....pancakes!!!And we really flip for pancakes at supper-time. Last night, the Cohagen school kids and their families put on a pancake supper at the community hall and we were enthusiastic participants!
If you Google Earth "Cohagen", you'll notice right away that there are only about 8 buildings; one is the school, one is the post office and one is the community hall/gym. The community hall is used for plays, funerals, the occasional wedding, church on Sundays, bridal and baby showers, voting, P.E, usta-be-studs-basketball games, poker night, Bible studies, carnivals, Easter brunch, and pancake suppers, among other things. The whole community (36 people and their kids/grandparents/out of town guests) fit there for a good time. There's a little tiny kitchen, two cold little bathrooms, stage, retractable basketball hoops and about 300 folding metal chairs that are older than my dad, I think, and slide under the stage on wheeled carts. It's a great place and we're so grateful to have it.
The pancake supper was held in the community hall and there was careful planning and implementation, because two electric griddles and a coffee pot will overload the electrical circuits and blow breakers. It's a delicate operation that requires pre-cooking of bacon and alternating skillets with coffee pots. The older school kids and teacher had tables set up, decorated with Mexican looking tissue paper flowers and white paper tablecovers handprinted in primary colors. Very festive!
Each family brought a gift basket for a community drawing-giveaway. Our community supports the school in so many ways, both with their taxes and involvement, and we wanted to show appreciation in some small way. The gift baskets were hidden under boxes and numbered, and at odd intervals the kids drew names and numbers; the name drawn got the box with that number. It was fun, and someone (I'm not naming names here) put an old toilet bowl in one of the boxes for a prize. The kids were so delighted with it! Especially since their computer aide won that prize.
Here's the menu: (you know it's all about food...)
Scrambled eggs
Bacon
Beef sausage
Pancakes
Beverages...orange juice, apple juice, coffee, milk and water
It wasn't a really big crowd, but it was a fun evening. People came and ate, then stayed and visited for two hours. The little kids played in the entry, the big kids roamed about refilling coffee and juice, taking pictures for the school paper. The mothers cooked, did dishes, giggled and clucked. The dads ran kids around, drank coffee and served food.
Sometimes its hard living far from town, and sometimes it's just a great blessing. Last night reminded me of how much fun small rural communities are and how much I like this one.
