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.

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?

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.


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...........


Hand hewn seats

In that same area was a one room school house.

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.

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.


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.

This is a different building also derelict


I took a lot of pictures of farms and fields, old buildings and so on. I wont bore everyone with all that.

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?

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..........

Friends..............

I had a shock the other evening. Someone came to the door and my husband answered. Shock turned to pleasure as I realized it was my friends Chris and Randy. I was shocked because I didn't know they were anywhere near here and then pleasure because I have not seen them since we all left England so many years ago. We have stayed in touch over the years, especially now with Facebook. I knew they were visiting family in Illinois but didn't know about the Michigan visit. A neighbour of theirs in Virginia spends summers in Michigan, more specifically in Traverse City. Well, turns out only one street away from me. So.............we got to chat for a few minutes and agreed to coffee next morning before they headed home to Virginia. How great was that? When it comes to old friends it seems we can pick up more or less where we left off. So much to say, so many years to cover and yet we don't really need to because we know.............we just know. The years certainly have been kind to them. I would have known them both anywhere. When we were young..........ah I love that.......when we were young Chris and me worked together for many years. She had a cousin who was dating an American and got invited to the base at Chicksands. She met her soon to be husband there. She invited me to go one evening and that was the start of a whole new life for us all. The Airmans club was awesome. Such fun we had. There was a dance floor, a band, and food and drink. It was like a nightclub but with very strict rules of behavior. Anyway it ended up that a whole bunch of us started to go there on a regular basis and we all married Americans, we are all still married and we all stay in touch. We don't see each other though as we live all over the country. I think its time to change that. Now I really want to see the rest of those old friends while we still can. What a vacation that would be going all over the country to meet them. These women who are my friends, I have spent the best times of my life with. We have shared so much. My old friends who knew me when I was young and have a special place in my heart. We came from the same background, the same place and the same country. We all moved to a foreign country with our spouses and into a different world with strangers. We understand each other. The friends I have made here I also treasure, its a different friendship maybe, built on a different foundation but I treasure it just as much. They knew only the grown up me. Probably would never have recognized me back in those days. I don't give up on friends, I treasure them too much for that. I need them in my life and I care about each and every one. There are people I have known since I was 4 years old that I am still in touch with. I could never give up on that.............its an honour, a privilege to have a friend and an old friend is as much to be treasured as a diamond. I have special friends who know who they are and I love them more than anything in the world.

An Old Fashioned Christmas...................

When I think back on childhood and what the best memories were it was never about the gifts but about the family and friends. First of all because no one had a whole lot the emphasis was never on the gifts, even though as a child it was still exciting for me. I tried to believe in Santa but it was rather difficult when I always found my Mums hiding places for the gifts. I was an only child and can not say that I got a whole lot of material things. I was very happy with a book from my aunt and uncle and probably one from my Nan and Granddad and probably a couple of gifts from mum and dad I thought that was a lot. I remember that I would keep looking at them all day long. What I did enjoy most was the tree with real candles on it. We would light those Christmas morning. With the coal fire glowing and the candles twinkling it was just pure magic. Then the fact that my Dad's brothers stopped in for a Sherry. Later on my aunt and uncle would come over for the day and my Nan and Granddad would come too. We would have Christmas crackers and sit with silly hats on at dinner. Lots of laughing and jokes and stories and neighbours popping in and out all day long. When I was older I went with my Dad to visit his aunt and his Father. Mum would never go, she did not like my Granddad Burt. I went with Dad though and it was a further bond between us. I also got to go with the men down to the pub when I was old enough and I loved that. I remember one Christmas that it snowed, we had walked down to the Crown a pub in the village. The walk home was particularly merry and I can still see my Uncle Alan with rosy cheeks and a scarf around his neck as we threw snowballs at each other and pretended we were Yogi and BooBoo. Silly I know but well, as I said we were quite merry.
Mum always seemed to be in a snit because she had dinner ready most often 1/2 hour before the men got home from the pub. One would think she could have adjusted things but she never did and every year was the same. I think Dad just got used to it, the men would sit and snore the afternoon away until time for the Christmas cake or Christmas pudding.
I do remember looking out my bedroom window watching for Santa. The windows would be frosty and the room as cold as outdoors but sit there I would. I must have always fell asleep and now I think back I can say that my parents must have tried several ways to keep me in bed Christmas morning. One year they left my gifts on the end of the bed. Must have taken me five minutes to open them before running in to declare Santa had been. That one backfired. When the gifts were left under the tree I would go in wanting them to get up..............there is no way a parent can win on Christmas morning. I understand that now.


I am linking up with Savvy Southern Style for Wow us Wednesday

Large cat in a small basket...........

Tubs is a very large cat. He is in fact fat and fuzzy.
Why is it that whenever something is placed on the floor, be it box or basket or even a piece of paper a cat invariably sits on it.



I had no sooner taken the lid off this basket than Toby (Tubs) was in it looking silly. Toby always has this look of surprised distain like he is saying "What? you have a problem with this?"



Hey Sam, I think the alarm went off............



Is there NO privacy around here..........




Beatrice comforts her friend Bambi..........