July 26, 2008

Everyone dies famous in a small town

We gave up. 45 minutes until parade time, we threw in the towel & headed home. It was hot. The kids were grumpy. The crowd was pretty big. We'd seen all there was to see. I wanted to tough it out, but Husband & BabyGirl were done. Oh, in case you're wondering, today was the town chowder.

I know I've mentioned this in the past, but in case you've forgotten, The Chowder is one of the social events of the year around here, second only to County Fair. They start cooking Friday night & cook chowder all night long. For those of you who've never had chowder, it's a tomato based vegetable soup with pulled pork, chicken, and beef in it cooked in giant cast iron kettles over propane burners for hours & hours & hours.

When chowder time comes around the entire town gets together. There's soup, pies, cakes, pork & beef BBQ, lemon shake-ups, ice cream, and other goodies for sale. The locals bring out their classic cars & tractors for display. There's a little petting zoo. The black smith sets up shop. The LifeFlight helicopter comes & lets kids climb in for a close up look. Quilts are raffled off. Chowder is sold by the bowl, half gallon, and full gallon. Everyone comes in for it & it has the atmosphere of a giant town reunion. Normally the town has population of around 250. More than 500 people usually show up for chowder.

The money raised goes to take care of the community building and the local cemetery. Most cemeteries have lots to be purchased. The way I understand it, if you live in town, you automatically have a grave site reserved for you, free of charge. Husband's Aunts & Uncles that live out of town come in every year to help out with the chowder so they can have their lots reserved as well....or at least that's what I've been told.

Since MIL & FIL have a family cemetery on their property (I kid you not), the plan is that we'll be buried there. I don't think any one's been buried there since the 1960's, but I may be wrong. Personally, I do not care where they plant me once I'm gone. I'll be busy with other things. When we were first married MIL was very concerned about my burial plans. She asked if I planned to be buried in the family plot. I told her, "When I die you can toss me in the ditch & cover me with dead leaves for all I care. I won't be around to worry about it." I'm not sure she was happy with my answer.

1 comment:

Terri said...

ahahaha; that's kind of how I feel. When I go I don't care where I'm put or what I'm put in - in fact go ahead and save some money on that wooden box that's going to disintegrate and cremate me! I'll definitely be on to bigger and better things - hallelujah!