home. Subsequently she married, moved out of province, raised a family of 3 girls, trained as a police officer. Last week she dropped by to say “hello” and brought us pictures of her new grandson! Recently we visited with a couple that moved to our town from the coast with 3 small children a few years ago. They are now retired, the children are on their own. Well, I guess it was more than a few years ago. Received a phone call yesterday from a now grown-up taking a trip down memory lane from the time that her family lived in Dawson Creek wants to stop by to fill us in on what her life has been since leaving Dawson Creek as an elementary student. We consider it a compliment. We are working on shifting our minds from a little girl to a middle aged person. She is now 46, has a 17year old son. Our grandchildren range in age from 26yr to 11yr, most have left home to further their education or to create their own space in the world out side of parental home. And so it goes. When is it going to dawn on us that we are old people? OK – seniors sounds better.

Our fall was spectacular! Frost came late, allowing flowers to bloom well past previous years. Adequate rain during the summer caused lush foliage everywhere. In the garden, the ornamental grasses grew to over 6 feet tall: volunteer calendulas, sweet peas, lilies, pansies, and petunias provide color in among them. Potato patch produced more than enough for the winter storage; harvested beets for pickling; all carrot seeds germinated resulting in way to close together, tall tops with pencil sized roots. Dawson Creek has a Farmers Market located only 2 blocks from our house that offers plentiful produce, so it is very convenient to stop by there to bring home fresh vegetables. That is good with me, however Ray still likes to play in the dirt; spading, seeding, weeding, mowing, clipping. His dedication and puttering bring nice flowers, ornamental grasses and comfortable surroundings for us and a pleasant spot in our neighborhood.

The fantastic array of fall colors is now covered up with the white stuff so we have brought the snow shovels to the front of the garage, brought parkas, mitts and boots to the front of the closet. The puzzle table has been set up in what once was the “chocolate room”, the knitting project that I started last winter has now made its way to out of the cupboard. I think I will be able to finish it this winter and am thinking that since that pattern was so easy it might just work for me to start another soon. Do you think we might be settling in for hibernation?

This is the first fall in about 25 years that I have not been busy manufacturing chocolates in preparation for the Christmas season. I have not even missed it. It was a good move to have sold my chocolate supplies and equipment at the beginning of this year other wise I might be tempted to think, “I will just make a few” or “sure, you have been a faithful customer, I will make you some yet again this year.”

My focus has now changed to genealogy. I have, as of 2012, brought up to date genealogy beginning with our grandparents, William and Mattie Oswald. Now it is only a matter of adding info as it happens, births, marriages, deaths, divorces, etc. Any one who signs onto www.oswaldreunion.com has access to the Oswald genealogy and can add information. When the status quo changes in your family enter the data and thereby keep the William Oswald family up to date. I am working now on Ray’s family and on my Mom’s (Martin) side of the family. It is both fun, a challenge and frustrating. I gather information from a web site and from Gospel Herald obituaries. When all information agrees it’s great, when it doesn’t I have to do more research, choose the data that most sources agree on. It is like putting a puzzle together.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Thank-You for Loving Us – We Love You!

To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather that fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich;
to listen to stars and birds,
babes and sages with open heart;
to study hard;
to think quietly,
act frankly,
talk gently,
await occasions, hurry never;
in a word, to let the spiritual,
unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common
– this is my symphony.
– William Henry Channing

Ray and Betty Good