To my mother, one of the stars of the Greatest Generation, who is still sharing her love and guidance with us.
To my mother-in-law who is no longer with us but who remains fondly in our memories.
To our daughter, who has given us the gift of two wonderful granddaughters and a fine son-in-law.
To our lovely daughter-in-law who has given us two beautiful grandchildren and who brings joy to our son’s life every day.
And to all the other mothers out there.
Keep up the good work!
Fifty years ago our second child was born. We named her after both her grandmothers – my mother’s first name and The Husband’s mother’s middle name. She was a happy baby and I found her a lot easier to take care of than her older sister. To be truthful, 99.9% of that was probably due to the fact that by this time I knew what I was doing . When our first daughter was born I had never changed a diaper or even taken care of a baby before. Back in those days, not much thought was given to preparing the new mother for the job ahead. Thank goodness for the Dr. Spock book that somebody gave me, not sure just when, but certainly not soon enough for Daughter 1’s comfort.
Ornate Glass Dome from The Emporium Photo from Wikipedia
These two promised to “love, honor and obey, till death do us part”. There has been more laughter than tears and the journey continues…
I rarely stop at Wal-Mart except when we are traveling. Probably because our town only has a Target and that’s what I’m used to. But I was in Gilroy for a Dr. appointment and needed wanted some fabric, so I thought I might be able to find something reasonable there. Big disappointment – they no longer have a fabric department. According to the salesclerk I talked to, it was a big money-loser for them.
However, the trip wasn’t wasted because, as I was walking through the garden section looking for onion sets, I spotted these:
I’ve always wanted to try growing potatoes and last year I bought a potato-growing bag from Gardener’s Supply but didn’t get around to using it. I’ve never seen seed potatoes around here and thought I would have to just cut up a grocery store potato.
I also found the onions. I’ll start planting them next week if the rains hold off. We’ve had several inches of rain in the last ten days with more expected in the next few days so we are pretty soggy around here. Not to mention the weeds are thigh-high.
A bit out-of-date, but, hopefully, better late than never.
We left my brother’s place on Monday morning and headed north on I-540. It was only an hour’s drive or so to our next stop – The Husband’s cousin’s house in Bella Vista, AR. Again the GPS was right on the money.
The next day The Cousin had scheduled a trip for us to the George Washington Carver National Monument but first we stopped in Diamond, MO to have lunch at the Diamond Cafe.What a gem! I had the best Gyro that I’ve had since we lived in New Jersey. When I asked the owner about her accent, which sounded sort of mid-Atlantic to me, she said she is from New York and used to be on the stage.
The exhibits were very interesting as was the film about Carver’s life. Before today, all I knew about him was that he “invented peanut butter” if that’s even true. I didn’t realize that he was involved in so many other agricultural, social and artistic endeavors.
After we saw everything in the building, we followed a walking trail through the woods and along a stream. Despite the fact that it was still summer, the humidity wasn’t too high and it was so pleasant with all the greenery and the sound of the water.
But my favorite part was the family vegetable garden. It was pretty much past its prime, this being early September, but you could still see tomatoes, green beans, and other summer veggies.
The next day we joined some of The Cousins’ friends and drove to Noel, MO to have lunch at Cotton Eyed Joe’s Barbecue. I do love a good barbecue place and this one is pretty darned good.
This is what I saw when I opened the door from the house to the garage this morning. Deader than a doornail, but which gray cat was the culprit?
Luke Skywalker?
Or the Duke of Earl?
Or maybe the ever-vigilant Smokey Joe?
Nobody was talking and Officer Dog was still in bed at the time, so the mystery remains unsolved. However, it’s a pretty good bet that Smokey Joe is innocent because he has not, in the two months that he has been with us, shown the least interest in hunting. My money is on Luke.
