Monday, October 21, 2013

A weekend away with friends............

My friend Nancy has moved from Traverse City back to her home town. She has two daughters who have been on at her to make the move. When she agreed I dont think she was ready for her house to sell practically before it hit the market. Well she made the move and is staying in a small town called Shepherd. Its not a town, its a few houses. Not even a grocery store. Anyway she is staying in her friend Marilyn's home for now (Marilyn died recently and her kids want Nancy there) Its a beautiful house and I would snap it up in an instant but Nancy says its too big for her, and it really is. Its just that Marilyn did so much to the house to make it beautiful. Well...........Edna and I went down to visit Nancy. It's a two hour drive from here. It was a wet Saturday but the leaves were brilliant when the sun came out now and then. We chatted all the way so it didn't seem too long. Nancy was so happy to see us. She has been lonely and we missed her. She will soon settle in because its close to her home town and she does know people there so its just a matter of time.
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We sat around the table and ate lunch that Nancy had ready for us. It was just so nice and even though it was not her house that we are used to, Marilyn's house made us welcome. We sat and just enjoyed each others company. We talked about the usual stuff, our husbands, both Nancy and Edna are widows now and we talked about remarriage and how different men are. They both agree they would never remarry. We talked about women friends and how men seem to lack that close bond we share, at least the ones we know. My husband does not have friends of his own. He has mine, or rather the husbands of mine. We seldom see them any more since I don't work now. Do men talk like we do?
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After lunch we set off to see the area she is making home. I forgot my camera darn it. I left it in Edna's car so I would remember it and then we went in Nancy's. We saw several Amish horse and buggies and some washing on the line I would have loved a picture of. It was so Amish. Ah well.We went to a very small town close by called Blanchard. By the time we got there it was around 3.30 and so we didnt have a lot of time to look around. We decided we would go out again on Sunday to take pictures. There were 3 antique shops and we only got to explore one of them. We saw some abandoned buildings and a lot of farms. We decided we would go out on Sunday and explore everything then. We ate out and spent the evening putting together quilt fabrics for Nancy. She always buys stuff and never know what to put together and both Edna and I love to do that. So we got her sorted out. We had found two new shops, new to us anyway and We have to go back there again soon.
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Sunday we were all up early and went out to breakfast. I remembered my camera. We decided we would go back along the same lines as Saturday, we knew we would not see the Amish or the laundry but ah well. We found a little wayside chapel and went in. So cute...........
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Hand hewn seats
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In that same area was a one room school house.
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There is a park where these places were, it looked like it was made for the whole areas schools and churches, it is huge. Nice ....it overlooked an old abandoned mill. For some reason the water was all drained out of the lake. We could not figure out why.
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We had so much fun, Nancy kept saying I just love doing this............we stopped at a little church yard and explored the graves, it was quite cold so didnt stay long.
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Right close by were some derelict buildings. They looked like grain barns. We didnt go in but loved the old wood buildings and I got a few pictures
How I would have loved to have gone in and explored but we are not that brave.
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This is a different building also derelict
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I took a lot of pictures of farms and fields, old buildings and so on. I wont bore everyone with all that.
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we went back to Nancy's for lunch, not that we needed more food but.....well it gave us reason to stick around and make the afternoon last longer. We decided next time we will go on a Friday night, that way we would have all day Saturday to explore. Lots more places we want to go to. However, the season is winding down and snow is coming soon. Will we make it again this year?
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Time speeds on and next time we have to take Barb with us, we can not give up the time we spend with friends. Its important to keep friendships alive, to be there for each other and to cherish these times together. More so now there is a distance between us. It's not so easy to get away having Tristen but I will do it. I must..........
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Saturday, October 12, 2013

An Autumn day out.................................

Laura had to work today, Saturday......so we had Raylene and Reina with us today. Company for Tristen but to be honest, him and Reina together are wowza....she teaches him all she knows. Sigh. So what to do...........it has been a beautiful sunny and warm day, and for October we are on borrowed time.So why not shut ourselves up in the car for a few hours, yeah that's the ticket.
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Off we went to Gallaghers, its the closest we could think of. A farm market and has animals. So we let them loose out back to whoop and holla and that they did.
First off Tristen loves this little farm they have set up and always goes right to it. He dives right in and plays with who ever is there.
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Raylene is looking a bit out of it and I am never sure what she is thinking.........she joins in but always seems on the outside somehow.
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They have a childrens maze but the kids seem to enjoy jumping from bale to bale more than working the maze.
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I felt sorry for this pig, there were two of them, the other was sleeping. This one was happy, she was frisky jumping and kicking in a happy little piggy dance. So sad really...........makes me want to cry knowing her end.
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Walking in the pumpkin fields
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We did try for a pose but it was not to be
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I went inside and got some goodies. I bought apples, a cherry crumble pie, donuts, and some squash and bread.
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I love this tree, its so big.......we had left the farm market and its critters and gone to Cedar for ice cream. Last weekend they will be open. Probably open today because it was such a lovely day. Anyway while they were getting and eating those I went to the meat shop for some Brats......Polish, Cherry pecan Brats and some hot dogs. Those too are home made there. Our area is fast becoming popular after being on the Today show and others. Our secrets are out. After that we went to the park to let the kids unwind again and for us to rest our ears.

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They settled down and so back to the car, well, I say they settled down......Tristen decided to have a hissy fit and would not get in his seat. Gerry was outside the car patiently trying to coax him............nah that was not working so when his bottom appeared between the two front seats I grabbed the waistband of his pants and swatted his bum. Rather a shock I suppose because the volume went up quite a bit but he got in his seat right quick. So then we headed towards the beach. Were we crazy or what........of course all the parks are closed due to the shutdown. Did not matter to us, we were going to these beaches since before they were a park....its OUR beach, its our park and by golly we were going to enjoy it. So after plying them with donuts we went on to the beach. Lovely, no wind, and sunny.
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What a beautiful day, especially for October.
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We did stop at another playground before heading home but I stayed in the car............enough sun for one day. Then we headed home before Laura got out of work. We cooked steaks and had the spaghetti squash and zucchini with other fresh vegetables. It was sooooo good. She came to collect the girls and had supper with us. They took home Toffee apples and 1/2 the apples I bought. Tomorrow we will have the cherry crumble Yummy.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

My lovely Great Grandsons............

This was a great day, both kids in a great mood. Tristen is a little jealous of other kids around me. He has decided he likes Cooper though. He knows he is like a big brother for him, and even though they are cousins they will be very close. So........I was babysitting for Cooper and Tristen wanted to play with him. So here are a few pictures that I took. When Tony came to pick up Cooper Tristen told him Cooper was going to live with us now.
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At this point Cooper is the complete opposite of Tristen. He is quiet and always smiling. Such a good baby. Tristen was always a handful and still is.
Here they are seemingly consulting
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Such a happy baby
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Well they were hamming it up together.....
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Tristen loves Bodi and didn't want her to feel left out so he gave her a big hug so she was not upset
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The boys are going to be an item some day, they will be in so much mischief I just know it
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Tristen wanted to hold him so he sat with him on his lap. Granddad of course supervised.
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Well I will quit bragging and shut up now, but they are quite handsome are they not. Cooper always laughs when he sees me. Probably knows I will feed him. He does like his food at the moment. Tristen is not so easy to please. He is learning independence and knows his own mind.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Violets.........


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Something I love as much as Bluebells are Violets. I have a nice little collection of china with violets on. I am "collecting" them now. I almost have a set. Not matching but well, I don't really want it to match.
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My love began when I was a child. My friend Sylvia and me would go looking for the first Violets in the Spring. We knew where just about every patch grew and exactly when the first buds would show.......it was a fun game and we must have walked miles collecting a little bouquet to take home for our mums.We were friends for a very long time and are still in touch.
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So really my favourite things are all about memories. People and places I remember. I am very sentimental when it comes to things like that. Friends mean the world to me and always have. Places too. I am very attached to places.
Anyway...........Violets have meaning to me. Funny that it means Faithfulness isn't it.
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The Victorians loved Violets, they are seen on all kinds of cards, notices and note paper. It was often scented. My Grandmothers name was Violet and my Mothers middle name was Violet.

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I have probably done a post on this before but ah well, I love to think about it now and then. Have you ever tasted Violets? They taste like they smell......beautiful.
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As a child we had candy that was violet flavoured. Then there is talc and creams and perfumes...........Ahhhhhh. Delightful.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Old Wives Tales...............

So, what do I mean by Old Wives Tales..............I am afraid our food supply had been compromised. The earth itself has been compromised, I mean the very dirt itself. Years ago when something grew in the dirt, it took in the minerals that were in the ground it grew in. Over time the earth was depleted of its goodness. The old farmers knew to leave the earth fallow every 3 years. It would replenish itself. Now we use chemicals. The thing is its not just that. The food chain is affected in many ways. The cows eat the grass that is grown in chemically enhanced earth. Food animals are vaccinated with chemicals for every disease known to man and fed food that is not natural to them, including offal and waste products from the slaughter houses. Our grain is altered with DNA from goodness knows what to combat diseases and fed to cattle as well as people who then consume the meat. So it is that today we suffer from diseases and ailments unheard of in years past.
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We are told that Butter, Bacon and this and that are not healthy. Well Codswallop. The old farmers would work a couple of hours before breakfast and eat Eggs,bacon and toast with butter or dripping. They would eat ham or anything to fill them up with a good slice of good bread. They would work it all off and eat a huge supper, all good food grown and raised on good grass in clean fields.
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I am of course talking about what I know, about life in England in the olden days as they say. I have no idea but suspect it was much the same here. Bread was made from pure products and it showed, the beef tasted good. It was usually slaughtered at the place it was sold, at least when I was a kid. It did not need preservatives and colour added to make it palatable.
The milk came from the cows, it was pasteurized but not homogenized. There was cream on the top.

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We used more natural things to heal ourselves. The old midwives knew all the tricks and usually delivered babies safer than ever they are in hospital. Two of my the kids were born at home. It was awesome and one bonded well with the new baby, the whole family did. The thing is the baby was born into the environment that it was to live in with a built in immune system to the germs in the house. In a hospital there are those super bugs that are getting resistant to medications.
We used cloth diapers, no plastic. No waste. Boiled to keep clean and hung in the fresh air.
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If you go back far enough you will find that maggots were used to clean wounds, especially on a battlefield........they are beginning to use maggots now on flesh that is gangrene. Leeches..........they are using those again for certain things. ...........a long time ago Vets found that if they induced sleep in a dog it gave the animals body a chance to heal itself.........now our doctors induce coma's. So.......don't ever just dismiss what the old folks said years ago. They learned their wisdom the hard way, not from books. Oh I know, I am not putting down modern medicine but sometimes you need to think for yourself and explore all options. I was told if you use pain medicine for every slight thing then when you really need it, well it wont work so well. I don;t know if that;s true or not but I go by that and if I am wrong then its still OK because I am not putting stuff into my body. I don't/won't us low fat, decaffeinated, sugar free or anything chemically altered. The whole problem is so much of the food is processed and we don't know what or how. So we can't make good informed decisions.
If you use sugar use the real thing just less of it. Use butter not margarine thats as good as plastic. Butter is good for you. Use the real thing just less.
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Another thing I know is if you get stung by stinging nettles there will be Dock leaves growing close by. They are an antidote to the sting.........so logic tells me that if a disease comes out of a certain place, look at its origins to find the antidote. What do I know. Not a lot but aren't some things just plain common sense? Chemicals? or natural foods? fresh or processed? Home or hospital.Old folks used to be cared for by family, even if they didn't live as long surely they were happier? This is just my opinion but can't we learn a few things from the old timers?