Life's Full Circle

Our family experienced two major life events in a week. The first caused great joy...the birth on Monday, October 29, of our fourteenth great-grandchild - a baby boy with a shock of dark hair that fairly shouts his Native American heritage. His lineage, from his father's side, traces back to his Cherokee great-great-great-grandmother. Especially sweet is the fact that he was born on our three-year-old great-granddaughter's birthday.

Sadly, eight days later, this past Monday, November 5, my brother died. He was ten years my senior, and had suffered two previous heart attacks. He was also in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease, but we all thought he was doing well, so we were unprepared for his sudden death.

A beautiful life begins, just as a beloved life ends....it's a lot to contemplate.

Music...The Common Denominator

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to a gospel music program at our local museum. The program was presented as part of a traveling farm-life exhibit that will be on display for several weeks.

Three groups performed. The first - members of a shape note music school - presented a program describing the history of shape notes. According to Wikipedia, "shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational singing. Shape notes of various kinds have been used for over two centuries in a variety of sacred music traditions practiced primarily in the southern region of the United States." The notes, in various shapes (squares, triangles, etc.) represent the musical scale "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do." For an illustration of shape notes, go to http://www.shapenote.net/. Information may also be obtained at http://www.fasola.org/. This was my first experience with shape notes, and I found it to be fascinating.

Following the shape notes program, a group of 24 folks from three Mennonite churches performed several low-key, soothing spirituals, in keeping with their quiet lifestyle of simplicity. Their music provided a perfect contrast to the exuberant music performed by several women members of a local African-American Baptist Church choir.


A spokesman for the Mennonite group noted that their ancestors migrated to our state from Pennsylvania in the 1800's. He mentioned that the Dutch (a West Germanic) language has essentially disappeared from their tradition, but some parents still teach their children the language in order to keep it alive. And even though they do not speak German, the group did perform a couple of spirituals in the language. For more information on Mennonite history, go to http://www.religioustolerance.org/.


The spokeswoman for the African-American group pointed out that when their ancestors were slaves, they used uplifting spirituals to help them endure their life. During the Civil War, the songs contained hidden messages directing fugitive slaves along the underground railroad to freedom. See http://www.negrospirituals.com/ for a history of the evolution of African-American spirituals.

Clay Pot Pilgrims

I look forward to November, when I can bring out my clay pot pilgrims again. Mother and I worked together about ten years ago to make these cute Thanksgiving figures. Every year, I display them on the mantel, along with other autumn decorations. The instructions for making them (see patterns above) are as follows:

Male pilgrim requires 5 clay pots. Female pilgrim requires 4 clay pots. Instructions are for 2-inch clay pots. larger pots may be used.

Supplies:

9 (2-inch) clay pots

Tacky glue or hot glue gun/glue sticks

White and black felt

Craft paint (black, white, flesh)

Black poster board

3/4 inch wooden beads, or same size styrofoam balls

Gold cord

Gold rickrack (optional)

Spanish moss

Clear acrylic sealer

2 artist brushes (one large for painting pots; one small for painting features)

Small basket with flowers (optional, for female)

Directions:

Paint pots (see diagrams above)

Step 1: Male #1 Solid black

#2 Rim black; rest of pot flesh

#3, #4, # 5 Solid black

Female #l Rim black, rest of pot flesh

#2, #3, #4 Solid black

Step 2: Glue pots together according to diagrams above, being sure to insert 4-inch black poster board circle between pots 1 and 2 for man's hat. (Note: we found pots adhered to each other better when we inserted black poster board, cut to pot size, between each pot layer. )

Step 3: Cut four 2 and 1/4 by 3 and 1/4 inch pieces of black poster board. Roll into cylinders, forming 1-inch circles. Glue seams together. After glue sets, flatten one end of each roll. With seam side underneath, glue cylinders at sides of each pilgrim for arms (felt may be used instead of poster board, especially for female if you use basket). Glue bead or styrofoam ball (painted flesh color) in ends of cylinders to form hands.

Step 4: Decorate pilgrims by painting facial features and gluing on collars, hat bands, belts, buckles, bows, aprons (note: we enlarged the apron pattern to make it a little longer), etc. Glue Spanish moss for beard on male, and hair on female. A small basket can be added to the female.

Step 5: Spray figures with acrylic sealer.

Green Tomato Crop

My husband and my mother (the green thumbs at our house) decided to try something different in the veggie garden this year. Mother read in one of her gardening books that the tops of tomato plants can be planted to make a late crop...instructions: lop off the top foot or so of healthy plants (ours had reached about five feet in height), remove the bottom leaves, plant them, and water them liberally.

Hubby and Mother feel they waited too long...late July...before trying this experiment. Mid-July would have been better, because August was blistering hot and dry in our state. Hubby watered the plants diligently, but they nearly perished anyway. Once the rain came, the plants perked up, but the fruit was small.

Because a killing frost is forecast for this week, Mother decided she should go ahead and pick the tomatoes green and fry them for lunch today. Fried green tomatoes are a delicacy here in the south, but we don't serve them very often at our house, since they don't conform to our diet plan. They sure were good, though, and here's Mother's recipe for them:

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Quarter small tomatoes, or slice large ones. Sprinkle salt on the tomatoes and let set for 30 minutes. Coat tomatoes with a mixture of 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup cornmeal, 1 teaspoon seasoning salt, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon basil, and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Fry in about 1/4 cup Canola oil. Drain tomatoes on paper towels to remove some of the oil.