Merienda or Truffle Sunday

On Sundays we normally sleep in until around 7:30 and then quickly go out and milk the cows, feed the chickens and get all the other chores done before leaving for Sunday School and church.  Our church is a little country church right down the road, and although I've never measured, it's probably not a mile away.  There's nothing fancy about our church, but on its pews sit the most genuinely nice and loving people you'll ever meet.  After Sunday Services, people don't rush off, but they stand around and fellowship. 

Oh, and speaking of fellowship, every couple of months we'll have "Dinner on the Grounds".  This is where everyone in the congregation is asked to bring a covered dish.  After services, everyone makes their way out to the fellowship hall where we get in a line and serve up some of the best food you'll ever eat.  You've really got to pace yourself.  It would be a real shame to run out of room on your plate prior to getting to the end of the line, because I've got to try everything.  And dessert?  Forget about it.  It goes on a separate plate and I usually try a "sampler platter" of every offering.  Once everyone is finished eating and visiting, everyone pitches in and cleans up.

I ran off on a tangent there, sorry.  Most Sundays, we head directly home and have a good family meal.  We started a little family tradition over a year ago that we thoroughly enjoy.  It's very simple, but enjoyable and we all look forward to it.  We call it Merienda or Truffle Sunday.  Tricia grew up in South Texas where they have "merienda".  It is an afternoon snack.  It is a time to put a pot of coffee on and serve up a little something sweet - a little meal between lunch and supper.

So right after lunch, we get a pot of Community Coffee Dark Roast brewing and get out the nice china, rich cream from Daisy, fresh local honey that we get from a good friend and then we normally splurge and get some good chocolate.  We normally get some Lindor Truffles.  Today we had some Lindt Dark Chocolate infused with Chili Peppers.  Interesting.  And very good.  My mom and dad just returned from vacation on Mackinac Island and brought back some Raspberry Fudge, so we cut chunks of that up as well.  Wow, decisions, decisions!  So we put that out to snack on along with the coffee. 

Some good chocolate on Tricia's Bluebonnet china

Chocolate coupled with a rich cup of Community Coffee Dark Roast and you've got a winning combination. 

After we get that served up we'll all stop what we're doing and sit in the sunroom and talk about the upcoming week.  Tricia normally gets out a calendar and we get organized for the week to come.  We're generally going in different directions with school/work activities, not to mention the work on the farm.  Once we get the planning out of the new week out of the way, we'll just visit and enjoy each other's company.  This Truffle Sunday we had Laura Lee with us!  She's in for a week before she starts college.

The family enjoying Truffle Sunday


Back in the old days, people used to go out for a Sunday drive or go visiting friends and neighbors.  Somehow in our fast paced world, we've lost track of that.  Truffle Sunday is our family's way of slowing down and enjoying each other.  On fall days or the one week of Spring we have in South Louisiana, we sit on the rocking chairs on the front porch.  In the dog days of summer, we sit in the sunroom.

We did have sort of an adventure Sunday afternoon.  Laura Lee didn't have an opportunity to ride in the SS Garfish, our new canoe.  So around 6:30 Russ, Laura Lee and I disembarked from the dock for a leisurely paddle down Bayou Nezpique where Russ, Benjamin and I had gone yesterday.  Tricia wanted to stay home with Benjamin and work on some chores along with helping Benjamin prepare for some homework.  This decision was fortuitous on her part.  She said she'd come canoeing another day.

We were soaking in the scenery, paddling away, when all of a sudden a boater came flying around the bend and swamped our canoe.  The wake just filled up the canoe and we bailed out.  It happened so fast.  Trouble is, my phone and camera were in my pocket.  They are both now sitting in a ziploc bag full of rice with the batteries out on the outside chance I can revive them.  The other trouble is - there are alligators in this bayou.  We felt like Swamp People (but without a gun). 


Choot 'em!

 It was deep where we were so I asked Russ and Laura Lee to push the sunken canoe toward shore.  Once we could touch, we could lift the canoe over our heads, flip it and resume our "relaxing" paddle down the bayou.  Laura Lee did not like the texture of the ankle deep mud.  She liked even less the thought of alligators in the vicinity.  We finally got back underway and paddled a ways further until Russ spotted an alligator about 10 yards away from us.  Russ decided that it was time to head back to the dock.

When we arrived back at home all soaking wet, Tricia asked what happened and they told her the whole adventure - alligator and all.  If Tricia ever gets in that canoe, it will be nothing short of a miracle!  Tricia had already milked Rosie and asked if I could go take a look at Blackberry.  She's the orphan calf who is on Daisy right now.  Blackberry, according to Tricia, was limping on her back left leg.  Tricia had her corralled in the barn.

Russ and I went out to check on her and found her limping.  We had a mini-rodeo and bull-dogged her to the ground.  I dodged flying legs and managed to grab her hurt one while Russ sat on her.  When I pulled her hooves apart, I could see a stick that was wedged between her hoof all the way up to where her hooves meet the flesh.  That looked painful, similar to something wedged underneath your fingernail.  I found a pair of scissors in the feed room and was able to pry the stick out.  Blackberry was up in no time and seemed to be doing better.  I hope the same can be said for my phone and our camera.