It's really smart to have a potluck lunch after the business portion of an Annual General Meeting. Keeps the business side short and sweet. The scent meatballs simmering in a crock pot is enough to make anyone think twice about being needlessly wordy.
Today's Pine Ridge Hiking Club AGM was more a gathering of friends than a business meeting.
Our hikers look a little fuzzy in this image. That's intentional: the focus will be on the food.
Hmmmm..... what to take?
While we check out what some of our hikers assembled on their plates, let's be inspired by the words of John Muir, the father of America's National Parks.
Yum. Laura's salad.
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
Cynthia's Tourtière.
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature,
he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
The breads and buns were popular.
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
Our hikers have hiked all over the world. Some were missing from the AGM because they were hiking in places like Costa Rica (Hi Anita) and Dominica (Hi Jodi).
I loved how this person placed just one of Rita's meatballs in the centre of their plate. I am guessing they went back for more once they tasted them.
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people
are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home;
that wildness is a necessity”
This plate is a work of art.
Your mouth is watering.
This lady is a sampler. At a potluck, she places a smattering of choices on her plate, samples them and then goes back for more. Smart.
And, her partner does the same.
“The world's big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”
Or you could say, the buffet is big and I want to try all of it before it gets dark.
“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul”
There was so much variety in today's potluck, I am sorry that I didn't try the cauliflower/broccoli cheese casserole.
“I only went out for a walk
and finally concluded to stay out till sundown,
for going out,
I found, was really going in.”
Some of our hikers were recognized for doing just that: going out. Going out for a hike. This year, Darryl hiked 74 times, Marcella - 52, Cynthia - 47, Tom - 39, Jay - 37, Lucille - 36, Donna W. - 33, Jodi & Allan - 32, and Doris - 30.
Isn't it amazing how potlucks usually work out? Maybe it's because folks are generous. They love to share their favourite foods with their friends.
“I am losing precious days.
I am degenerating into a machine for making money.
I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men.
I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news”
“The sun shines not on us but in us.”
Meeting over. Meal eaten. Friendships renewed. Speaker listened to . Another AGM "done and dusted".
I'll end with one last John Muir quote to take into the new year:
“Of all the paths you take in life,
make sure a few of them are dirt.”
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