Sunday

 I made a nice Sunday supper...mashed potatoes and a hamburger gravy along with green beans and for fruit cherries. I was tired out cooking for two! My Maternal Grandmother cooked for about 50 people every Sunday afternoon.  I am not sure how she did it.  She put on quite a spread.  Chicken was often on the menu.

This is a very old photo of someone feeding chickens. My mother thought it was Lela ( only sister of my maternal grandfather Albert). At any rate the photo was taken at my Great Grandparent Drewes home place.

We were expected to be at our Grandparents home every Sunday and every holiday...like Church you didn't get excused unless you were vomiting or had diarrhea.

It was another smoky day and we stayed indoors.  Far Guy felt rotten all day and had a number of naps.

Far Side

Visiting

 I lined up some deliveries to relatives.  Old Photographs that my Mom had saved over the years.   I started at one of my Dad's second cousins Hazel, then my Aunt Sharon, my cousin Danny (I met his dog Mick),  then lunch with my Aunt Judy, off to catch my cousin Holly's husband and son, and finally I ventured to my Uncle Al's.  It was a nice day to be out and about.  49 F or 10 C eh!  

When my Aunt Judy asked me to lunch, I asked her to "keep it simple"  Well...we had grilled ham and cheese on homemade sourdough bread, pickles, strawberries, grapes and then peach pie for dessert....with about the best pie crust I have ever tasted...musta been the lard:)  She is all alone now after my Uncle Dennis died a number of years ago so she gets a bit lonely. 

My Uncle Al was in fine form, he is feeling better after some Nuclear Chemo treatments.  He was seven years old when I was born...and the chief baby rocker for his  brother and sister and me....my Mom lived with her parents when my Dad went to Korea...and there were three babies in the house.  My Grandmother had twins two months after I was born and she was 40 years old. 

Lots of diapers on the cloths line with three babies in the house. 

Far Side

  

A Sewing Day

 Jen and I joined a few of my cousins, my sister,  my sisters in law and my Mom for a day of sewing at my baby brothers lake place. The food was fantastic...soups and fruit and many desserts....gluten free and otherwise.  There were four Gluten Free people there...Jen, my cousin Geraldine, my sister and my other baby brother. 

Nearly everyone there was a quilter.  Cousins Geraldine and Wilma helped my Mom get ready to sew a couple of quilts.   I crocheted on a couple of projects...my sister and I helped Mom catch up on writing thank you cards.   

Mom is grieving and has lost her interest in sewing, we were hoping that the sewing days would help her through the process a bit.  

Cousin Geraldine

There were many sewing tables and machines set up in the porch. 

 Jen sewing.

I ironed some pieces for my Mom and for Jen...that is as close as I want to get to quilting!

Far Side

Sunday Visits

 I finished setting up for Mom's Garage Sale,  she who sees Robins first showed up and with her help we made quick work of what was left to set out.   It got real warm before I headed home.  My Dad was having a really good day...he knew who I was and knew my brother too! 

I have a cousin who is going to be a Grandpa for the very first time as both of his daughters are expecting babies.   We dropped off gifts for the upcoming baby showers and had a good visit with him and his wife. 

 

The sky was very orange when we headed home.

My other baby brother and she who sees Robins first stopped by just before dark. 

Far Side

Fun stuff

Friday night I asked my husband " What kind of fun stuff are we going to do tomorrow?"  I was getting ready to shave his head...the sink acted funny and gurgled...and then an alarm started going off. 

Earlier in the evening we had heavy rain and a power interruption....thinking nothing of it we continued on.

The lift pump failed...and the water alarms worked...Far Guy stopped draining the bathtub...I grabbed some towels and a bucket and sponge.  Far Guy tried to bypass the float and get the pump to work...no dice.

I emptied the bathtub bucket by bucket because sometimes the stopper leaks and I really didn't want to sop up a whole bathtub of water off the furnace room floor. If it hadn't been raining cats and dogs outside I would have gotten a five gallon pail from the garage...plus it was dark and there might have been a bear out there. Mission accomplished by 1 AM and I sure slept good after that!

Luckily we have another bathroom upstairs that drains directly out without using the lift pump. 
 Far Guy did breakfast dishes upstairs in the bathroom sink on Saturday morning...a Plumber was called.  Risk vs Reward...we like using our kitchen sink and the bathroom downstairs!

Late Saturday afternoon we were back in business...with a new lift pump installed and working.  Thank goodness for a nice young local plumber who works on Saturday afternoons...who was quick and efficient.  He said "If you have any problems with this new pump call right away!" 

Far Guy says "Don't ask me again what kind of fun exciting things are we going to do tomorrow."

We didn't cook...we went to town and got a burger from a drive through burger place.

We got 2 and 6/10 inches of rain from the overnight storms.

 The road to town

While waiting on the plumber we managed to get a few more Christmas ornaments completed...45 are done now!

In the evening my brothers and their brides visited and nephew Logan is here from Seattle with his new puppy Zelda...we had a nice visit out on the patio!  (Logan was about 20 feet away from us and we did not pet his puppy but admired her from afar)

Far Guy heard from his sister, her surgery went well and she was feeling pretty good after having such a big surgery.

 Far Side

June and Crown Report

June  the snowbank is as big as ever.  She is a record height....the tallest we have seen her in the 22 years we have lived here.

The weather yesterday was lovely.  Above zero!  I finished my shoveling and no snow is forecast so I am ahead of the game!  Yeah me!

Stacey came by to get her crown ear warmer.  She liked it!

I had time to make her another one...in the color she originally requested.

They both look good on her! Either color makes her eyes pop!

Yesterday I watched The 100-Foot Journey a movie much more to my liking.  I give it a 8 out of 10 stars.

Far Side

Marge

Far Guy’s God Mother Marge ( He calls her Aunt Marge) has been on our minds all Spring and now Summer.

She is fighting esophageal cancer and going through radiation.  Her kids who live many States away are taking turns caring for her. They fly in for a couple of weeks and then another flies in to take their turn.  They drive two hours to the radiation treatments and two hours back.  Marge says the treatment after she is inside the helmet and locked down takes just seconds.

We visited recently.  We all laughed and cried.  She wonders when it will all come to an end.  Far Guy said “We never know… God is in charge and when it is your time it is your time.”  Marge wonders what she could possibly do on this earth that would make a difference.  She is a Minister’s kid and her 92 year old brother is still doing vacancy preaching. Marge has a strong faith, she knows she is saved by Grace alone…she is ready.

Many years ago, Marge and her husband Orville gave us a couple of pots of a tall grass.  They said it will spread and it is impossible to kill so put it someplace where you don’t care if it takes over.  Since then we have called it Marge Grass. ( It is really a Miscanthus of some sort…not sure which one. )

All Spring the Marge Grass was struggling…as was Marge.  One day I told Far Guy “ I am worried about the Marge Grass and Marge I think it is a bad sign.”  He replied “I know…me too.”

 

Finally now in late June, the Marge Grass is coming along.  Marge completes four of her six week radiation regimen today.

Here is The Marge Grass at it’s best in the Fall.

Marge never forgets our anniversary or Far Guy’s birthday, the phone rings and it is Marge.  She has graciously shared some of her husband’s family history with us. Orville’s Mother (Aunt Emma) was Far Guy’s Grandma Tracie’s sister. As a side note Orville had Trigeminal Neuralgia also and breathing problems which may or may not have been Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency.  Orville died back in 2005.

Marge will be 85 on her birthday in August.

Winter Wedding

Yesterday we attended the wedding of our niece Rachael.  She has been praying for snow for the wedding.  There was a fair amount of snow….and many of the outside photos show snowflakes.

Rachael and Chad were married in front of the fireplace in a lovely ceremony.  Guests were seated at round tables, a brunch followed the 9:45 AM nuptials.

I took outdoor photos from the balcony.

The bride was beautiful. It seems like only yesterday when she was born. Now she is all grown up, graduated from College and  married.

 

Can you guess what they did to celebrate?

They celebrated by joining their guests in some tubing down the big hill in front of the hall where the wedding took place.   The guests especially the younger ones had a blast!  Far Guy said “Go ahead and sled with the kids, I will visit you in the hospital.”  I declined and was more than happy just to take photos.

The high yesterday was 11 F or –11C.  Just another balmy day in Minnesnowda

Gathering

Company from Indiana, Oregon and Oklahoma has kept us busy the past few days.

Monday my baby brother and his wife and their daughter helped us pick raspberries at our cousins U pick.  Our cousin has a raspberry patch where years ago my Great Grandparents lived and  farmed.  The raspberries are a little late this year because of the cold spring.

If you listen you could almost hear the corn grow.

The clop clop swish swish of the horse drawn wagons is always a sound I enjoy.

Seems like a much simpler life to me.

We secured 18 pints of raspberries, I put them on cookie sheets and freeze the berries individually.  When they are frozen I put two servings in freezer bags for next winter when I need a taste of summer.  Raspberries are $2.00 a pint here, how much are they in your neck of the woods? :)

Marge Grass

We have a beautiful grass out in the wildflower/weedy area.  It was a gift from Marge, Far Guys Godmother.  She was and still is a heck of a gardener.  She has hit a rough patch the past couple of months..and one day she said to me “Don’t go talking about me on that blog of yours.” Now there is a very fine line between talking and writing about someone. 

So I won’t say how every year on February 15 the phone rings and it is Marge remembering her Godson’s birthday.

I won’t say how she shared some of her very invasive grass or how she smiled when it left her yard.

We planted it out on a mound of soil..and we enjoy it all winter long..I have no idea what this grass is called and you know what I don’t care…we call it Marge Grass:)