October 31, 2011

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  Have you ever gone away from home for a long time and find, when you come back, that it feels strange? Not quite wrong, but not quite right, either. It takes some time to regain that comfortable, lived-in feeling that you long for so much.
  I’ve been gone from here for a long time, and it feels…just not quite right. I imagine that you have forgotten me, that you’ve moved on with your lives and that I’ll have to sort of wriggle my way back in. Guess we’ll see how it goes. Once before, when I was gone for a while, I just couldn’t wait–so I just renamed myself and started fresh. But I don’t have a new name in mind this time. And who cares about names anyway? It is still just me.

  I’ve invested a whole lot of myself into away-from-home-and-farm things the last few weeks. We have a brand-new exhibit at our Historium, called Hats Off: Saluting Our Veterans. Today we brought in a one-week-only addition to our local stuff, a traveling exhibit called Remembering Our Fallen. It is a photo tribute to all the men and women from Missouri who’ve died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. We had a dedication ceremony this morning, complete with prayers, the local high school band, the mayor and the pledge led by two WWII vets. Very moving stuff. And to see the photos in this exhibit just makes you stop in your tracks. 130 people, gone. I thought, “What if they could all be here, right now, in this room together—it would really be something. Strong, handsome men, beautiful young women with smiles a mile wide…the future of our country.” But they’re all gone. Gave their lives serving our country. The boxes of tissue saw use as people looked and tears fell.

  We made a sweet little cookbook in late summer: Apron Strings: Recipes and Recollections is the name of it. What a delight, full of instructions for making homemade bread, grandma’s homemade egg noodles, sweet potatoes and possum, (you heard right!), vinegar pie, fried chicken for breakfast, ice box pickles, cornbread dressing, apple dumplings, fried pies, rhubarb pie, canning meat (!), three for making chocolate gravy….I could go on and on.

  The recollections are truly delightful. “One of my earliest memories is of sitting on Grandma’s kitchen counter, watching her cook. She would let me help stir and measure….when I was married I went to her house and we made these cinnamon rolls together. Now I’m asked to bring them to many events and even donate them for the annual Lions’ Club auction.[They bring Big Bucks.] But they’ll always be Grandma Edna’s cinnamon rolls.” Such as that. It makes you smile and helps you recall your own special moments as you read this neat little book.

  As I’m sure you ALL know, our Cards did it! World champs! We watched most every game all season, and didn’t miss a one during the playoffs and final series. The Cardinals have given us Midwesterners something to make us real proud, and we love our COME-BACK CARDS!

  And lest you think I’ve wasted time while watching games on TV, those three hours of sitting every night gave me a chance to finish up two more shawls. They are small-ish ones, which I love…something I can finish up pretty quickly. Pics to come, once the blocking is done.

  Our Prayer Shawl Ministry at church is busily knitting and crocheting and stitching up items to give to senior shut-ins at Christmas, to go along with the items we continually work on for those who have a special need arise. Unfortunately, our own church family has suffered notable losses in the last few months. It’s a comfort to drape a prayer shawl around a grieving wife’s shoulders, but I’m hoping to NOT do this again anytime soon.

  A couple of weeks ago my Farmboy was working on some land where he’s been clearing and planting new grass when a couple of wild pigs ran by. Evidently, we’d been disturbing their playground. Farmboy grabbed his rifle and took care of one of them; later that week we had a wild pig roast. Our neighbor smoked the pig, everyone else brought a dish, and we had a real feast in our barn. I expected wild pork to be tough and stringy, but in reality it was delicious and tender. What a pleasant surprise! I didn’t even open the packages of hot dogs I’d squirreled away, just in case there were some of us who couldn’t stomach the wild meat. Hot dogs for another day!

  After an awfully long and HOT and DRY summer, fall has been a gift. We haven’t had much rain, but just enough has come to rejuvenate our pastures and replenish our ponds. Relief in the form of raindrops. We didn’t expect much in the way of fall color, so we were just blown away last week when SUDDENLY the trees were gorgeous, just overnight. And the days have been so nice, mostly warm and comfortable.

  Mid-month, we made a flying trip to northern Indiana and brought home a trailer-load of silo parts. Not a real vacation this time around, but I did manage to cajole one perfectly free day out of the Farmboy. We drove every back road around Shipshewana and Nappannee and Goshen, seeing the picturesque farms and watching the old-fashioned ways the Amish harvest their crops. We LOVE seeing the harvest in real farmland, remembering the sense of accomplishment as fields are emptied and grain bins filled. It was satisfying for us, even if it wasn’t our harvest. (Our crop is now calves, remember?) It’s amazing how refreshing just a few days away can be!
            
              (Note the quilt block)
   
            

            

            
              (Round barns–I just LOVE them!)
            
            
            
  And look  (below) what I found in the neatest store! Is this familiar to anyone?? I’m reading it now–wonderful!!!
          
            

  I was able to spend a few minutes in one quilt shop–one WONDERFUL quilt shop–Lolly’s in Shipshe—don’t miss it if you’re ever there.
           

  Yesterday afternoon we drove over to the river and just listened to the water ripple over rocks.

            

  A blue heron paid us no mind, and deer came down to drink while we watched. One spike buck was missing a horn, but he was still handsome. We soaked it all up, tucking the images away to bring back out and savor when winter winds roar and the snow doth blow.

  Well, by now this is feeling more like home. Pouring out my thoughts and sharing my experiences…it’s all coming back to me. It’s good to see you, long-lost friends! I hope you remember me (I’m also known as Ozarksfarmgirl)
  ….and if you don’t, let’s just start fresh. See you soon!
  

  • 4:33 pm
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