Had a great time skating at my brother's pond yesterday. It was just my kids and some neighborhood boys. We played until dark. Are there other places like that, where random people from the community can skate on a pond? No regulations, planned events, insurance...
My parents talk about their generation always doing this. How they would all walk to a local pond to skate. It was a "hangout", they would build a fire and just make a day of it. Our day at my brothers isn't much different. Am I in a generation behind or is this like that old movie Brigadoon, a place that is stuck in time.
In a lot of ways our small town is like that. People may come and go, but so much stays the same. Events remain the same from generation to generation. Some may ask why, but the answer is always the same... Its what we always do.
The homes people live in our still called by the original owners name, no matter who lives there now. My house included. A lot of people are called the same nicknames that their parents have/had. I would guess at least half the population have one, some obvious, others, not so much. Of course we have a "tiny" who isn't, or a Bud, or Butch, etc. but so many others are "just because that's what they call him" , My grandfather had a nickname for everyone. Some, he was the only one who called them that. I didn't realize that Pickle was his brother, he was always just Pickle.
I guess we fall into standard small town familiarity. We are blessed that we know everyone. we are cursed because they all know us too.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
a simple life
Today is the first day I have all 3 kids at school since last Thursday! Hubby is out of town, boy10 is over his illness, girl6 has been on antibiotics for strep and is ready to go back, and my boy 4.... well, he's back at school too.
Hubby has been in STL for work this week, So today is the first day I am home alone in months. So how do a celebrate such a momentous occasion? A quick shower and shopping with Mom.
I love my Mom. She is imperfectly perfect. She is my go to source for any information I may need. She has raised 9 kids that she never had to bail out of jail,. She loves to cook ( I don't ), and she usually has something she just made that she will force upon you to eat. She and Dad are retired now and spend their day much as I would imagine they would have expected. Dad will make sure the farm is taken care of even though my brother #4 is the one who runs it, My mom will make sure the house is taken care of. And together they will plan their garden, work in their garden, dream about their garden.
Their home is my fall out shelter for when the big one hits (whatever that may be)! These people live off the land. There basement shelves are packed full of canned jam &jellys, vegetables, fruit, all kinds of pickles, relishes even mustard and horseradish. There freezer is full of meat from the farm or deer from their woods. My mom loves to bake, my dad seems to enjoy making obscure meat products.. liverwurst, souse, paun haus?, pickled pigs feet, lard, etc.. etc..
The have this lovely farm house on 30 acres that has 5 bedrooms, 2 bath, kitchen, living and tv rooms. The room that everyone seems to gather in is the BASEMENT. It is well furnished with a porch swing, picnic table, card tables and a butchering table. Snacks, pop and beer are free flowing. It has a stove, sink, and two refrigerators. My dad makes the best popcorn that they grew from their garden. He also orders peanuts to roast. He has XM radio and has now upgraded to a small tv for if "the guys want to watch the game" while they are butchering. He has no interest in it, but is the most accommodating host. You never know who is going to show up or why... My mom keeps a journal of the comings and goings. I guess someday we will read, remember and laugh.
Hubby has been in STL for work this week, So today is the first day I am home alone in months. So how do a celebrate such a momentous occasion? A quick shower and shopping with Mom.
I love my Mom. She is imperfectly perfect. She is my go to source for any information I may need. She has raised 9 kids that she never had to bail out of jail,. She loves to cook ( I don't ), and she usually has something she just made that she will force upon you to eat. She and Dad are retired now and spend their day much as I would imagine they would have expected. Dad will make sure the farm is taken care of even though my brother #4 is the one who runs it, My mom will make sure the house is taken care of. And together they will plan their garden, work in their garden, dream about their garden.
Their home is my fall out shelter for when the big one hits (whatever that may be)! These people live off the land. There basement shelves are packed full of canned jam &jellys, vegetables, fruit, all kinds of pickles, relishes even mustard and horseradish. There freezer is full of meat from the farm or deer from their woods. My mom loves to bake, my dad seems to enjoy making obscure meat products.. liverwurst, souse, paun haus?, pickled pigs feet, lard, etc.. etc..
The have this lovely farm house on 30 acres that has 5 bedrooms, 2 bath, kitchen, living and tv rooms. The room that everyone seems to gather in is the BASEMENT. It is well furnished with a porch swing, picnic table, card tables and a butchering table. Snacks, pop and beer are free flowing. It has a stove, sink, and two refrigerators. My dad makes the best popcorn that they grew from their garden. He also orders peanuts to roast. He has XM radio and has now upgraded to a small tv for if "the guys want to watch the game" while they are butchering. He has no interest in it, but is the most accommodating host. You never know who is going to show up or why... My mom keeps a journal of the comings and goings. I guess someday we will read, remember and laugh.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Amish Parking only..
I about hit a horse yesterday....
Not exactly what I planned on doing, but as I was pulling out of my driveway in my grocery getter, I look in my rear view mirror to see an amish buggy parked across the street. I wonder how good they handle in the snow? I wonder if I'm gonna spook the horse as I carefully back out? I did make it out of my driveway with no injuries and was able to take girl to the doctors appointment to find out she, along with every other person in this town has strep. As we skip out to the parking lot with our new found illness, we were deciding which drive thru to have our celebratory lunch at.
As we buckled ourselves in, and get ready to leave, I turn the key and nothing... not even a click...dead battery. My mind starts racing on who is going to come to my rescue. Hubby is out of town on business, Mom is quilting at the church, sister is watching kids at her house, Dad won't answer the phone, SIL!! I know she is home and maybe my brother is too. She asks if I have cables, yup, but scared to use them. She will be there shortly-i.e. 30 minutes. My Ipod keeps little miss entertained, for awhile, but she starts to get restless. True to her word, SIL does show up but not with her husband, but my brother #3. I have 4 and they are all interchangeable for each other. Little girl is excited to see her "uncle Boney" He, as usual, is not excited to be there. Asked why the battery died and I realized that one of the sliding doors was frozen when someone tried to open it. It was opened ever so slightly, but was enough to drain it. He does manage to get the battery jumped and we are on our way.
Its times like this I am thankful for living here. What would I have done if I lived elsewhere? I would have had to go back into the office to see if they had a phone book so I could call a garage so they could charge me to jump my car. Here I never left my car, just picked up the cell and my SIL made it happen. We have such a sense of community here. People doing for others not asking for payment but because they can. Life is good!
Not exactly what I planned on doing, but as I was pulling out of my driveway in my grocery getter, I look in my rear view mirror to see an amish buggy parked across the street. I wonder how good they handle in the snow? I wonder if I'm gonna spook the horse as I carefully back out? I did make it out of my driveway with no injuries and was able to take girl to the doctors appointment to find out she, along with every other person in this town has strep. As we skip out to the parking lot with our new found illness, we were deciding which drive thru to have our celebratory lunch at.
As we buckled ourselves in, and get ready to leave, I turn the key and nothing... not even a click...dead battery. My mind starts racing on who is going to come to my rescue. Hubby is out of town on business, Mom is quilting at the church, sister is watching kids at her house, Dad won't answer the phone, SIL!! I know she is home and maybe my brother is too. She asks if I have cables, yup, but scared to use them. She will be there shortly-i.e. 30 minutes. My Ipod keeps little miss entertained, for awhile, but she starts to get restless. True to her word, SIL does show up but not with her husband, but my brother #3. I have 4 and they are all interchangeable for each other. Little girl is excited to see her "uncle Boney" He, as usual, is not excited to be there. Asked why the battery died and I realized that one of the sliding doors was frozen when someone tried to open it. It was opened ever so slightly, but was enough to drain it. He does manage to get the battery jumped and we are on our way.
Its times like this I am thankful for living here. What would I have done if I lived elsewhere? I would have had to go back into the office to see if they had a phone book so I could call a garage so they could charge me to jump my car. Here I never left my car, just picked up the cell and my SIL made it happen. We have such a sense of community here. People doing for others not asking for payment but because they can. Life is good!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
How we ended up here..
My poor husband! He grew up around suburbs and strip malls. The over commercialization of America surrounded him. And then he met me.... Not that city life was foreign to me. I lived on my own in the armpit of America myself for almost a whole year. But the stupid things you do for love. After following him around from city to city as his career advanced, I stoically held onto my dream of living back in my home. A place that he would be surrounded by family (mine) and experience all four seasons,whether he wanted to or not. Somehow I made him convince the company he worked for that he could easily work from a home office and we could live wherever we wanted to. He suggested Jamaica, I made him move here.
Not that "here" is all that bad. Kids don't have play dates, they just go outside and play. Mom's call them in for dinner. Things haven't changed much here from generation to generation. Family loyalty has been described as 'clan like" Family names that would be unfamiliar anywhere else have been here since they came over from Europe. Agriculture has always been here and living off the land continues. We were organic before it was cool. Not only did we know what kind of food our beef was fed, most times we could tell you its name too. Its a double edge sword. Your neighbors know all about you, good or bad, and in most cases are there to help.
But here we are with our 3 kids and wiener dog. We ended up buying a house in the "business district." Across the street from the general store and 2 doors down from our local grocery store. This blog is meant to describe our transitions from urban to rural and how my big city, technology junkie husband deals with it.
Not that "here" is all that bad. Kids don't have play dates, they just go outside and play. Mom's call them in for dinner. Things haven't changed much here from generation to generation. Family loyalty has been described as 'clan like" Family names that would be unfamiliar anywhere else have been here since they came over from Europe. Agriculture has always been here and living off the land continues. We were organic before it was cool. Not only did we know what kind of food our beef was fed, most times we could tell you its name too. Its a double edge sword. Your neighbors know all about you, good or bad, and in most cases are there to help.
But here we are with our 3 kids and wiener dog. We ended up buying a house in the "business district." Across the street from the general store and 2 doors down from our local grocery store. This blog is meant to describe our transitions from urban to rural and how my big city, technology junkie husband deals with it.
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