Debra LaValley's Blog

Our family lost a lovely lady on Wednesday – my Aunt Audrey. Though, we are sad at her passing – she left us with many memories. I will remember her last days when she was thanking folks for coming and telling everyone she loved them and to remember all the good times. She didn’t complain and was always thinking about others. This year, Aunt Audrey will be spending Christmas in Heaven with her beloved husband Donald, their son Donny, and other loved ones who have left this earth. Sleep in Heavenly Peace – Aunt Audrey! Sleep in Heavenly Peace . . .

Molly Helping Wrap Presents

I love buying Christmas presents for my friends and family – but I hate wrapping. Tonight, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on so I was in the mood to wrap a few gifts. Molly decided to help. I swear – even the most shy feline will come out and plop down on any paper you place on the floor – especially if you don’t want any help. She is such a little goon. 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

There is so much to be thankful for no matter what is going on in our lives. I cherish my friends and my family! Let’s all count our many blessings today! I remember when I was young, when we would all pack in the family car and head for our Thanksgiving dinner singing the Over the River and Through the Woods song! I have linked the song to a download on YouTube. This is a Thanksgiving song – though some have changed it to a Christmas song. It really is a Thanksgiving song. It always reminds me of Thanksgiving and one of my wishes to go on a real sleigh ride . . . maybe this year!

Pumpkin pie is my favorite Thanksgiving pie (my favorite pie is Lemon Meringue but it rarely makes an appearance at Thanksgiving in our family). When I think of Thanksgiving dishes – I also remember my grandmother LaValley’s Cranberry Salad. It may not have been my favorite when I was a youngster – but through the years, I have come to enjoy it. It reminds me of my grandparents. Grammy and Pepe used to pick wild cranberries (high bush) located somewhere behind the Renfor’s home. I don’t know the spot, and I am sure there is a development now located where they used to be. In keeping with the sharing spirit of Thanksgiving, here is my grandmother’s Cranberry Salad recipe. It may be too late to whip up for your meal today – but it can be served other times of the year. You may be having a special meal or two in the next month or so 🙂

Grammy’s Cranberry Salad

1 cherry Jell-O
1 1/2 c boiling water – let set until thick as egg whites
add 1 can whole cranberry sauce
chopped celery and nuts

Serve with mayonnaise thinned with pineapple juice.

Have a wonderful day and drive carefully!

Pepe & Grammy

Thanksgiving is in two days and the turkey is not the only one who will be stuffed. I love the food and the time spent around the table with friends and family. Did I say, I love food? I especially love PIE! I also love squash . . . mashed potatoes . . . hot rolls with butter . . . and more PIE! Since, I don’t eat meat – there is more room for PIE! However, I am not talking turkey when I say that I am going for a Christmas miracle and loose 5 pounds by Christmas. This will be a jump start on my 2012 resolution to eat better and increase my exercise. So – will I have PIE for Thanksgiving? YES, I will – but smaller pieces and incorporate a walk or two during the day. I have a trip to Bermuda scheduled in April, and my goal is to lose 20 pounds by then. With all this pie talk – I am getting hungry. I think I will go and grab a diet fudgicle and pretend it is pie 🙂

Om

Healing the Planet

Some of us in my weekly yoga group are participating in a year long meditation to heal the planet. This special meditation began on 11/11/11 and is being done all over the world, I believe. We have made a commitment to recite the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra which is a healing and nourishing mantra for five minutes a day for an entire year.

Healing Mantra on YouTube

The YouTube video with the mantra being sung – really helped me learn it. I hear it in my head through out the day. If I ever get a number of how many people are taking part – I will let you know.

Namaste

. . . now if I could only commit to eating in moderation and exercising more . . . I think I can do it!

Heading for Sanctuary

Last Saturday on the way grocery shopping – I saw these turkeys in the Blossom Hill Cemetery near the Perkins Chapel. I thought it was very amusing for a group of turkeys to be in front of a chapel. They must have sensed Thanksgiving will be here soon (and it is hunting season). The cemetery is most likely the safest place for them to be this time of year 🙂

Speaking of Thanksgiving. Below is THE BEST Pumpkin Pie recipe. It was my Grammy La Valley’s and is the recipe my mom uses. It is simply delicious!

Grammy La Valley’s Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 3/4 c pumpkin
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 T flour
1 2/3 cup evaporated milk

Mix in order given. Bake 15 minutes at 425. Then 45 minutes at 350.

Halloween Trick

Last night, we had a nor’easter! We beat all the October storm records in New Hampshire. In Boscawen, I woke up to at least 13 inches of snow. Some areas had 2 feet! It is the very sticky heavy snow too. Many areas are without power. Luckily (knock on wood) – I still have power. Tonight is Gate Night in Boscawen. The night kids go out trick or treating. I am hoping we are plowed out by then and the paths shoveled. I shoveled the steps and a little path between the porches – but I “don’t do heavy snow.” (I took the photo of my jack-o’-lantern in the snow – last night around 11:00 pm.)

It certainly looks pretty out there! It shouldn’t last too many days because mild weather is headed out way.

“Witches, pumpkin heads, and black cats
Scary spooks and black bats!
Oh, it’s Halloween!”

“Halloween Night” – the song that I have been singing practically every October since the late 1960s when I learned it in the 5th grade. I remember the small music room at Charles Street school where I believe, Miss Pelletier, taught us the song. All these years, I could still picture the cover of the music book and the song’s page and the witch and bat graphics. For years, I have searched for the song without any success. This summer, I searched once again on the internet and found it via a blog! I was beside myself with glee (who says “glee” any more – Rudolph…LOL)! I was surprised to read that I was not the only one who remembered this song and was looking for it. Below is the link to the blog – check it out for more details.

http://dpfluent.blogspot.com/2009/10/witches-pumpkin-heads-and-black-cats.html

It was very interesting that the son of Daniel Hooley who wrote the words and music of Halloween Night posted on the blog. His dad had died young – at the age of 38, and he was glad that folks were still enjoying his dad’s music.

A Doug Sewell posted a mp3 file of the music! (Click link below.) It was great to listen to the music again!

http://dmshome.s3.amazonaws.com/Halloween_Night_Song.mp3

When I found the name of the book (ABC Music Series Book 5 Music For Young Americans) – I went to Amazon.com. They REALLY do have EVERYTHING. I found a used copy of the book – in great shape and reasonably priced ($7.99 plus s/h) and ordered it. It has been like Christmas finding not only the song but the book too! Moral of the story – never stop looking! I have been looking for decades and finally hit pay dirt!

So check out the song – listen to the music and perhaps …SING along!

“Halloween Night is the time when
fearful things are seen. Look out”
Look out! It’s Halloween.”

So – check it out and perhaps even sing it a few times! It is a great song and perfect for Halloween!

Hot Hole Pond

It is mid-October already! The leaves are falling off the trees pretty quickly. This year’s foliage was not its usual splendor. The weather has been too warm and many of the leaves appear to have some sort of blight. The leaves start to turn – then get black spots or look burned and fall off the tree.

A little over a week ago – I went up north with my parents and McKenzie the dog. It was beautiful – though not very colorful. We saw more color in Concord at Hot Hole Pond.

I will be enjoying whatever color comes our way. November is right around the corner and that is usually such a colorless-gray month. It makes you (or at least makes me) wish for snow – to put some color (even white is an improvement) out there.

It will be interesting to see if we will get slammed with snow again this year – or have a mild year. I am guessing that we will have a milder winter with much less snow. We will see! 🙂

White Cat on a Cinnamon-Orange Porch

A “For Sale” sign stands anchored
in the still green grass
on the front lawn
of a cinnamon-orange house.
It is a strange color
for an ordinary house
on an ordinary road
in an ordinary town.
On the porch – a large white cat,
its legs tucked neatly under its chest,
sits attentively.
A still life in perfect balance.
Blazing maples frame the yard
spattering the black driveway with color –
a giant palette belonging to an artist,
invisible to all, but the cat
who watches every brush stroke
and the occasional fall of a golden
sable hair from the brush,
as the artist colors the day.
Bright oranges running into red –
jaded greens to shimmering yellows
turn the landscape into a tribute to Monet.

The house stands empty now –
the artist has moved to paint
on another canvas.
The white cat watches
from another vantage.
But, I still picture that white cat
on the cinnamon-orange porch
on an ordinary road,
in an ordinary town,
and I am still enchanted.

10/98

The above is a poem that I wrote 10/1998 to capture the photo I never took at the time. The house is on Mountain Road (maybe 72?) in Concord, NH. There really was a white cat that used to sit on the porch. I always wanted to stop and take a photo – but never did. The cat complemented the orange perfectly. The house was sold, and the cat went off with the owners. I always think of that cat when I drive past the house. A few weeks ago – I noticed part of the house was a whitish-gray. It made me sad that the house was not going to be orange any more. I drove by at lunch today and was pleasantly surprised to see that the whitish-gray was primer and the house is all cinnamon-orange again! On my way back to work – I stopped this time and snapped a photo. I sure wish there were a white cat sitting on the porch next to those pumpkins!