New Year’s Eve Tradition

Fact:  My greatest culinary powers lie in the realm of appetizers.  I put out a spread.

Additional fact: It’s delicious.

I’m drinking quality bourbon, kissing my sweetie, and counting my blessings.  That’s a Happy New Year!

December Book Report: Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

David W. Blight’s thorough and thoughtful study of the life of Frederick Douglass is a heavy lift - literally.  At more than 750 pages, it’s not a quick read.  But it should be essential reading for our nation’s civic well-being, especially now, when our leadership’s collective ignorance about our racist history is so damaging to our ability to move forward together.

But I digress and that’s not fair to Frederick Douglass., whose incredible life and words are at the center of this book.

Born enslaved to a mother from whom he was separated before he ever had a chance to know her, Frederick Bailey learned to read thanks to Sophia Auld, a kindly slave mistress who had a fondness for the young boy who worked for her family.  When her husband learned that the enslaved boy had been taught how to read, he angrily ended the lessons, telling his wife that Frederick the reader was now, “forever unfit” for life as a slave.  The lessons stopped, but Frederick continued to read.

By then, the enslaved child’s fondness for and joy in reading was a settled fact.  In the coming years. as he was frequently denied the ability to read, Douglass’s fury about slavery would grow.  When he made his escape to the North at the age of 20, his ability to read helped him to make the journey successfully.  For the rest of his life, words that he read, spoke, and wrote would be at the center of Frederick Douglass’s existence.  His enduring importance and influence in this nation is a direct result of the words that fed his reader's soul and then poured from him.

The power of reading is not the only lesson to be taken from Blight’s amazing portrait of Douglass.  The book is a discourse on Douglass and his many contributions to the freedom that America celebrates.  There is abundant and shameful irony in the fact that those freedoms were given much greater meaning by a man born into slavery, and that reality was never lost on me as I read about Douglass’s life and his contributions to our national history.   My copy already has multiple pages marked to use as I teach about Douglass later this school year.

But to me personally, one of the most poignant aspects of Douglass’s story is in the simple power of reading.  I was a late reader as a child.  When the spark finally caught in the third grade, I was consumed by it.  Reading became my most absorbing passion and it opened worlds for my imagination.  I am a history teacher and thoughtful citizen because of the books I read.  Reading informs the person I am and the person I try to to be.  In so many ways, books fuel my world.  To know that Douglass’s world was similarly inspired by the power of the written word is thrilling.

As thrilling as the story of Douglass; as thrilling as the power of this incredibly important book.  In my mind, it's required reading for this nation.

Winter's Lights

In the post-Christmas days, as the amount of light in our days lingers at barely 9 hours, I find comfort in the twinkling lights that glow in my home.  There are lights on the front porch.

A string of fairy lights in a glass hobnail jar is tucked among the plants that have come inside for the frosty season.

There is candlelight throughout the house in the form of glowing electronic candles that I enjoy immensely; they are a cozy pool of light that make Winter’s darkness less daunting.   A candlestick shines in each of the front windows.  I've tucked another into a metal house that sits by the front window.

In the dining room, another candle flickers in the hurricane lantern.

Winter’s short, dark days can sometimes darken my mood.  I consult my sunrise/sunset calendar and remind myself that the daylight will eventually begin to lengthen.  But it’s the tiny lights in the house that provide the most comfort in these dark Winter months.

That's happy!

A Happy Christmas

We had a busy holiday at Sassafras House.  My parents are visiting, JT is home, and the little kitchen was put to the test.  In the midst of all the busyness and conversations, I enjoyed the quiet of lighting the paper bag luminaries that are a Christmas Eve tradition in my town.

On Christmas Eve, I paused to admire the tree with its twinkly lights and pretty packages.

Playing Santa is always a treat…

…even if my “believer” is rather large.

Tiger enjoyed his cat nip treat.

It was nice to have my parents at the table for Christmas supper.

It was a simple day of happy traditions and I enjoyed it very much. 

That’s happy!

Santa!

Every Christmas Eve, Santa drives through our town accompanied by an assortment of the emergency vehicles that the town possesses.  It’s New Jersey tradition, one that I always enjoy.  When JT was a little boy, the excitement of Santa’s trip through town could barely be contained.  These days, I am charmed by the neighborhood children who come out to wave.

I never grow tired of the joy that Santa brings and this year, watching on my front porch with my parents, it was a special treat.

I believe.

Real Live Conversations with Mom: New Jersey edition

The backstory:  It’s Christmas Eve and the town fire department sirens are growing closer.  My mom and I set out on the front porch to spy Santa as he comes by (this is a Jersey tradition).  While we are waiting, one of my neighbors pulls out of her driveway, and honks and waves as she drives by our house. My mom hears the honk, but doesn’t see the wave.

Mom:  What’s her problem?

Me:  She was honking and waving hello.  Damn, Mom, you’ve been in New Jersey too long.

I think that about sums it up, folks.

The Little Kitchen That Could

My kitchen is small — I joke that it’s a one-bootie kitchen — but that is largely true.  Two people at work at these counters have to coordinate carefully.  From the edge of one countertop to the other is only 6.5 x 8 feet.  Space is maximized as much as possible and from this small (and, I think, charming) kitchen comes a whole lot of delicious cooking.

At no time has this been as clear as it is this past week, with JT home and my parents in town.  I’m cooking family meals and prepping holiday treats on overload.  With T’s help, I’ve made sour dough bread; coffee cake; pulled pork with coleslaw; baked potato soup; cowboy chicken; homemade salad dressing, 4 pounds (!) of baked potatoes; caramel pie; chocolate kahlua cake; a host of dips and appetizers for Christmas Eve………and the party isn’t over yet because Christmas Day supper is on the horizon.  

The 20 plus years-old dishwasher is in overdrive, running loads three or four times a day.  I am grateful each time it gurgles to life.  And I am glad to have the blessing of family for whom I may stir, cook, and bake.  Here’s to a happy Christmas Eve, y’all!

The Case for Impeachment

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee advanced two articles of impeachment against President Trump.  In the hand-wringing and the hubbub that has accompanied the whole of the impeachment process, I wish that the talking heads could pause and give themselves - and us - the time to think.

Impeachment is a Constitutional obligation.  But when it happens, it is a political process.  Because of that, and because it has happened before, some of the elected figures in our government - both Republican and Democrat - will treat it as part of politics.  For them, it’s about power: who has it; who wants it; and what can be done with it.

There will be no escaping that view of impeachment, no matter how rock solid the charges against the president may be.  There were Democrats, Jerry Nadler, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, among them, who called for impeachment of Trump almost from the start.  For them, that was at least as much about the fact that Trump lost the popular vote as anything else.  They felt the will of the people had been subverted in 2016.

Fair enough.  The will of the people had been subverted when Donald Trump secured the presidency.  The people had selected Hillary Clinton.  But the Electoral College, the Constitutional method by which we select the president, chose Donald Trump.  Therefore the presidency was his.  Galling and infuriating as it is, that was the Constitutional outcome in 2016.

But.

There’s always a but.

Winning power is not the same as securing power.  Donald Trump never seemed to understand that and the mistake has cost Donald Trump and the Republican party.  Worse than that, it has cost this nation.  We are three years into a presidency with a president who is wholly unqualified, a liar and cheater at every turn.  He’s a racist, misogynist, thoughtless, ignorant, and unpopular leader.  He has sought to use the presidency to further enrich and empower himself and his business interests.  He has openly asked for foreign interference in American elections.

None of us are under any obligation to ignore these facts. Elected members of Congress, people sworn to uphold the Constitution, must not ignore them and they must enforce the Constitution.  Presidents who violate the Constitution must be impeached.

That is the reality we face right now.  Things will get even uglier as this political process unfolds.  The Senate, controlled by Republicans, is unlikely to vote to remove the President from office. The party of Lincoln has abandoned principle in favor of politics.  But that doesn’t excuse the Democrats from seeking to fulfill their Constitutional obligation.  The process will be ugly and unpleasant; it very likely will further strain the bonds that hold the nation together.  So be it.  

Justice is rarely easy.  This case is no exception.

Pretty Packages: December 15

I wrapped some package this weekend.

I love craft paper and old-fashioned ribbon.

That’s happy!

The Napping House

I texted this picture to JT this morning, a reminder that his home - and rest - await him when final exams are finished.  The picture was made over Thanksgiving Break when he was home for a few days and glad to put his feet up.  Though he’s back in the thick of it now, with a week to go until exams have finished, it is this image that I hold in my mind as I wait for his return.  

Apparently, I’m not the only creature at Sassafras House that misses him.