The next few weeks are my least favorite time of the year - it is cold - not so cold as in the "Frozen North" - but so cold that I got up and put on another night gown and a pair of socks last night. I was still cold - an hour later, I got up and put another blanket on my side of the bed - The Shepherd kicks off most of his covers at one time or another during the night. Go figure.
The song "Turning Toward the Morning" is a favorite of mine - I learned it many years ago from my friend & banjo teacher Mike Marker - The songwriter,
Gordon Bok wrote it in response to a letter he received from a friend who was having a bad year - his words to her were full of encouragement that the morning always comes and spring will be here before you know it.
Bok, who lives in Maine, rarely leaves the northeast, but if you get a chance to see him, don't miss it. I found several renditions of the song by others on You-Tube but none that I would endorse by putting them here. So you'll just have to believe me that this song will get you through the tough times.
TURNING TOWARD THE MORNING
(Gordon Bok)
When the deer has bedded down
And the bear has gone to ground,
And the northern goose has wandered off
To warmer bay and sound,
It's so easy in the cold to feel
The darkness of the year
And the heart is growing lonely
For the morning
Chorus:
Oh, my Joanie, don't you know
That the stars are swinging slow,
And the seas are rolling easy
As they did so long ago?
If I had a thing to give you,
I would tell you one more time
That the world is always turning
Toward the morning.
Now October's growing thin
And November's coming home;
You'll be thinking of the season
And the sad things that you've seen,
And you hear that old wind walking,
Hear him singing high and thin,
You could swear he's out there singing
Of your sorrow.
When the darkness falls around you
And the Northwind come to blow,
And you hear him call you name out
As he walks the brittle snow:
That old wind don't mean you trouble,
He don't care or even know,
He's just walking down the darkness
Toward the morning.
It's a pity we don't know
What the little flowers know.
They can't face the cold November
They can't take the wind and snow:
They put their glories all behind them,
Bow their heads and let it go,
But you know they'll be there shining
In the morning.
Now, my Joanie, don't you know
That the days are rolling slow,
And the winter's walking easy,
As he did so long ago?
And, if that wind would come and ask you,
"Why's my Joanie weeping so?"
Wont you tell him that you're weeping
For the morning?
I was ready to go - had my ingredients all lined up - and got a message on the answering machine from Donna last Thursday. She sounded a small bit hysterical. - "The Auction committee has just told me that they think we might have 60 people - so you need to make your mousse for 60 instead of 40" Yikes...that's a LOT of pudding! Re think my ingredient list, - all in all, it took 9-10 cups of fresh pumpkin puree, 4 1/2 cups of milk, three pkgs of Philly lite cream cheese, three large pkgs. of instant vanilla pudding, a whole lot of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, some sugar and 9 cups of whipped chream - filled up my BIG Tupperware bowl plus another large stainless steel bowl -that much pudding is kind of daunting - 
Oh, he's going to visit a minute, I thought - I rolled down my window - "Hi Rick", I said as he got out of his truck.
Anyhow - getting back to last week and my three days off - I was in charge of putting together the program for Sunday night (from our Minister's Order of Service) and I was also making a new "pew card" Order of Service for regular Sunday services. Then there was the matter of the "congregational gift" - traditionally a cleric's stole
We arranged with a local embroidery company to make the chalice patch (bottom right hand corner of the picture) & I set out to put it together. The patch had to be hand sewn onto the velveteen, which took longer than I though it would, and if I were to do it again, I realized that I should have put some interfacing on the back - because it lacked - ah, - substance, I guess - but as you can see, Rev. Marcia was very happy with it, and as I told her, if she got nervous, she could just stroke it, kind of like a little kid's 'softie' 
The Stardust Motel - No, we didn't stay there, but it was on the street where we stopped to get fuel - I don't even remember the town (although, now, I could probably google it and do street view to find what city). Every once in a while, I just think about how life used to be so simple, and how staying at The Stardust Motel would have been the Cat's Pajamas -
