Psyched for the Blossoms

There is something rather confusing about the time when the hiatus between football games is more than a week. I hardly know what to write about, as there is so much time between contests. Now, however, it is time to get the competitive blood boiling again and psych ourselves into really backing the Awesome Blossoms again, as they prepare for Friday. I am sure a good share of the community will be at the stadium to cheer on the team.

There will be time to ponder and reflect over the past season next week, but for now it is all about the present. We will cheer loudly and hope that this fourth time at the state playoffs and this first time in the finals will be a winning time. Go, Blossoms!

Time marches on

I passed anther milestone last week, but I don’t feel a darn bit different. I guess when one gets to my age, a birthday is a rather commonplace occurrence. I must admit that I feel a year older most of the time, but my spirits remain high despite the breakdown of my body. I continue to enjoy life and family, and my writing and other hobbies do a very good job of conspiring to keep me from drifting into any sort of doldrums. Good for me.

A day of thanks

In just a day or two most families will be sitting down to a table loaded with traditional and non-traditional foods. And while we gather there, my hope is that all will take moment to give thanks for the bountiful life of the past year. Although outside influences, such as a lost job, medical setbacks or other hardship may have interrupted our existence, I would venture to guess that we are still much better off than a large population of the world.

Now that is something of which to be proud. We should count our blessings every day, but the least we could do is to pause in our busy lives and give thanks for all the good things it is our privilege to possess.

Talking about Thanksgiving as we were reminds me of how almost everyone is now convinced that climate change is really with us. I notice it when we start talking about past holidays and celebrating them. I can still remember quite clearly rare years when my family celebrated Thanksgiving at my grandfather’s farm, and we had to use the horse and slight to get there. It didn’t happen often then, but Christmas was often the only way the entire family could observe that special occasion.

My granddad would hitch up the team of horses to the sleigh and then sleigh the three miles from the farm to town and pick us up for the shot ride back to the farm.  People today have trouble believing it ever happened, but deep snow in late November was not unheard of, and the occasional necessity for that mode of travel to Grandfathers did happen.

Usher in holidays

Once Thanksgiving is a memory, it is time to usher in the Christmas season, and observing the annual Holiday Dazzle celebration is a perfect time to initiate the season. We are hoping that the weather will cooperate, as businesses and individuals descend on Blooming Prairie to have some fun, begin the Christmas shopping season with specials from various retailers, and bring the little ones forward for a short visit with Santa. It is an ideal way to start this favorite time of the year.

It certainly has been a momentous season of the year. If the football team can bring back a championship to Blooming Prairie, it will have been an unforgettable fall sports year for that reason. Add to that the recognition for 50 years of BPHS All-School musicals, and it has been a unique year. It is good to be a Blossom, and we’ll  talk again.