Friendship

We had some friends come over for supper this evening. Rachel and Jason and their 3 children live on a little farm outside of Fincastle. They have goats and chickens and a heifer. They homeschool. They don't freak out if they have to step over chicken poop to get in the backdoor because the chickens got out, again. They raised 4 free-range turkeys this fall and GAVE us one for our Christmas gift. Can you believe that? It was a 29lb tom turkey. It barely fit in our oven Christmas day. That turkey was every bit as moist and delicious as our Thanksgiving turkey, but it tasted even better because we knew how much work went into raising the birds, not to mention plucking them! That turkey was one of the sweetest gifts we have ever been given.

They brought over some of their homemade dandelion wine. I mixed up some of our pepper jelly with Coco's fromage blanc. We reheated leftover mashed potatoes, dressing and turkey and fried up some steaks to round everything out. The holidays are a great time to make a point of hanging out with friends.

It is a blessed thing to share lives with one another. We are grateful for all the friends who make our life more meaningful. Some far away, some down the road a piece.

I am about to milk Coco. The temperatures are dropping so I guess I will have to put on a jacket. It was almost 70 degrees today. The sunrise was amazing. A golden glaze covered the entire farm. It seemed magical. I opened the window and drank in warm, springtime breezes. Within minutes the gold had vanished but the warm breeze didn't. If felt weird to be comfortable in barefeet. The temperatures inside the house were around 62 degrees! Usually we wake up to 50 or so. Our weatherman friend tells us that it is about to get cold. We will not complain. The kids want to ice skate on the pond. I am not sad to have to milk in the balmy mornings and evenings. Better get out there and get to it!