Feasts for the senses

It has been a marvelous couple of days for all my senses. Last night, I saw and heard (and participated in) the annual day after Thanksgiving Ocrafolk Festival fundraiser concert. Philip Howard, David Tweedie, and I performed a short radio show written by Lou Ann Homan, which the audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy. They certainly got into the audience participation anyway! The concert was excellent as always, with lovely performances by Coyote, Jamie, Sundae and Rob, Molasses Creek, and several others. And there were delicious baked treats available too! There are two Festival fundraiser concerts each year - one at Thanksgiving and one at Easter, so if you missed this one, make plans to be here next March! (Yes, Easter is in March in 2008.)

Today, John put up the Christmas tree for me (yes, I'm a fake-tree girl). I then proceeded to put most of the ornaments on it. I collect gold Danbury Mint ornaments, and I have 17 boxes of 12 (they come out one per month for a year), plus several more boxes of "annuals" (the "extra" one they do each year). Hanging the Danbury ornaments is an adventure in touch. Because they are gold plated, I don't handle them with my fingers (the oils from my skin could affect them); I wear gloves. Yes, literally. Yes, I know that seems odd. No, I don't care that it seems odd. Anyway, handling those thin gold strings that ornaments hang on while wearing gloves is a bit of an adventure, let me tell you.

So far, I've managed to put 14 of the 17 boxes on the big tree. I'll put the last three boxes and the angel topper on tomorrow. The annuals will go on the small tree, along with the "travel ornaments" (collected from places I've visited). I have a total of five trees. One is six feet tall (that's the "big" one), one is 4 feet tall (that's the "small" one), and three of them are the miniature (about a foot tall) kind, but all of them have either lights or mini ornaments on them. I also got out the Christmas dishes, changed the tablecloth so I could put the Christmas runner on it, and even decorated the guest bathroom with Santa on the toilet. I love Christmas!

I took a break from Christmas decorating to go to an open house, which was truly a feast for the senses. The house itself is lovely to see - it is an historic home on the island which has been lovingly redone by its current owners, and they did a fantastic job with it. It also smelled wonderful in there as soon as I opened the door, and my taste buds enjoyed the source of the scent - Michael's delicious seafood gumbo. This was no "crackers-n-cheese" open house - in addition to the gumbo, there was thin sliced filet with horseradish sauce, assorted fruit, superb Bleu cheese, and several other things I didn't sample but I'm sure were equally fabulous.

Finally, tonight I went to Jim and Mary Ellen's house for more good food! Mary Ellen described it as a "no turkey after Thanksgiving gathering". There I enjoyed chicken wings, pork tenderloin, Mary Ellen's divine homemade pimento cheese, "Northern beans cooked Southern style", Jamie's creamy shrimp dip/spread, and two different desserts. But even more than the food, I enjoyed the fun of hanging out with friends: laughing, telling stories, celebrating the events, accomplishments, and joys of each other's lives. This should be the sixth sense: feeling, not with fingers, but with the heart. It was the sense which meant the most to me, in my entire feast for the senses weekend. It is this community that has welcomed, nurtured, encouraged, and healed me that I love most - and that touches me most - about Ocracoke.

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." ~ Helen Keller