CFWC QuickBytes

November 22, 2021

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT

Well, the house here smells wonderful! I have been baking rosemary garlic bread yesterday and today I just brewed up some fresh blueberries in a sugar sauce…I have no idea what that will become later in my day, but I am sure it will be scrumptious.

This is the week where I cook, and I cook a lot. I love the planning and execution of the holiday meals and in the Ament House, we celebrate 3 Holidays in this big way every year! I am thankful that I can do so, for it is with the help of those family cooks that I grew up with, that I am able to be the “ice-box cook” I am today. I don’t know about any of you, but I learned to cook with a little of this and a little of that. I look in the fridge and pull out a variety of items and start to be creative with the pots and pans. Like this morning: I saw the fresh blueberries and added some sugar, water, lemon juice, and corn starch. Now, it is thick and gooey ready for whatever suits my fancy.

I am thankful for the many memories of family dinners, both holiday and not, where my sister and I would stand on something over the sink to peel the potatoes and carrots while the grown-ups all bustled about around us. It is a lovely memory and since each of those cooks, including my sister, are gone now, I am thankful that I can keep them alive in my memories while I create a kitchen masterpiece.

One of my favorite things about the holiday meals too is the leftovers! I love to take a piece of bread and wrap it around the leftover turkey and squirt some mustard on it and eat it without it ever reaching the plate. There are only two of us for these meals, so we always have plenty of leftovers to enjoy for many days following our feasts. While I had planned on a prime rib this week, we saw turkeys on sale and changed our minds…the prime rib remains in the freezer and the turkey is thawing out. Some of you know I love a Grand Marnier dressing; I can’t wait to make it!

So, while I am sharing my family plans and memories, I want to also take time to be grateful for each one of you. My life is complete with volunteering and every Federation member is a part of that, so thank you.

There will be no Quick Bytes next week, we want to be able to share these Holidays with our family and want all of you to do the same.

I wish you all a lovely Thanksgiving Holiday, may it be complete with love from your hearts and warm from family and friends.

On Monday, a very Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating the Festival of Lights! May you each enjoy the eight days of re-dedication to Faith.

Luv, Pam

ENVIRONMENT - Jane Thomey, Chair

The Homegrown National Park is a movement to restore biodiversity so that our ecosystems can function and provide life sustaining services to our planet. According to its founder, Dr. Doug Tallamy, a noted entomologist from the University of Delaware, we can do this by replacing lawns that are virtual food deserts with native plants that create habitat necessary for the wildlife and other organic matter to populate the food web we all depend on to survive. Our National Parks are preserving the ecosystems now, but they are too small and spaced too far apart to provide the needed support for an entire country.

The Homegrown National Park is a special CFWC project. There are 40 million of acres of lawn in our country. While most of us will not replace entire lawns, we all can introduce native plants to pocket sized areas of our yards, on our patios, balconies and even single outdoor containers. Most importantly, clubs can work to develop projects to identify areas where native plants might flourish. By involving neighbors, enlisting school children, reclaiming barren land and introducing natives to public spaces we might create a corridor of green, and extend the benefits currently provided primarily by the National Parks. By converting just half of these lawns we might just have a chance to assure our future and those who follow us.

How to start a garden? Several web sites will provide information on plants native to your area. Among them are: National Wildlife Federation, the Native Plant Finder Nwf.org/NativePlantFinder, California Native Plant Society, CNPS.org/gardening and CalScape, Calscape.org. Design a plan for your site, select plants for succession of blooms, group similar plants together and control perennial weeds.

When you have started even the smallest garden, get on the Homegrown National Park MAP, https://map.homegrownnationalpark.org to show your part in turning California and the country green.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH Yolanda Petroski, Chair

You can help make the holidays brighter this year for the needy by participating in the USPS Operation Santa Program. Established in 1912, letters addressed to Santa Claus at 123 Elf Road, North Pole 88888 will be posted on USPSOperationSanta.com for adoption. Adopter registration, ID verification and letter adoption follows. Adopters must be vetted through a short registration and ID verification process. Potential adopters, once approved, can visit the website to read the letters and decide which to adopt, following the directions on how to fulfill that child’s or family’s wish. Check out the website for more information and FAQs. Instructions are also there if you wish to help children write those letters. Your gift(s), of course, will be from Santa, and will definitely make the holidays brighter for our needy

November is “Native American Heritage Month” and the Friday following Thanksgiving Day of each year has been designated as “Native American Heritage Day”. For Indigenous people across the country, it’s a chance to share the unique ancestry, traditions, and contributions their communities make today and have made throughout history. It’s also a reminder to us that we need to fight the crisis of violence against Indigenous women and girls. We as a country have yet to deal adequately with the crisis of the vast numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girlsin our local communities about this crisis and seek to find ways to help this population.

Diane Waterhouse

CFWC Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Chair

CFWC Health and Wellness Program, Myrna Binford, Chairman

Medicare Open Enrollment Period is from

October 15 to December 7, 2021

Time to get you flu shot

Time for COVID booster

I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving. There have been welcome changes from last year. We can now enjoy travel and family/friends again. Just use common sense when traveling and partying.

It is time get to get your COVID booster, if you be getting one, as cases are ticking upward. My Colorado daughter (an anti-vaxer) carries a COVID-19 testing kit with her so she will know her status when attending events.

Our 3-car garage now holds 3 cars and 3 HUGE containers that will go to specific spots in Fallbrook this weekend and then to the Fallbrook Pantry by Tuesday. Time for your club to start donating to your local food pantry with the holidays coming. Many of the clubs have already done food/monetary donations, so thank you. One donation that probably isn’t thought of is empty egg cartons. Being in a rural community, we have chickens laying everyday and the eggs are brought in to the Pantry, but how to distribute them can be dicey without cartons.

Also, time to help shelters/homeless as the weather is turning cooler. Several clubs now have the “Toasty Toes” program (clean socks). So easy, just buy a couple pair when you are doing your Christmas shopping and bring to your December meeting. As you know, these can be used as socks or gloves for the homeless.

While this time of year is happy for most people, look around and see those that are struggling (loneliness, sickness, etc.). Make their day with a call, visit, card.

Did you read it in GFWC News & Notes?

Convention Workshop Webinars Registration is still open until 11/30/2021

Register NOW so that you can have as much time as possible to watch all five webinars. After registering, you will receive an email with links to view each webinar until November 30. Registration and viewing for this five-webinar package closes November 30.

Do you receive the GFWC WHRC Report? If not, here's a copy of the FALL 2021 issue .

Interested in viewing prior issues ? Go to GFWC.org, click on News and Publications.