Clear skies. Low 48F. Winds light and variable..

Clear skies. Low 48F. Winds light and variable.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

This Memorial Day weekend slides in almost unnoticed.

When our daughters were young, our family would gather with my parents on their property in southern Michigan. This usually meant an overnight stay in the basement bedrooms in their large, airy house. In the morning, my mother would serve us breakfast on their screened in porch where we would sit, protected from mosquitoes, as though in the middle of nature. But the big event became the lighting of the bonfire.

Over the early spring, my father gathered twigs and branches and collected them in a fire circle in the middle of their large yard away from the house. As the days passed, the pile increased until Memorial Day lunch when my father excitedly set it aflame. Standing around the circle, we watched as the bonfire took off, the flames lurched upward and the smoke rose.

My father always prepared a few wiener sticks made from long green boughs that he had found in the woods. With the Swiss Army knife he always carried in his pocket, he would whittle down one end to a point. When the fire burned down, we took turns with the sticks, poking the wieners on the sharp ends and roasting them to our own desired doneness.

Meanwhile, my mother would have brought down the red and black plaid metal double folding table. We helped her pile it with buns, toppings, the gallon lemonade jar and all the paper goods we needed, as well as a salad she would have made and potato chips. She often had fruit or ice cream for dessert and often cake, since her birthday landed at the end of May. Sitting around the fire on their acreage in the country, we lived in the moment, soaking in the joy of those simple gestures.

Later, my parents moved to a small duplex at Greencroft in Goshen. Memorial Day started to happen at our house. Even after my father died, we gathered, often celebrating my mother’s birthday on the holiday. She would tell the story of how her family had set out on a Memorial Day picnic only to turn around and call the doctor to come to the house for her birth.

This Memorial Day falls on her birthday. I plan to go to her graveside and spend a moment to remember her life and what it gave to me. Meanwhile, I will still host a gathering. I’m making trifle and ice cream. We will fire up the woodfired oven for pizza and the new wrinkle this year will be the beet hummus I made this morning.

I’m pretty sure my mother would have oohed at the color and, at least, tasted it. I’m not sure it would have been her favorite thing but she would have offered me a compliment on it, always gracious.

I’m fortunate to have had her in my life these many years.

1 large beet, cooked until tender then peeled and diced

2 cups of canned garbanzo beans

Place all ingredients in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add more juice if needed. Serve with thin slices of sourdough bread or pitas.

La Bonne Vie’s Rachel Shenk has been an artisan baker for 30 years. Born and raised in Belgium, she has lived in Goshen since 1973. She has been writing about food, traveling and the good life for about 10 years. You can connect with her on her Facebook page, La Bonne Vie, or at her cheese shop in Goshen, The Wedge.

With the recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and in Buffalo, New York, by 18-year-olds, President Joe Biden renewed calls for stronger gun laws and questioned whether people as young as 18 should be allowed to purchase firearms. Former President Donald Trump had also suggested raising the minimum age following a school shooting in Florida. According to thehill.com, under federal law an 18-year-old can buy long guns, including rifles and shotguns from a license dealer. The age is 21 for a handgun. However, when dealing with a private, unlicensed seller, handguns can be purchased at 18 and long guns do not have a minimum age. Do you think the federal minimum age limit to purchase all firearms should be increased to 21 in all manner of purchases?

Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.