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The Country
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November 2026
The Country Social Club Officers of The Country Social Club 2026-2027 President
Cathie Anderson
(707) 978-1540
Vice President
Bobbie Jean Henderson
(707) 843-6597
Secretary
Cyndy Slaughter
(650) 642-0034
Treasurer
Cherie Freese
(707) 685-0658
Board of Directors Linda Bones
(707) 235-9199
Irene Badaglia
Becky Burmahl
(707) 477-1607
(530) 941-0215
Care Committee Chairperson Cathie Anderson (707) 978-1540 (cell) (707) 575-3488 (landline)
Welcome New Residents! Interested in Joining the Social Club? Welcome Lady - Irene Badaglia (707) 477-1607
‘Living in the Country’ Editor Peggy Amos
The Country Mobile Home Park 1180 Fulton Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
(707) 542-1808 Office@TheCountryMHP.com
t h f e o t P r a a r e k H A note from your Social Club Board
Life at The Country MHP continues to thrive, and we’re so glad to share this wonderful community with all of you. We hope everyone is doing well and
enjoying all that our park has to offer. A heartfelt welcome to our newest residents and Social Club members — many of you have already joined in recent activities and fit right in! We look forward to seeing even more fresh and familiar faces at upcoming events. With the holidays fast approaching, we want to be sure you don’t miss a thing. You’ll stay fully updated through The Country Magazine and the monthly flyers delivered right to your tubes. The response to these flyers has been fantastic, so please keep checking them — and the magazine — for all our upcoming holiday activities, announcements, and ways to stay connected with your neighbors. This Month’s Activities
Looking Ahead to December
Brunch Hosted by Ruth Syfert November 1st Sign up now!
Deck the Halls December 5th Help decorate the clubhouse: coffee, hot cocoa, and donuts for volunteers
The Country Community Thanksgiving Dinner Hosted by Cathie Anderson and Friends November 21st
Craft Fair with Sequoia Park December 12–13 Check flyer for details
Friendsgiving Social Hour
Hosted by Bobbie Jean and Cyndy November 28th Bring a dish to share
Christmas Ham Dinner Hosted by Rich & Karen and Team December 19th New Year’s Eve w/ a Live Band December 31st!
THE COUNTRY HOMEOWNER’S ASSOCIATION Membership Renewal & Community Update — November Edition
As the leaves turn and the air cools, we're reminded how much our community means to us. The Country HOA continues to advocate for fair rent practices, protect our over-55 status, and work closely with the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League to support legislation that safeguards our shared interests. Your participation keeps our neighborhood strong. Annual dues
remain $5 per household, and if the fee is a hardship, please reach out to any board member — we’re here to help.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Kurt Webb Vice President: Mary Hewlett Treasurer: Melisa Brown
Secretary: Linda Pereira Honorary Board Member:
Roger McConnell
Board Members:
Linda Bello-Ruiz, Mark Kupke, Jo Ann Jones, Richard Freeman
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FORM NAME: ADDRESS:
PHONE NUMBER: EMAIL:
Amount Due: $5.00 per household Check
(Make payable to The Country HOA)
Thank You!
Cash
Dues cover January to December of the current year. Please place this form and your payment (an envelope) in the secure red mailbox located at:
42 Somerset Drive
Together, we keep our community strong.
Melisa Brown, Treasurer (707) 246-3520 Thank you for your support!
Meet Our Leadership Team Cherie Freese — Treasurer I was born on April 9, 1952, in Crescent City, California, the middle child of five. My dad was a logger who worked for Simpson Logging — he felled redwoods in Humboldt County, something I’d probably have to protest now. After he and my mother divorced, he eventually moved to Happy Camp, California. My mom was like many women of the 1950s and 60s: she stayed home and raised six kids. (She didn’t wear the dress and apron, though.) In 1964, I left town for the first time in my life — and luckily wasn’t home when the tidal wave from the Alaska earthquake hit Crescent City and destroyed everything up to 5th Street. A few months later, we moved to Weaverville in Trinity County with our mom and stepdad. I finished elementary school there and completed my freshman year at Trinity High School. In 1967, we moved again, this time to Orangevale, a suburb of Sacramento. I attended Casa Roble High School and graduated with the school’s second graduating class. I met my husband at the end of my junior year, and we started dating that summer. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Air Force — he didn’t want to be drafted into the Army — and we married as soon as he returned from boot camp, both of us just 19. We decided to stay in the Air Force and “see the world.” In his 20 years of service, we were stationed at Travis AFB, he served eight months in Vietnam, returned to Travis, re‑enlisted, and received orders for McClellan AFB. Eventually, we spent three years at RAF Mildenhall in England before returning once again to Travis AFB. I guess we didn’t see much of the world after all. We were married a little over 50 years — despite my stepdad predicting it would last three months. My husband passed away from COVID in 2021. Both of our children were born at Mather AFB Hospital in Sacramento. I worked for Bank of the West in Consumer Loan Accounting, commuting from Vacaville to Walnut Creek for 21 years before retiring. After my husband passed, I sold our home and stayed with my son and his family for a short time. Eventually, I decided to buy a place with my daughter, Tarah, in Santa Rosa, especially since my doctor preferred I not live alone due to my disabilities. I am VERY HAPPY in the Country!
Cynthia Slaughter — Secretary I was born on April 7, 1964, in San Francisco, California, the oldest of four children. I grew up in Belmont, just fifteen minutes south of the city. My parents married in 1963 and are still together today. I visit them in Arizona twice a year, and they come to Santa Rosa about six times annually. I’m deeply grateful for my family — my sister lives eight houses away, and my brother is in St. Helena. Our youngest sister passed away in 2008. I wish she were here; she would have had an absolute blast. Can you imagine three of us? I married at 20. My husband served in the Air Force, and I worked as a civilian in Nebraska, Texas, and Illinois. I always joked that I got the “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” question. The Air Force taught me more about programming than I ever learned in school. After my husband’s death in 1988, I moved back to Belmont to be near my parents. I found work in San Jose at JDR Microdevices, where I learned to build computers, program ICs, create catalogs, and just about every computer-related skill you can imagine. I worked on Y2K programming, which doubled my knowledge of computer languages. In 2008, I began working for my father, doing the books for his business. My daughter, Cheri Lynn, was born in San Jose in 1989. I still have a townhouse there, where Cheri and her husband Tim live. Every Tuesday I drive to San Jose for Bible Study and then meet Cheri for dinner. She visits Santa Rosa one weekend each month. In August 2022, I had my hip replaced and stayed with my sister while I recovered. When I finally got outside with my walker, I met Joyce. She walked with me and told me about all the wonderful people in the park and the fun activities here. As I grew stronger, we picked up Betty and her caregiver, and the three of us would walk together with our walkers. On one of those walks, we noticed a house for sale just around the corner from my sister’s. At first, I didn’t think much of it — then it sold. We talked about how I should have bought it, how it would have been a great retirement investment, and how perfect it would be to live only eight houses away. And then, unbelievably, it came up for sale again. Today, I live within walking distance of my sister. I became the Social Club Secretary for the 2024–2025 season. I am the keeper of the paperwork — if you have a question, I can look it up or find someone who knows. We are always looking for new ideas for entertainment. The more we do together, the more fun we have.
Community Notes The Country Social Club Profit and Loss Report: September 2026 Beginning Balance
$7,370.87
Income*
$529.14
Expenses
-$2,513.16
Ending Balance
$5,386.85
The next Social Club Board meeting will take place Monday, November 2nd at 6pm in the Clubhouse. All are welcome.
* $267.14 Recycling
California State law sets the speed limit within mobilehome park at
15 MPH.
The holidays are upon us, which means more visitors to The Country. Please watch your speed when driving through the park and ask all your visitors to be mindful as well. Darkness and speed are a dangerous combination as the sun sets earlier and earlier during our march into winter.
RECYCLE PICKUP DATE: Tuesday, November 3rd! The recycle crew will be collecting the cash recyclable bottles and cans throughout the day. Please place your bagged cans, bottles and wine boxes with bladders by the mailboxes and make sure there is a CA-CRV on the item. Thank you!
November Celebrations Birthdays... Larry Bennett 7th Rose Barboza 11th Brenda Johnson 12th Roger Mcconnell 12th Mary Balich 14th Sharon Anaclerio 14th Tatiana Khlopoff 15th Pat Swanson 15th Jim Shelldorf 18th Doug Giles 24th Randy Larsen 25th Trudy Guella 25th Laurie Murray 30th Linda Price 2nd
...and Anniversaries! 5th Dawn and Michael Arkin 9th Bud and Soledad Castle 15th Becky and Steve Burmahl 18th Bill and Rhonda Sweat
November
Community Brunch 11:30am on Sunday, November 1st Clubhouse
Menu:
egg & cheese strata, hash browns, fruit and assorted muffins, with mimosas, coffee and tea.
$6
per person
Hosted by
Ruth Syfert
Sign up by Wednesday, October 28th.
From Sea to Shining Table: How Americans Celebrate Thanksgiving New England - Where It All Began New England’s Thanksgiving holds fast to a tradition shaped in no small part by the tenacious campaigning of Sarah Josephina Hale, the 19th-century editor who lobbied presidents for nearly four decades until Abraham Lincoln declared the holiday national in 1863. The regional table reflects that colonial inheritance with almost reverential fidelity. Oyster stuffing, briny oysters folded into seasoned bread cubes with celery and sage — remains the region’s signature dish, a nod to the tidal abundance of Plymouth Bay. Maple-glazed turkey glistening on the platter alongside a cranberry sauce brightened with orange zest, and a pot of clam chowder frequently anchors the appetizer spread. The morning is marked by school football rivalries dating back generations, and the afternoon, increasingly, by farm-to-winery tasting tours through foliage-framed hills. In New England, Thanksgiving doesn’t merely remember the past — it insists on it. The South - Cornbread, Fire, and Family Southern Thanksgiving is the most fiercely distinctive regional tradition in America — and it’s most contested. The South initially resisted the holiday as a Yankee imitation of Christmas, yet built the country’s most singular holiday food culture. The line in the sand is cornbread dressing, crumbled cornbread enriched with chicken broth, cream soups, beaten eggs, and sage — sometimes sausage — baked until golden and sliced in squares. It is emphatically not stuffing, and Southerners will tell you so. Alongside it, fried turkey reigns: shatteringly
crispy on the outside, impossibly juicy within, cooked in a propane-fired pot in the backyard with great ceremony and greater caution. Hickory-smoked meats may appear as well, permuting the yard for hours before the meal. Pecan pie — dense, amber, richly sweet — lards over the dessert table. Southern hospitality ensures the gathering is large, loud, and legendarily warm, with tables that extend into hallways and every chair in the house pressed into service. The Midwest — Casseroles and Community Hearty, agricultural, and built for sharing, the Midwest Thanksgiving table is a testament to the breadbasket ethos: no dish too humble, no portion too modest, every contribution welcome. The green bean casserole — invented in 1955 by a Campbell Soup test kitchen chef and embraced with wholehearted Midwestern sincerity — anchors the spread alongside sweet potato bake crowned with marshmallows and substantial grain dishes that reflect the region's farming heritage. The potluck model thrives here; every family arrives bearing something from their own kitchen, and the communal table becomes a patchwork of generations and recipes. In Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa, churchhall feasts and volunteer food drives run parallel to NFL marathon viewing. The Midwestern Thanksgiving is not glamorous, and it does not aspire to be. It is plentiful, purposeful, and deeply, quietly generous. The Southwest — Spice, Smoke, and Tamales In New Mexico and Texas, Thanksgiving takes a boldly spiced and gloriously layered turn. Green chiles — roasted, peeled, and chopped — infiltrate cornbread, stuffing, and casseroles with smoky heat. Pumpkin empanadas
replace pumpkin pie, a fusion of Native American, Spanish, and Mexican culinary currents that predates the modern holiday by centuries. Turkey al pastor, marinated in achiote and citrus, may stand alongside a more conventional roast bird. And while turkey tamales are traditionally Christmas fare, Thanksgiving gatherings frequently launch the tamale-making operation early: the masa is mixed, the husks soaked, the assembly line organized across multiple kitchens. Desert hikes in the cool November air and local harvest festivals precede the feast. The Southwest Thanksgiving is, above all, a celebration of confluence — of cultures and flavors that have been blending since long before the Pilgrims arrived. The West Coast - Farm-Fresh and ForwardThinking On the Pacific Coast — and especially here in Sonoma — Thanksgiving menus lean fully into the region’s defining ethic: fresh, local, sustainably raised, and honestly prepared. Heritage turkeys come from farms where the birds have roamed, and they taste like it. Vegetarian and vegan alternatives are genuine showpieces, not afterthoughts: roasted delicata squash with pepitas, lentil loaves dressed with herb oil, whole roasted cauliflower with tahini and pomegranate. Dungeness crab, newly in season in November, earns a proud place alongside the bird. Sourdough stuffing packed with wild mushrooms foraged from the coastal hills competes with the turkey for superlatives. Local wines — not iced tea — fill the glasses. The dessert board might feature artisan cheeses, fig preserves, and a wedge of pear galette rather than a canned-filling pie. The West Coast Thanksgiving is abundant and unfussy, ambitious in its sourcing and relaxed
in its spirit — a feast that knows exactly where its food came from. Far From Home, Close to the Heart For the millions of Americans living abroad, Thanksgiving is perhaps the most emotionally charged holiday of the year — a celebration with no local scaffolding, no supermarket endcaps stacked with stuffing mix, no Macy’s parade drifting from a neighbor’s television. It must be built from scratch, often in a language that has no word for it, in a kitchen designed for smaller ambitions. And in that effort — in the determined sourcing of sage and canned pumpkin from specialty shops, in the tutoring of foreign friends on the difference between a yam and a sweet potato — something unexpectedly profound often happens. The holiday becomes more intentional. More personal. More distilled to its essence: gratitude, togetherness, and the radical act of feeding people you love. Many expats report that the Thanksgiving they assembled abroad, imperfect and improvised, became the most meaningful one they ever celebrated. Hunting for the Bird Finding a Thanksgiving turkey abroad is itself a tradition — part comedy, part determination, entirely American. In Copenhagen, expat Austin Fosset discovered that Danish refrigerators are simply not engineered to accommodate a proper turkey, the bird, undaunted, spent the night on the balcony in the Nordic cold, nature’s own refrigeration. In Paris, a Bastille market vendor, charmed but confused, wrapped a golden-brown turkey with sparklers — conflating the American holiday with the Fourth of July in an endearing gesture of
festive goodwill. In Brazil, the ‘peru monstro’ — monster turkey — ordered from a specialty butcher became a neighborhood legend, with half the building invited to witness the spectacle. In Japan, expats comb Costao branches in the suburbs and call in favors with hotel chefs. In Australia, where November falls in spring, the cognitive dissonance of a harvest feast amid blooming jacarandas adds its own peculiar charm. The hunt, universally, is half the story. Friendsgiving Goes Global Across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, the Friendsgiving model thrives — and in many ways improves upon the original. In London, grand hotels like The Goring host lavish Thanksgiving dinners with proper turkey, pumpkin pie, and rooms full of homesick, ebullient expats. In Paris, the American Church in the 7th arrondissement hosts buffet Thanksgiving dinners, while sports bars in the Marais quarter fill with American voices tracking the Lions game through unreliable streams. In Seoul, one California expat described Thanksgiving to her Korean colleagues as “American Chousek” — a harvest gathering to return home, cook together, and give thanks — and found the concept resonated immediately, bridging cultures across a single sentence. In Tokyo, US-themed cafés and Friendsgiving potlucks are booked weeks in advance. In Venice, one Connecticut expat has made pumpkin pie for thirty guests every year for nearly four decades, her apartment filling with Italian neighbors who now consider it their holiday too. The table, it turns out, is the most universally spoken language.
What’s Lost, What’s Found Expat Thanksgivings strip the holiday to its emotional core. Without the commercial scaffolding, without familial obligation, without the NFL as background noise, what remains is the essential thing: gratitude, expressed through the deliberate act of gathering and feeding. Local guests who have never heard of Thanksgiving often become its most enthusiastic converts — moved by the concept of a holiday with no gift-giving, no religious requirement, no agenda beyond sitting down together and being thankful. The holiday becomes a bridge, a way of sharing American culture while absorbing something of the host country's own harvest traditions. Many expats return home, eventually, with a Thanksgiving practice enriched by the years away — fuller, warmer, and shorn of everything that was never really the point. The True Harvest Thanksgiving, in its truest form, has never really been about the bird. It has been about the table — who sits at it, what is carried to it from across years, miles, and cultures, what is spoken over it and remembered long after the plates are cleared. Whether the feast unfolds in a Sonoma farmhouse surrounded by coppergold vines and the last of the harvest light, or in a Seoul apartment where Korean neighbors encounter turkey for the first time and find it entirely worth celebrating, or at a grandmother’s table in Mississippi where the cornbread dressing has never once changed and never should — the harvest is the same. It is not only of food but of memory, of connection, of the stubborn, luminous human insistence on gratitude. Here in Sonoma, the vines have given what they have. The cellar is full. The table is laid. And the light is long, golden, unhurried — falls across the hills one more time, as if the land itself is saying grace.
-
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