WINTER BEAUTY

 

A wintry landscape greets the eye wherever one may look, and we’ve had several cold days. Have had some two inches of snow and frost since Christmas. – Ethel Dobson Robinson, Gilbert (Idaho), January 1937

It was snowing when we arose this morning and had been for some time. It let up for a while and the sun came out, so Mike plowed our parking area with his 4-wheeler. However, it’s snowing again now. It’s cold, and the winter weather advisory continues until 4:00 a.m. tomorrow (New Year’s Eve).

We’re mostly confined to the house, though Mike assures me the Jeep would take us to town if we needed to go. It just seems to me the wisest thing to do is to stay put.

I don’t know how Grandma Ina spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s, but I rather think it was a holiday for her. All decorating, including the tree, was done on Christmas Eve, and she didn’t take it down before New Year’s Day. If family was visiting, her efforts would have gone toward cooking and visiting.

On New Year’s Day, the two Dobson families gathered to enjoy a feast prepared by Bertha, always some variation of the following:

·      Oyster soup (“Willapas,” notes Ina, and very good.)

·      Roast backbone of pork and potatoes

·      A platter of sausage

·      Lettuce salad, pickles, chow chow

·      Not more than four kinds of jelly and preserves

·      Only one kind of pie (pumpkin)

·      And only one kind of cake (fruitcake)

Of course, they had tea, coffee, milk, grape juice, bread, butter, crackers, and finished with nuts and candy. 

Unless I can get out to the store tomorrow, our New Year’s food will be much as usual. And positively no oysters for this girl! KW