Groveland Life by Kathryn Sibly
For those of you who claim that “winter is here,” I beg to differ. Having spent approximately 28 years of my life living in the Midwest, I know the difference between fall and winter. This is not winter, it is fall, the transitional time between summer and winter (in case you have your seasons mixed up). Up here in Groveland we have some deciduous trees that are at their peak colors right now. Lots of reds and golds and many colors in between. Sure, the days are shorter and the nights are cooler, but we haven’t had any rain (or snow) yet.
We here in Groveland celebrated Halloween like most communities. Kids of all ages dressed in costumes, walked around, and collected candy. The only difference is that the trick-or-treating up here happened in downtown Groveland. Many businesses along Main Street (Highway 120) opened their doors for a few hours on Halloween in order to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
I joined Pine Mountain Therapy (in case you haven’t figured out by now, I work there) in handing out candy from 5 to 7 p.m. on that Saturday evening. We put up some Halloween-colored lights, tinsel-type decorations, pulled two chairs out to the sidewalk, and handed out candy. Our two choices of candy to hand out were what-form-of-sugar-do-you-like candy, or bite-size chocolate bars. Sugar won out over chocolate and we figured that if there were any leftovers, our patients would rather eat chocolate than sugar.
And yes, I even wore a costume. I wore a modern version of Korean traditional garb called hanbok. Back in 2001, I spent a year teaching English in South Korea. Koreans have their own ‘Thanksgiving,’ called Chusok. I do not remember a lot of details about Chusok, except that everyone gets over-the-top dressed up. Anyway, the school bought all of us teachers’ hanbok to wear in celebration of the holiday. Since I no longer live in Korea, my hanbok makes a great costume.
The trick-or-treaters came in waves – we swore someone was directing traffic. It was hard to get a good look at all of the costumes when bunches of kids were swarming all around me. I did, however, notice their candy containers since that’s where I was putting the candy. Containers ranged from plastic supermarket bags to plastic pumpkins to plastic holders in the shape of a freaky hand with a bag attached. Those were cool.
Once the sun went down, it really cooled off. I was very happy I had worn long underwear under my hanbok. My almost-matching footwear (China flats) was cute, but not warm at all. I should have worn wool socks. I have no idea how many trick-or-treaters there were. I do know that we have a lot of leftover candy, most of it chocolate. I’m sure we had kids not only from Groovy-Land, but the surrounding communities as well: Big Oak Flat, Coulterville, Greeley Hill, Buck Meadows, and who knows where else.
Looking ahead to Thanksgiving (or Turkey Day, as I like to call it), the residents and businesses of Groveland will be putting on a community Thanksgiving Feast. It will be held on the holiday itself at The Groveland Community Hall in downtown Groveland. Turkey and all the fixings will be served free of charge from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. To find the Community Hall, simply drive up Highway 120 until you reach downtown Groveland. Look for the signs advertising the feast, and you’re there.
Speaking of Thanksgiving….on behalf of the people of Groveland (and other communities up here), I want to thank all of those off-the-hillers who come up here and work everyday, most of whom commute from Sonora. All of the medical people, the physical therapists, the delivery people, the pest control guys, the plumbers, the caregivers, and so forth. You help make life up here a little more bearable by providing your services and your time to us.
I would also like to add a personal thank you to Julie and Tony Tanaka for giving me a job this past May (even though I was, “over-qualified,” as Julie put it). And another thank you to them for giving me the month of December off so I can finally go on my honeymoon to Australia and New Zealand. I also want to thank those at the SMT for publishing my monthly column and running some of my non-monthly articles. I could go on and on with giving thanks, but I better end here. I hope you will be thankful for all you have, and not focus on what you don’t.
