More Than Turkey Today

My first grader celebrated a Thanksgiving Feast at her school this week and, as a childhood rite of passage, she dressed up as a pilgrim.  Her class and the "Native American" kindergartners played primitive games together, read stories, and shared a semi-authentic first Thanksgiving meal (i.e. mashed potatoes weren't on the menu as potatoes hadn't been cultivated yet).  It was a wonderful morning.

This Thanksgiving, I hope that we can all collectively count our blessings and acknowledge that today is about much more than the food on our plates.  We celebrate because of the brave souls that sought religious freedom nearly four hundred years ago, enduring a tyrant king and an unforgiving ocean, fighting disease and starvation, and accepting help from those so unlike themselves.

Today, I'm thankful for the heat in my home (it is freezing outside!), my man upstairs brining the bird, the family arriving later this afternoon and tomorrow, and the church that I will freely and openly attend this Sunday and any other time I want. And I am thankful for my little pilgrim helper, who decorated much of our house yesterday all on her own.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Off to the Races

This last October 30th marked four years that our family has resided in Orange, Virginia.  How fitting that yesterday, Graham and I also made our fourth trip to the annual Montpelier Hunt Races, held right in Orange County.  Being Kentucky people, horse racing feels like home, but the Hunt Races certainly have a Virginia flourish.  The day-long series of steeplechase races is held at Montpelier, the lifelong home of James Madison, our fourth president of the United States.  Many years after the Madison family left Montpelier, the estate was purchased by William duPont, whose daughter Marion duPont Scott, an avid horsewoman and equine philanthropist, began the tradition of the Hunt Races on the family property in 1932.  Always the first Saturday of November, lifelong Orange residents tell us that they remember Ms. Scott opening up her property free of charge and riding around in her carriage to greet her guests before the races began.  After her death in 1983, the family transferred the property back to the National Historic Trust for Historic Preservation which has been instrumental in reviving the Madison-era home.  Yet, the races still run every year in honor of such a great tradition beginning nearly a century ago. 

Marion duPont Scott jumping side saddle.  Amazing.  (Picture courtesy of www.montpelierraces.org)

And we're off!

We couldn't have asked for a better day to watch the races.

My friend Janean pouring up some Apple Pie Moonshine (made legally and locally by Belmont Farms Distillery). 

Toasting the day.

The bets were on and Graham's horse, Manacor, won!

  Got a little clod of dirt in my drink as a souvenir of this close encounter.

My lovely friends.  Hats are optional but oh-so-appropriate as my friend Serrine models here.