Porches...

Claude and I have created a nice habit. After working in the yard together or separately, we will sit on the front porch with something to drink to re-hydrate and have a little visit. We each take our cell phones to catch up on text from kids or things we are working on. It is very nice to pause and visit about things we have accomplished, things we are preparing for, things happening in our family, etc. 

Last week I was inside in the morning doing the ironing for the past two week. Claude went out and spent his morning cutting grass. When he finished we sat on the front porch and visited. After a bit I asked Claude if there were front porches or porches in his family. He said they had a porch in Utah but he didn't remember much porch time. The reality is that the homes built when Claude was a kid in Utah sometimes had a front door that went into a little room with a place to hang your coat and take off you shoes. There might be another door into the living room. The homes in Muskegon, Michigan were a lot like that as well. It is because they have cold, snowy winters. These little porches offer a place to leave wet things and also keep the cold from coming straight into the house. They really help keep the house warmer.

I shared with him that our home in Shreveport had a wonderful screened in front porch, Mom had the swing that we brought from her home and Claude put on our patio on that front porch. When we were in elementary school we brought our book satchels home with left over school papers and supplies at the end of the school year. During the summer we would take those out to that front porch and play school. I remember Papa teaching me to sing harmony while he played his guitar on that front porch. I remember Papa had a thing you could put rocks in to polish them on that front porch. Lots of good memories of pausing to live a quiet evening swinging on that front porch. It is a spot that brings back good memories. Here a picture of Neffie, Junie and I playing in a rare snowstorm in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1962. The front porch is screened in behind us.

Then I shared about my grandparents, my mothers parents. They lived in an old frame home way out in the woods. No running water. No electricity. The home was what one might call a dog-trot home. There were two bedrooms on one side and a big room that was a living room/bedroom on the other side of a big wide hallway that went from the front to the back of the house. A kitchen had been added on to the other side of the living/bedroom. There were big wooden doors at either end of that long hall that could be pulled to shut up the hall. But most of the time they were open. In the afternoon, my mother would lay a big homemade quilt (we called it a pallet) on the floor of the hall and we would nap or just lay quietly to rest with a nice breeze coming through the hall. Along the front of that home was a front porch. It had Adirondack chairs and sofa, rocking chairs and a swing. I remember sitting on that porch at the end of each day. I remember shelling peas with my mother and grandmother on that porch. I remember watching my mother or grandmother iron with an old cast iron out on that porch. I remember sitting on that porch and watching it rain. Many good memories on that porch.

It was nice to sit on the porch with Claude and experience those same good feelings I had enjoyed as a child and remember the importance of porches in my life. Enjoy this picture of my mother's parents, Laura Cordelia Clark Fisch and Clarence Clifford Fisch sitting on the steps of that old porch in that home I loved so well. 

Do you have porches in your life?

The Adults Shenanigans...

Friday, June 28th, we were eagerly awaiting an afternoon quick visit from our friends, Fred and Bevy Myers. These were biking buddies when we lived in Maryland. We knew them before they married. I played for their wedding. We did many a bike ride together. They were going to be passing through from a visit with Fred's daughter in Indiana and going to Maggie Valley to bike with friends. So they had an opportunity for a quick visit. I visited Papa in the morning so I would be home in the afternoon whenever they arrived. They didn't arrive at the appointed hour and we received a text from Fred saying it would be about 4pm when they got to Sadieville. That was fine. We again extended the invitation for them to stay the night if they needed to. Then we got the next text saying they were in slow traffic and it would be 6pm. That was fine. We prepared some tuna salad and had croissants and a fruit salad so we could feed them a bite to eat. The next message we got was saying they were stuck in traffic on I-275. This was not good. They were on a motorcycle in heavy traffic on the Interstate and the heat was awful. At 6pm we received another text asking for a rain check on the visit. It seems they had emergency vehicles flying by and they didn't know when they would get out of the traffic. They did eventually make it out and were able to get on down the road but much later than they expected. We really hated missing these two good friends. But we'll just have to find another time.

Sunday, June 30th Claude and I spoke in the Elkhorn Creek Ward about Self-Reliance. My topic was Communication: Petition and Listen. It was about prayer. Claude's talk was on Problem Solving. On Monday, July 1st we received a text from Amber Marcum. She has been an excellent facilitator for several of these courses. Amber had this to say to Claude and me: "Hello friends! Just wanted to thank you for the awesome talks! I took a lot to heart and spent an hour last night going through the Bible dictionary, topical guide, index, etc. on prayer. Also Sean and I planned to have our financial council again as we were getting lax on that. So thank you and we sure love you both!" Such a sweet note from a dear friend. These are the nice moments in life.

Monday, July 1st I woke up at an early hour and was just wide awake. My body would have loved to sleep but it was awake. I quietly got out of bed and picked up my cell phone which was charging beside me. When I got in our living room, I realized the sun was  getting ready to come up and the colors in the sky were so pretty. I was happy I had my cell phone and stepped out on the deck to take this picture. 

I took Papa for a drive that day in the afternoon. While weeding the week before in the back yard, I determined we needed a rock edge around the bottom side of one of the water breaks. Claude created these water breaks to keep the water slowed down so it wouldn't cut a larger rut down the hill. We have planted things at intervals and it helps a lot with erosion. When I came home from my drive with Papa, this was the beautiful edge my hubby created. Such a good husband.

This meme was on my Facebook news feed. I shared it with Claude with a little note that said, "Remember when?" This was one of the jobs Claude had as a child. His father had one of the other farmers hire Claude to load bails of hay in the summer. This particular farmer liked to bail his hay in bails that were about 25 pounds heavier than every other farmer. Claude was a big kid and he worked very hard lifting and tossing those huge bails of hay onto a wagon. His father taught him a certain way to stack the bails (they were rectangular, not the round ones they make today) and Claude had to be sure they were moved and stacked just right. Lots of hard work. Another friend suggested his job of cutting and housing tobacco here in Kentucky would have just as hard. I then shared how the kids that hoed sugar beets in Utah might also appreciate this meme. I'm sure selling burgers is also hard work but somehow lifting bails of hay weight about 75-100 pounds or cutting and housing tobacco or hoeing sugar beets in the hot sun all seem to be really hard work to me.

We filled the 4th of July right up. I posted previously about starting our day with a 5K walk at Buffalo Trace. We came home and rested and re-hydrated. I spent the afternoon with Papa. After that visit I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up medication to take on our Africa trip. It is to prevent malaria!! Oh my heavens. I guess it is no worse than having to get a yellow fever shot before going to Guatemala. I wonder what shots people in other countries must get before coming to America. The evening we spent in Florence, Kentucky at a Florence Freedom baseball game. A featured bit of entertainment between innings was 'Uncle Slam'. He juggled with swords and fire. How patriotic is that?! There were fireworks after the game but my single pictures of the explosions just weren't that great. They never are but I try anyway. It was a great ending to this year's 4th of July.

On July 5th Claude tried a new recipe. It was delicious. It was BBQ balogna with mustard slaw in it. Oh man it was really good. He saw it on a cooking show and researched to find some recipe ideas and gave it a try. I am really happy he enjoys cooking so much. 

Tuesday, July 9th I visited Papa in the morning so that I could have the afternoon with Claude. He had a meeting in Frankfort and I wanted to tag along. Actually, I had this desire, need, whatever, to have a really big scarf to take to Africa to wrap up in when we might be sitting outside at night. I haven't found anything that fit the bill in a store. So the next thing to do was check out fabric stores and see if I could find fabric in one and make my own scarf. I had checked at the Hobby Lobby fabric section in Lexington to no avail. There is a Joann's in Frankfort. So I dropped Claude off at his meeting and made my way across town to Joann's and shopped at my leisure. I did find a nice green piece of fabric that doesn't wrinkle and could be washed out and dry quickly. I purchased what I should need. Now I just need to make the scarf. 

After the fabric store I still had plenty of time to do something else. I really didn't want to shop anywhere so I determined I would go and visit my Mom...well, her grave site. I got there only to find her flowers were gone. That would make a good trip for Papa and me on a car ride. It was pleasant to sit in the car with the windows down and have a quiet moment to stop and think. Then I felt an impression that I should go ahead and get back to where Claude's meeting was being held. As I left Mom's grave, I noticed a line of cars coming in for a funeral and they were on the back road I usually like to take. I realized that prompting was to get me out of the way of this funeral. I got to the parking lot to pick up Claude and found a tree along the edge of the parking lot I could park under when my car notified me I had a text. It was from Claude. His meeting finished early. I just stopped the car and sent Claude a text I was in the parking lot and could come to the front of the building to get him. He was very happy I was already there. Maybe that prompting was to get back to get Claude. Maybe it was for both things. I'm happy I heeded it in either or both cases. We drove back down the road a bit to Staxx's for dinner. On the way in I took these pictures of the flowers out front to text to Andie. They reminded me of their pictures of lavender fields they visited while in Europe. There were lots of bees a buzzin' over these plants.

Too Papa for a ride on Friday, July 12th. We took flowers for Mimi's grave and then drove back through back roads. I just loves these roads lined with stone walls. One never tires of this with fields with beautiful horses in them. Very Kentucky and very beautiful and peaceful.

A few years ago I happened to be in Kroger (grocery store) getting something for Papa on a Saturday. I usually do my shopping at Walmart since it is on our side of town. But it was a Saturday and I needed something quickly for Papa in his apartment. That was my first encounter with this nice man.

On Saturday's during football season he was out barbecuing ribs. My hubby loves ribs. I purchased a rack of ribs and took them home to Claude as a surprise. He was in heaven and assured me I had permission to purchase these anytime the man was selling them. Okay. I could do that. This summer he has been out every Saturday. I have dutifully purchased ribs from him. He makes the best ribs you can find. He is quick to cut a rib off and give you a taste for the trip home. I asked him this last Saturday if I could take his picture and he agreed. If you live in Georgetown and want an excellent treat, stop by Kroger before 4pm and get a rack of the best ribs you can find anywhere.

Sunday, July 14th, I was finally home from Church and visiting Papa. I headed downstairs to work on my laptop. I could hear the thunder rolling in. I went out on the patio and there were these amazing clouds. The thunder was in the distance but the clouds were forming for a mighty rain storm. The sun was till out and lighting up parts of the clouds while the storm was trying to bring in the darkness. It was much prettier than these pictures portray. A really outstanding contrast between the dark and the light in each cloud. 

I went back in to try and finish this picture project. I have two external drives that I back my lap top up to so that I have double backup. These external drives were saying they were 90% full and I should get more storage. Hmmm... I purchased some thumb drives with a large amount of storage on each thumb drive. I determined I would put all the data on them and then keep pictures on the external drives. I also purchased two other thumb drives to put pictures of my kids and their families and our extended family and any pictures from groups that I had. I was trying diligently to get this done. I managed to finish that and decided to go through all the pictures I had on CD's and make sure I had them on the external drives or the thumb drives, then toss the CD's. Big project and I was making headway. I came across a picture of our kids when we lived in Denver and just sat and laughed for a moment. I decided to post it to Facebook with this caption, "Just in case there was any question...Claude and I were excellent parents!!"

A friend commented this had to be one of my very favorite pictures of all time. We didn't put the kids up to this. They created these outfits and makeup all on there own. This was long before digital devices took up all our time. I showed this picture to Claude and asked him if he remembered the sandbox incident. He started to laugh. He was trying to make the kids a big sandbox. He had cleared the grass away and put up cinder blocks for the edges. The spot was ready. He just needed to get sand and fill it. Before that could happen the kids were out in the back yard playing and having what sounded like a grand time. When I went out to look, to my complete surprise, they had filled the spot with water and made a nice big mud puddle. They had covered themselves in mud from head to foot. It was in their hair and in their clothes. They were very happy. Our neighbor was standing at the fence laughing hysterically. I assured him he was only laughing because they were not his grandchildren and he didn't have to clean up this mess. It really was funny. I washed their clothes 4 times, wiping mud out of the washing machine by hand between each washing. I shall never forget that moment in their childhood. Oh yes, Claude and I were excellent parents!!

Today, well, yesterday (as I have stayed up way past my bedtime to finish Blogging)Claude and I decided to meet for lunch and have that be our big meal of the day. He had a meeting in Lexington at 9am. I needed to visit Papa but didn't want to go that early. So we met as he returned and I went in. Claude suggested we try the Stockyards. They have a restaurant we have wanted to try. So we did. And it was yummy. Claude had a burger with blue cheese on it. I had the Kentucky Plate which was really served on a board. The board was cool but everything would roll off it. It had ham salad, pimento cheese and some kind of cucumber slaw that you spread on the little toasted breads. First time I ever remember eating pickled okra and it was very good. We will go back here. It was delicious. Plus it is named Hayden's Eatery. Hayden is our youngest grandson's name. Can't go wrong with that!

Grandmonsters Shenanigans...

June 27th Katelyn sent these pictures of her girls playing. Raelyn loves being the big sister and having Emelia to play with. Just look at how much a child grows from birth to 3 years old. And notice that head of hair on little Emelia. 

Forward to Saturday, June 29th. I was preparing to facilitate the Personal Finance for Self-Reliance class on Sunday and realized we were covering purchasing a home. Since Drew and Katelyn are trying to see if they are in a position so they might purchase a home, I immediately sent Katelyn a text and told her to read these pages in the manual we sent them before they did anything. So grateful when the Good Lord times things out like that in our lives.

Katelyn sent us this cute picture of Drew with his little girls. Such a good daddy. They are watching something on the television with music on it. Just love this picture of our little family.

June 30th was my big mistake. This was Drew's birthday. I thought I had taken care of all of my June birthday, Father's Day, etc. things. I did not take care of Drew's. Man did I feel awful. I am so grateful he loves Katelyn and the girls and he cares for them as he does. I sent him a text apologizing profusely and assuring him his gift would be in the mail. It did go in the mail on Tuesday. Geez!!

July 4th the Ropers went to a friends for a BBQ. They had their sprinkler going and Raelyn was enjoying it. Katelyn took this picture of her sitting waiting for her next turn. Please note she is sitting reverently. When we went to Emelia's blessing, our very active Raelyn was having a hard time sitting. I took her out into the hall and we eventually made our way around to the back hall in the church where the Primary room is. While there, I tried to show her how to sit with her arms folded and be reverent. Since then she had gotten old enough to be in Primary and this is being reinforced with her. So, I am very happy with this picture of our very hyper-active Raelyn sitting reverently.

Saturday, July 6th, during the morning Raelyn had Katelyn take a picture of her in her purple dress and send it to me. This little nugget loves purple as much as I do. 

Fortunately I was dressed to go out and I had chosen my purple blouse. So I took this selfie and sent it to Miss Raelyn. I truly hope these little interchanges across the miles keep us close to this great granddaughter. 

Later that day Katelyn posted this picture of Raelyn on Facebook. She was a Princess who was also a Knight. The child is fearless.

That afternoon Claude and I drove to LaGrange to get the Mini's to attend the 4th in our series of Harry Potter movies with the Louisville Orchestra. Before going out we visited with the Marx family and watched the pictures of their European vacation on their television. They brought me back a turtle purse. Yeah!! Bailey went to a beach in Nice. It is a rock beach and she picked up a couple of rocks. She carefully chose one for Claude. Such a sweet thing. He was very touched. The Mini's chose to go to Steve O's for dinner. Then it was off to the Kentucky Center to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Whitney Hall with the Louisville Orchestra accompanying. We did purchase the Mini's each a souvenir. They were very happy young people. They are growing up on us.

July 7th through 12th Hayden was on a Scout trip to St. Louis. I got a few pictures so that I knew he was okay and having fun. In the first picture, Hayden is on the left end of the front row. In the second picture he is in the orange t-shirt inside the guitar. In the third picture he is in the orange t-shirt and is second from the end on the left. I think he was having a great time.

Monday the 8th we received another cute picture of Raelyn with her friend. This young man is the son of a really good friend of Drew's. Such a sweet moment in time.

Tuesday, July 9th, Katelyn sent us a picture she calls 'Sister Love'. Be still my heart. They sure look different, don't they? It is going to be fun to watch these two grow up.

Wednesday, July 10th Katelyn posted this picture of Emelia getting some tummy time and holding her head up time.

I reached back into my electronic stash of pictures and sent this to Katelyn of her as a baby so she could see the resemblance between her and her little one.

Katelyn showed the picture of her as a baby to Raelyn and asked Raelyn who the baby was. Raelyn said, "Sissy!" How fun is that?

We sent gift cards to Drew and Katelyn for their birthday for the same store. Katelyn opened her's before her birthday which is actually July 13th. This is fine. They made a family shopping trip of it. Raelyn found hats and put them on and told her parents it was her 'Yee Haw' hat. Where does a 3-year old get this stuff.

On Katelyn's birthday I posted these pictures of her life in 1999, 20 short years ago.

And that is our firstborn grandmonster.

Sunday, July 14th, Katelyn posted this picture of her with her two girls.

Our son, Jake, is off Facebook for a bit. I sent him this picture via text. He loved it. He said, "Those girls will be a trio. God be with Drew." Amen to that.

Finally, I spent this morning making letters for Bailey. She will be off to 4-H camp next week. I wrote a card for each day with a sticker in each car and a couple of dollars for a snack at the camp store. I labeled each card for the day it is to be opened. Then I put all 5 cards in an bigger envelope and mail them at once so they are at the camp when she arrives. Whew!! This I have found to be a much better method than mailing a letter each day and hoping she gets all of them. 

It is amazing to me that even over the miles that separate us, with all of today's technology, we have them close to us. I didn't post the video of Raelyn singing "I'm so Glad When Daddy Comes Home" to Claude in a face-to-face chat. I am truly grateful for this blessing with technology. It can have it's draw backs but there are many, many blessings to having all these electronics. Claude and I love our family.