Out of the slanting western skies, mid-day Thanksgiving comes to a Rochester WI orchard; Boxes and boxes of cookies; First formal

Over the back hill, solar panels push electronic turkey and fixings ovens out of sight, save  small silvery reflections through the woods. It was an old fashioned Thanksgiving family gathering this year at the Willard Ela Orchard farmhouse. The sun drove it all, per usual. The gaiety, merriment, flowing happinesses of laughter and simmering steaming sauces and rightly crisping turkey skin was all plugged into the sun. Before the dinner began to appear Ben ceremoniously gave the 'grand hailing sign' at the  temporarily empty table. Blindy, elevated barn cat who paid his dues and long has been granted beloved housecat status hung out at the table corner by the Franklin wood stove soaking in the good smells. Hannah and her mother Jane Willard share a similar laugh. Erin's husband Ben feeds the chickens their dinner early. Bob Willard makes people feel welcome. Bob carves sun-baked festive bird. David, elderly guest, samples house product Ela Cider (unpasteurized, keep refrigerated) sitting next to a sun-bathed years-old family Rosemary plant, in purple blossom for the holiday. Rosemary blooms; chickens feeding without; sun 'bubbles' camera lens. Ben breaks  a Rosemary leaf and smells the fragrance. Dee, Erin's mother, samples glorious fare. At table left to right: Erin, Ben, Hannah's friend Raman, Hannah, cork replacer Jane's arm. The story of the day at the table: ('above and beyond' dep't) Erin telling the call she got Tuesday after library archives closing from an attorney asking Erin the Archivist if she could help settle a real estate property sale matter. The subject was an allegely stolen two ton granite rock given to Lawrence College in the 1800s but missing for the last 17 years. Buried beneath a farm, the selling and buying parties wanted to assure clear title was given at sale. With the fluxuating cat population at the Willards including  numerous barn cats - and Blindy - the Willards need to hurriedly fix scratched screens with cat-bothering adhesive tape. Jane recalls the sight of one-eyed Blindy out in the back fields with other regular-sighted cats, her one eye catching the headlights of an approaching auto as though finding her way using a miner's lamp. Jane knows thereby that Blindy is still there. ^,^ A regular Christmas box of treats The Priscilla Ladies Circle of the First Congregational Church UCC unleashes a whirlwind of Xmas baking each Yule. Here,  a cookie box is first indented, then demolished quickly. Buy them at the church, 100 E Broadway, Waukesha WI. 262-542-8008 while they last. ^,^ First Formal

By Sharon Olds

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She rises up above the strapless, her dewy flesh like a soul half out of a body. It makes me remember her one week old, soft, elegant, startled, alone. She stands still, as if, if she moved, her body might pour up out of the bodice, she keeps her steady gaze raised when she walks, she looks exactly forward, led by some radar of the strapless, or with a cup runneth over held perfectly level, her almost sea-sick beauty shimmering a little. She looks brave, shoulders made of some extra-visible element, or as if some of her cells, tonight, were faceted like a fly's eye, and her skin was seeing us see it. She looks hatched this moment, and yet weary—she would lie in her crib, so slight, looking worn out from her journey, and gaze at the world and at us in dubious willingness. “First Formal” by Sharon Olds from The Wellspring. © Knopf, 1996