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Originally Posted by graciegirl
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I hope so Gracie. In three more years we'll be married fifty years.
I was just thinking, while folding laundry upstairs, that when we first moved to Vermont.........how different things were from New Jersey.
Down there EVERYONE PUT ON A BIG SPREAD for the holidays (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, engagements, etc.)
Maybe it was an "ethnic" thing or a "city" thing.
We were in alien territory when we moved up here. Small town living was great and it was a wonderful place to raise the children, so we adapted.
However, we had two factions (the third being the transplanted out of staters like ourselves).
First there were the salt of the earth long time residents whose roots went deep in Vermont...........then there were the Hippy types (it was early 1970) who were usually rich kids who went to colleges like Skidmore and others.....who turned their backs on their banker dads and middle class upbringing to "live off the land"..........they were total vegetarians and a lot of their food was tasty. One friend brought me a mushroom lasagna after I gave birth to our second child. She wasn't even Italian and it was very very good. She made her own ketchup from her garden and like the other hippies up here, was kind, friendly but "far out" in their political views..........they bought barns and converted them as living quarters......wore the bandannas on their head, bluejeans....definitely not the MAD MEN dresses we were used to, working in the city.
The long time country folk and "townies" were really experienced in putting up their garden of veggies for the winter, slaughtering the pigs they raised, the chickens they kept, etc.......and shooting the yearly deer for venison...........they also lived off the land.....as their forebears had before them.
Each couldn't have been so far apart in their world views nor in their food preferences.
The locals ate lots of HAM, lots of butter and cream, baked tons of pies and cakes. Lots of CRISCO for the icing on the cakes....I remember that. The hippies ate their home made granola and sprouts and veggies..........
Oh, the locals also had "exotic" foods like squirrel stew, possum stew, etc. which they'd bring up to hunting camp in the fall.
Guess what? The ones we knew are all still alive.....both the hippies and the hippy wannabee's.........and the good old boys and gals.......
However, the ones who ate the vegan type diet........are very wrinkled now, whereas the others have plumper and moister looking skin.
Go figure, right?
We've always known how "the other half" lives........and we've traveled all over this country. Everyone is different and that's the way it should remain........otherwise, it would be a pretty boring country. For those who say, "it's my way or the highway".......I think the hippies would tell them to chill out........if that's their own path...then follow it, but don't try to convert others......it won't work . For the life of me, I can't remember one hippy trying to force their lifestyle on us.
We know people who were born or raised out west on ranches.
Now, don't tell them not to eat a steak or "barbecue" or pulled pork.
Now, what really was weird was that I had to keep two wardrobes for my kids......one to "fit in" in town and one to go and visit the relatives in Jersey..............but we made the right choice in staying here to raise our family.......it was peaceful, everyone knows each other from cradle to the grave.......and I'd say they are pretty accepting folks. Vermonters and the neighboring states' residents are all very self sufficient people....as far as food growing, food preservation and putting up wood for the winter....and helping each other.
We have some pretty aged people........in town....100, 96, etc.
I still say it's good genes......it's in their D.N.A. They did keep an active MIND which is probably more important that eating or not eating this or that.
The ones who seem to be passing away at a younger age.......I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut they got on the medical bandwagon and "over medicated" with all the pharmaceuticals out there........whose side effects are worse than the disease or ailment itself.
First they tell you take "this" for your osteoporosis and in the next breath they tell you it can destroy your jawbone or break your thighbone.
It's very difficult for consumers to make decisions......and it doesn't pay to worry all the time about our health.
Just for fun and educational purposes, I'd like one of the vegans to give me a "menu" of sorts that he or she would serve to their visiting family at say Easter time or springtime or Christmas time, etc. or Thanksgiving.
Replace the Easter glazed spiral ham with "what?????"
Replace the candied yams with ? I like plain roasted sweet potatoes.
Replace the babka and sweet whipped butter with ????
Replace the lemon meringue pie with ????
A nice fruit salad would be acceptable; a crudite plate of raw veggies.
What about that ham? A lentil loaf?
Ditto for the Thanksgiving turkey, cornbread stuffing, sausage stuffing???? Mashed potatoes? Cranberry sauce is o.k........
No more green bean casserole? Pumpkin pie is o.k. Apple pie.