November 25, 2011

 My daughter, Mandy, was born in February.  The Thanksgiving holiday after she was born, my Aunt Leona and Uncle Worden invited me to drive down from  Youngstown for the holiday so they could see the new baby.  I was teaching with a woman who had a sister  in Louisville, so  we decided to make the trip  together. By the time we got to Louisville, I had come down with a huge, huge chest and head cold.  Not to worry, Onie and Worden  put me on the sofa and took complete charge of the baby, dressing her, checking her for scratches and rashes (No one ever thought I had enough common sense to be a Mother, don't know why) .

Every four hours, Onie, a huge believer in 'Better Living Through Pharmaceuticals' kept calling me into the kitchen.  She would hold out two pills (they were red, I think),  "Now, Sally, this is the ticket!  I give these to John (his name was John Worden,  but she was almost the only person who ever called him John)   everytime he gets a cold, and he just perks right up.'

Uncle Worden

Since one didn't say no to Onie any more than one said no to my Mother, I took the pills and headed back to the living room and  the couch.  As I passed through the dining room,  every single time,  I'd run into my Uncle.  He was standing there  holding a jigger of bourbon. 'Here, take this.  The pills are ok, I guess, but this is what REALLY makes me feel better.'  So,  I swallowed the bourbon.  Right hand up to God, I was drunk that entire weekend.   I was still about halfway in the bag when we got back to Youngstown.  Between the pills and the booze, I guess it's a minor  miracle they didn't kill me. Thank God, Ann didn't expect me to help with the driving.


 Thanks to my brother, Tom,  here is Onie's Bourbon Ball recipe.  Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
                                                         
                                              Onie's Bourbon Balls
                     
                            1 cup of vanilla wafer crumbs
                            1 c. powdered sugar
                            1 c. chopped pecans
                            2 T.cocoa
                            2 T light Karo syrup
                            2 jiggers of bourbon

Mix everything together really well.  Roll them into bite-sized balls. Onie used to mix this recipe up around Halloween (Usually a double or triple batch at a time), then put them into those pretty Christmas tins she'd buy at the five and ten cent store..  She'd splash an  extra dose of bourbon into the bottom, seal them,  and put them into the basement to 'cook' til Christmas. Then, she'd either give them away for Christmas presents or serve them, for dessert, with ice cream.  And, oh yeah, if Uncle Worden was nearby while she was working on them, you can be darn sure  that there was more than 2 jiggers of bourbon in those things.

Happy Thanksgiving, Love you each and every one.

Onie 

November 19, 2011

Last summer, I was sent to a BIE conference in Reno.  The opening exercises began  with a presentation of the colors  I watched as men and women from all the branches of the armed forces  and several different Native Nations carried the flags down the central aisle and onto the stage.  A drum circle group accompanied them.  As wrong headed, evil and downright tragic as the policies directed at their ancestors were, these men and women are proud Americans,  willing to raise the flag, present it and back it up with their lives if necessary.

This past Veterans' Day, again, I watched a parade in which service men and women, of all ages,  veterans of wars going back to World II,  followed the United States flag down a road, eyes front, heads high., back straight.  Again,  I felt humbled and grateful.

On Thursday, our students made Thanksgiving dinner for their guests. Prior to eating, one of the kids'  grandmother offered an opening prayer in which she offered thanks for all her blessings (Since I couldn't understand one word, I'm assuming here, but her attitude appeared to be grateful) Once again, I was humbled.  As I've noted before, Thanksgiving didn't end well for the ancestors of today's Indigenous Peoples.  And yet, this woman was offering thanks, and my students stood, respectful and  quiet....for once.

It's no secret, to anyone who's been listening to my rantings, that I have deep , deep concerns about the direction in which this country is headed.  I'm not going to discuss politics here.  I simply want to make  note that I give thanks, myself, that I have friends, family members  and co-workers who are honorable, good people. I have been allowed to do work I love. I  have  insurance .....o---kay, we know it didn't pay for my recent bout with the you know what, but I am in a better position than,  unfortunately, a good many of my fellow citizens.

 For those who have been blessed with way more , materially speaking, than the majority of the rest of the world's population and yet, still want ever more and are increasingly unwilling to bear their share of responsibility for the well-being of our society, karma is a you know what.  People with way  less are way more grateful, their sons and daughters are the ones who fight and die so that you may continue to behave so shamefully.  But, that's all I'm going to say along that line.  Just for today and the rest of this week, I'm going to attempt to maintain a grateful presence.

Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving.