September Ritual

 

It's Joanne's corn patch to harvest. 

Tom cuts and organizes the empty stalks. 

Then, a text message arrives in my iphone.

This year's edition, sent to me on Saturday night,  read:

Joanne's corn patch has been harvested as of 2:30 p.m. today.

Farmhand Tom has the stalks bundled and placed at the entrance of our driveway.

Ready for pickup.

That means I need to reserve the white pickup for the next morning when I'll drive about three miles to Tom and Joanne's driveway where I see the neatly organized stacks of stalks waiting for me just off the road. 

I load 'em up, walk over to Tom and Joanne's front deck and drop off some of this year's jelly.   

When evening comes, three horses will enjoy their first helping of Kootenai-grown corn stalks. 

The next morning, Tom will open a jar of refrigerated, home-prepared Lovestead jelly and smother it over his toast or load it into his peanut butter sandwich.

Mission accomplished.

The annual corn stalk-jelly jar exchange has once again been completed with precision, and respective equine and human palates have enjoyed their first helping of homegrown delights.  

Joanne tells me that if a jar of jelly happens to be a little runny, it goes on top of meat dishes they've prepared. 

BTW:  they enjoy keep-fill service any time they wish for more jelly. 

I love the ritual which has developed over the years since the first time Joanne wrote and said she had corn stalks for the horses. 

It makes for happy tummies and a good friendship. 

The exchange was all part of a lovely Sunday, which for me, included another jelly preparation session, lunch with Bill and Annie and just pure enjoyment of the day. 

Overall, it was a beautiful and fun weekend.

Days like yesterday remind us  of wonderful  and cherished connections that happen in our lives because of simple gestures.

  They also remind us why we love fall so much.

 Happily, we can look forward to a week's worth of opportunities to enjoy outdoor activities and the blessings of life. 

This week, the horses will have their farrier session, and I'm hoping that tomorrow's trailer loading and riding experiences with CB go better than last week's edition. 

It's a great and wonderful time to embrace whatever comes our way and to enjoy. 

And, that's precisely what I have set as my priority this week.

Happy Monday.