Carol Gulley’s dinner plans fell apart when the “trash-can” cooking of the Turkey fell short, she shift gears calmly and quickly to ham as her kitchen filled up with dishes and pots and pans. Kitchens are always the center of farmhouses, there is coffee going around the clock, warm fires and stoves, pots and pans, rich smells, a big table where the family hangs out and gossips and talks.

Carol was unflappable, talking to the grandkids, shooing the dogs away, keeping an eye on the comings and goings outside, managing seven different kinds of food at once. The kids call her “grammy.”