Family Fun

I got home last night. I had a great weekend, but as always it was nice to get home again with the rest of my family. Thursday night I got to my Aunt and Uncle's and was able to spend several hours visiting with them. I had not seen them for a year or so, so we had a lot to catch up on. They have an adorable granddaughter who is three and a cute grandson who is one - so they had some humorous stories to share!



Saturday Mom, Carol and I went to the quilt show in Duluth, Minnesota. I don't have a clue as to how many quilts we looked at, but I am sure it was over 200! They were all so pretty - and oh so much work involved in some of them. Sorry, no pictures! I forgot to ask the Princess if I could borrow her digital camera before I left. You will just have to go to a big quilt show to experience it! Many vendors there, too. All three of us came home with a few things we could not do without! We walked and looked at so much that Carol told us she was a "little famished" when it was time to eat. I never heard of anyone being a little famished before, but now I have.



Friday night I was able to spend the evening with Carol, Dave and Kelly, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. We even got in a game of hand and foot before Carol and I were wore out and done for the day.


Saturday I went up to the farm and spent the day with Mom and Marv. The farm is a piece of property that Marv's grandparents lived on and farmed when they came over to the United States from Poland. His Mom grew up on the property and it is still in his family. The house has been tore down and most of the other out buildings are no longer there. The barn is still standing, an old garage and part of the old root cellar is still there. Marv, his siblings and a few of their cousins have motor homes or travel trailers on the property and they get together a few weekends a summer. I cannot help but think about the stories that barn could tell us if it could talk. I would be willing to bet a person could not count how many tears that barn has seen; tears of anger, tears of heartache, tears of laughter, tears of frustration.


Sunday morning I went to my Grandma and Grandpa's for a few hours before coming home. Grandma pulled out some old pictures that I have not seen for a long time, others that I have never seen. She showed me a wedding picture of my great-great-grandparents! They were married in New Ulm, Minnesota. I knew that my Grandpa spent his summers as a youth working on their farm, but never knew any thing else about them. My Grandpa grew up in southern Wisconsin, I always assumed his grandparents farm was in southern Wisconsin, too. I can't believe I never thought to ask him yesterday where the farm was at! Did he travel to New Ulm, Minnesota, every summer or did they just get married there and then moved to southern Wisconsin. Grandpa said every morning after you got up, before he had breakfast or did any chores, he went down in the root cellar, drank a glass of wine, grabbed four apples and took them to the special horses. I guess they had four horses that were just for show, they never worked those four. After that, you did the morning chores, came in for breakfast and then continued on with the rest of the day. Grandpa said they all started the day out with a glass of wine, his Grandma said that was good for the digestive system. I think it would make me want to go and take a nap. The horses would not get their apples until 9:00am or 10:00 am.


After we were done looking at several pictures, Grandpa took his glasses off. Grandma found one more picture that she showed me, it was of her and Grandpa walking out of the church after they got married. I studied the pic for a few seconds and was going to hand it back to her when Grandpa put his hand out to see it. I handed him the picture; and he had his eyes squinted trying to see it (he had taken his glasses off, remember). After half a minute or so, he says, "Hey, that's you and me!" All three of us had a good laugh over that one. He put his glasses back on to get a better look and then proceeded to tell us he was good looking back in the day! Then he told me that Grandma still looks good enough to marry. Grandma blushed and Grandpa winked at me. One of those times I will always remember, witnessing a little flirting going on between Gram and Grandpa.


Now that I am back home, I have lots to get done here. But, it rained while I was gone and the sun did lots of shining while I was gone. That means that instead of getting any thing done around the house, I spent the day driving Trucker around because he had three lawns that needed to be mowed, plus he mowed one last night. He has three more to mow this week yet besides our own lawn. Now he is outside wiping down his mower before he puts it away for the night!

Check back tomorrow to see who visited the diner where the Princess works at!