Holiday Greetings

[Guest guest]

Hi folks,

 

Wanna take this opportunity to send holiday greetings to everyone as

I'll be cutting out real soon. Here in Ankara, snow is falling, Ankara

main is in a big bowl .. surrounded by hills that would be called

mountains in most US cities .. I live on one of those hills and though

it's snowing hard here at my office (in the bowl), at my home it's deep

deep. It's interesting to watch the Turks ski down the hills with their

cars - they play bumper car .. ;-)

 

I'm hopping a plane early Tuesday morning for the USA .. going No Mail

on lists today as I have two days to complete a week's work afore I go.

 

AVNP will continue through the holidays .. but after the New Year, we'll

have some changes that are for the best. I outgrew my present manager

and my present location. Already taken corrective action on the former

and will fix the latter just after New Year .. moving into a very large

facility in Friendsville .. a new restaurant that went broke. Much more

space, large stainless steel kitchen, wall-to-wall shelving, two bath

rooms, walk in cooler for hydrosols, loading dock in the back, storage.

Fits the bill well it does. Plus we'll be increasing the range of oils

offered by 50% the latter part of January - and hiring more folks.

Laying low on stocking new things .. just relenishing present stocks now

due to this move and the end-of-year inventory for the Infernal Revenue

Service. The new manager at Appalachian Valley is Margaret, a nice lady

and the daughter of a fine gentleman .. Pappy Ross (RIP) who was an

honest and straight forward man who had my total respect and

admiration.

 

Pappy was one of the last real Eastern Mountain Men. Of his nine sons

and daughters (I think) all but one of them live on his mountain in the

Allegheny Range of the Appalachians .. above Friendsville. Pappy was a

true friend of nature. The wild critters on his mountain came into his

yard to eat and they acted almost tame .. critters that normally didn't

get along do not make war on that ground. He would go sit in the woods

and the critters would approach him to be petted.

 

Pappy's wife still lives in their home and I'm sure nothing has

changed. Pappy grew his own buckwheat (among other crops) and they ate

much of what he grew .. he was a true organic farmer and in Pappy's own

words, " I grew enough for us and the critters. " Deer and the like fed

from his fields. Pappy sold a part of his mountain to the Shawnee tribe

for one dollar ... and they now have their medicine lodge and ceremonial

grounds there.

 

Pappy died last year after working in his fields. I'm told that Pappy's

funeral was the best attended funeral in the history of that area.

He'll not be forgotten in those mountains. Though Pappy was in his

mid-80s when he died, I'll bet a purty that after crossing that bridge

to the Other Side, he's running with the critters like a young buck ..

:-)

 

I'll hit Dulles Tuesday afternoon, pick up my car, find a good country

and western FM station, and head-out for a trip that will cover at least

15 states in a month. I'll be able to get mail within a week as I'm

picking up a Lap Top in America ... gonna eat some pit bar-be-que pork

shoulder and deep-fried channel catfeesh and hush puppies too.. ;-p

 

I thank all my customers and friends and those who are not customers but

are friends for the kindness and concern shown me and other list members

the past year. We have peeing contests on some lists because

aromatherapy and production of natural products in general draws

passionate people and those passions often spill over into our

communications with each other. The latter past of 2001 we experienced

much grief ... then much pride ... and I'm gonna enter 2002 with as much

hope as I can muster.

 

I'll add that I am pleased that the US Government decided to release the

Bin Laden Tapes. I'm also pleased with the reaction of the moderate

Moslem world .. there is no way we can convince the fanatics but the

condemnations of the moderate Moslem countries is significant and again

points to the fact that acts of terror are not condoned by any religion.

 

So to all my list buddies and friends, I wish you a very safe and Merry

Christmas if you celebrate it .. and a friendly and cheerful atmosphere

from others who do celebrate it if you don't. To any Moslem list

buddies, I wish you a joyful Sugar Holiday (Seker Bayrum in Turkish) as

today is the first day of a four day holiday celebrating the ending of

the Holy Month of Ramadan ... families and friends will vist with each

other to offer their respects to the older people - and candies and

other sweets will be eaten in mass quantities .. :-)

 

And to all of us, including our friends who use a different calender

than the West but are forced to adopt the Western calender for business

purposes .. ;-p I send my best my wishes for a Happy, Healthy,

Prosperous and Peaceful New Year ... with lots of reasons to smile.

 

Though it might sound a bit idealistic, especially coming from me since

a lot of folks think I'm a hawk ... which I'm not - few retired military

people are - but as one who has spent far more than half his life

outside the USA, I'll enter the new year with hopes that I'll live to

see " some " changes in international relations .. in line with what the

distinguished Noble Peace Prize winner, Kofi Annan, told the kids on

Sesame Street, " The song sounds much better if we sing it together. "

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com