Adrian

Unsweetened iced tea and a dessert table just as big as the main dish table--those are characteristics of the Gilbert Family Reunion that I anticipate each year. Here are some facts about our trip to southern Michigan:

 

• 300 miles. We left around 6:30 a.m. and returned around 11 p.m. (I'm not certain of the time because I didn't open my eyes wide enough to see the clock when I stumbled out of the van toward my bed).
  
• 2 churches. Raisin Center for Sunday school and morning service (we heard a special speaker from Wycliff Bible Translators) and Raisin Valley for the Truth Project in the evening (we met Brian, the new pastor).
  
• 17 Cooks and Bakers from Aunt Olive's (my Grandma's) descendants at the reunion.
  
• 1 crock-pot of sauerkraut and sausage (an unappetizing smell at 6 a.m.).
  
• 12 week old youngest attendee--Kaelyn.
  
• approximately 150 photos.
  

Raisin Center Friends Church

Raisin Center Parsonage

Lenawee County Fair Grounds

Maple Tree in my Uncle Paul's front yard

Raisin Valley Friends Church

What?

Not everyone's philosophy of travel includes stopping to photograph scenery. I resigned myself to one park-and-dash session yesterday, which included this custom-made sign down the road from the Raisin Center Friends Church where my cousin's husband pastors.

O Lord God,

Make us willing to receive the supply

of our need from thy bounty.

"Seventh Day Evening: Future Blessing." Arthur Bennett, ed. The Valley of Vision. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1975.

Sugar Cookies

Last year at the family reunion Dad's cousin Gary told me that my sugar cookies were almost as good as his grandma's and my grandma's cookies. He assured me that with a little more practice they would be perfect. To help me in that process he was willing to taste-test my cookies for me. 

He's not the only one willing to taste-test my cookies. After Naomi and I baked a triple batch of Grandma Gilbert's Sugar Cookies on Thursday afternoon, I stacked the cookies in a large plastic container to take to the reunion on Sunday. I had a few cookies left over and I put them on a small plate on the counter in the kitchen. The cookies were there when I went to bed, but when I got up in the morning there was an empty plate. 

Grandma Gilbert's Sugar Cookies

Great-Grandma Gilbert didn't have measuring spoons in her kitchen and she baked her cookies in a wood stove. When my Grandma wrote down the recipe she included oven temperature and ingredient measurements--except for the flour. "Sticky, but not too sticky. What's that supposed to mean?" my Aunt Phyllis asks in frustration when she tries to duplicate Grandma's cookies.

2 cups sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 to 6 cups flour

Cream together sugar and shortening. Beat in eggs and buttermilk. Mix in dry ingredients--adding enough flour so that the dough is stick but not too sticky. Turn dough onto floured surface and roll to 1/4-3/4" thickness. Cut with floured round cookie cutter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes. 

Blueberries

We harvested over 11,000 pounds this season!

Our family picked 2,462 quarts of blueberries (3,693 pounds)

Michigan is one of the nation's blueberry producing states. Last year our farm yielded 5,350 pounds of blueberries. In 2007 Michigan farmers harvested a total of 93 million pounds of blueberries from 18,500 acres netting $165,456,000 (36 million dollars more than apple sales!). 

Source Michgian Agricultural Statistics 2007-2008

Proud...embarrassed

We are proud to be Americans. We wave flags and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance and paste "God Bless America" bumper stickers on our cars and convince ourselves that we are the most powerful and advanced nation in the world.

It's easy to feel proud to be an American when we are surrounded by Americans. Pride is not the prominent emotion I've felt when interacting with students from other nations. More often I've been embarrassed to be an American. 

I met a fellow American, at the orientation meeting for all the Conversation Pods at SVSU, who could represent the stereotypical American. He was big, loud, friendly, and culturally insensitive. A group of ten or so of us, two Americans and the rest of the students from China, Taiwan and India, introduced ourselves. One of the students from India introduced himself as Aashish. My fellow American remarked that his dad smoked that in the seventies. 

The student from Taiwan brought a Chinese student to our Conversation Pod on Wednesday night. He's only been in the United States for a month, but he's quite a storyteller and delighted in his audience. He told us about baking biscuits, about using the APA format to write a paper, and about trying to read the New York Times. Though he's found Americans to be polite, he told us, he's not found them to be overly friendly. Recently when he was eating his lunch in the cafeteria, a girl sat down opposite him. He was was excited about finally making an American friend. He was startled when the American girl looked across the table and asked him, "Do you eat dog?"

I am glad to be an American, but I am not always proud to be an American.

Autumn colors

for my aunt in Arizona

from her niece in Michigan

A gentleman in a pick-up truck saw the emergency flashers on my car and stopped to see if I needed help. Then he saw my camera and rightly guessed that I was not experiencing car trouble but artistic inspiration. 

I love country roads.

Our annual family reunion is this weekend in the southern part of the state. My expectations for the trip include photographing the brilliant golden maples that grow near my uncle's farm.