Borrego Springs Thanksgiving 2009

We arrived a few days early as we are the Hosts for this years WIN's Thanksgiving. Visited with the few people who had arrived early also. In the evening we went to the American Legion for dancing and Karoke.

Saturday more people began to arrive. We had an informal circle. Robbi and Jerry our co-hosts came and we had them over for a spaghetti dinner and visiting.

Our first official circle was Sunday at 4 o'clock. There were 47 of us gathered to hear the announcements and make the decisions of what we wanted to do while here. We will have a full week of activities calumniating in full tummies if all goes as planned.

Monday was a hike to Palm Canyon.
I have been here to Borrigo for 4 times but this is the first time I hiked to the canyon. At the far end is a beautiful oasis filled with palm trees and on the ridges surrounding it we saw 5 or 6 big horn sheep. Doug has a powerful camera and here are a couple of the pictures he took.

Tuesday the group caravanned to Julian. It is at 4000' elevation and it was nippy especially with the wind. There are lots of bakeries. They are famous for their apple pies. Neat little shops in town and a craft fair at the town hall. 22 of us gathered at the Rongbranch Cafe for a delicious lunch. The return trip was a different route over the long hill back into Borrego. We can even see our small "city" we created out in the desert. Bob and Joanne entertained us before circle.

Wednesday was preparation day for the FEAST. Bob and I drove to Brawley to pick up the last minute items and the 10 boxes of turkey dinner. Back at the ranch Jerry gathered tables from the American Legion and had them setup for the carvers. All the food was packed in various refrigerators to be stored until the big day.

Thursday arrived and so did the appetites, minus wind or dust storm. After hugs everyone arranged their dining tables. Some with fancy floral arrangements and canopies. The refrigerated items were brought out and the warmer uppers gathered them and put them into ovens, microwaves and stove tops. At 1:30 potluck food started to appear on the serving tables and at 2 o'clock Arlene gave the blessing and we lined up to be served the meat, potato & gravy and dressing.
Then came the long table of vegetables, salads, rolls and desserts. It probably took less than 20 minutes for all to be served. There were around 60 of us. Bob Dwyer entertained us with guitar playing and a sing along. Every night there is a campfire.

Our second day of the "feast" was leftovers. Had dinner at 3pm so people could go on hikes, sculpture viewing

or just vegging. The third day was soup day. There were 10 pots of soup and all were a little bit different. Turkey noodle, turkey vegetable, tortilla, bean and pea soups. All must have been delicious because there was very little left. The leftovers were quickly eaten.
We also had an ice cream social a couple of hours later. 5 buckets of ice cream were quickly disposed of since it was so cold out we were wearing our winter jackets.

One day we went geocashing.

Rigs started to pull out on Saturday, Sunday and on Monday we left. Headed back to the Yuma area.

At our last circle Nelda was honored as the "Queen of Sweets". Randy read a poem he wrote about her and Sharon presented her with a dozen sweetheart roses. As our oldest member she still bakes us treats at every gathering. Thank you Nelda.