Busy Week For Astrid

 Yesterday, Astrid competed in the State Track Meet.  Her relay team won 3rd and she placed 4th in the mile.  Her mile time was the best this year for her and there were only seconds between the runners.

 The pictures below are from the soccer game May 1st against Siloam.  A friend I used to work with takes photos and he wrote down the address of his flicker site.  I got these from his site.  There are several but I wanted to keep them so I am posting them here.

 We have a soccer game tonight against Greenwood.

And some track pictures...  I think these are from when she won the mile run at Mountain home!

Making Old New Again

I was able to till half of my garden today.  I go down each row twice and get close to both rows.  This is so much easier than trying to do everything with a hoe.  Before long I can gravel potatoes.  Where did that term come from?  I don't know, but that is what Granny and Momma always said.  Momma would scrap them and roll them in corn meal, salt and pepper and fry in iron skillet.  She kept it low so they could get done and the outside was crispy brown.  Oh, nothing was better---but we were always hungry.  Each evening we had a pan of corn bread and cows milk and green onions if it was that time of year.  It was delicious.

 Larry made my worn out wheel barrow--all new again.  He ordered the handles and wedges off the internet.  When the wedges came--they sent one.  He had to order again to have a set!  Two handles came.  He painted the outside blue again.  Glad he did not paint the inside as I would hate to use it and get it dirty.  I am going to collect some horse manure in it after I get my tomatoes out.  Which I plan to do by Saturday.

 We bought this when we were building the brown brick house. 1989, the year after Daddy passed.

 It has a new tire and new bolts.  Better than a new one to me.  I plan to store it out of the weather under my shed.

 I love my new Instant Pot--pressure cooker.  I fixed ribs last night.  You pressure them in apple juice and then put in the oven on each side with sauce about 15 minutes.  They were really good.

 Another Iris blooming.  I hope to find a bed for yellow irises this year so next spring I can have yellow ones blooming.  The yellow are in the weeds beyond the fence.  Larry's Mom put them in the yard, but I guess rains have moved them about 2 feet and now they are in the pasture.  I want to save them.

 The geese turned out to be a family.  I guess they wintered here on Gala Lake.  When I tried to take a picture, Momma would hover near them and they would set down in the grass.   Papa Goose was a little ways off keeping watch.  I did not get him in the photo.

 This is the other half of my garden ....still too wet to plow.  Larry said plowing wet ground will ruin your soil.  It will clod and clump.  The soil needs to not have those wet looking areas before you plow!  I am dumb, but my husband knows everything about gardening.

Cyclones Beat Siloam

Astrid's name was in the paper with her Soccer Team.

I plan to go out today and see if I can plow in my garden but it may still be too wet.  I know I can't till it all as one side is wetter than the other.

Tommy Parker's Pictures

Human Bird Feeder

 Clayton is holding bird seed and asking the birds to come and snack.

Greta created this photo with her green eyes and a side ward smirk.  Then recreated it with her own rendition.  I absolutely love it.

Gardens, Geese, and Glory

Patsy would be 77 today.  I miss her.

 Pop built this flower garden for Sigrid.  I think this is her 3rd year to have flowers in it.  I bought her the bird bath for her birthday one year.  I got a metal one so it would not freeze and burst if she left water in it.  Below she planted Phlox in an old wheel barrow.  What a neat idea.

 This is a different variety of Phlox in an old tin bath tub.

 Her peach tree that she got for her birth day...has peaches again!

 This is one of the two big ferns Larry gave Laura last year.  She put them under her house for the winter and they are going to come back.  They were beautiful last year and I bet they will be again.

 Pop put a hose reel near the side of the house.  it is attached to that post.  I told him it could be my Mother's Day gift.  The hose will be off the ground and out of the way now.

 One of my Mums is starting to bloom.  I recall that Patsy said often they bloomed twice.

 This is one of my predator birds--Red Wing Black Bird.  They used to hog the bird feeder but since I took Pop's advice and moved it near the house, they enjoy the seeds but let the other birds eat too.

 These two stopped by yesterday.  They will move on but are lovely guests for a while.

 They are making a feast from that yellow blooming weed.  Geese graze like cattle!

Pop's favorite might be the Blue Jay.  He really thinks the are pretty.  

This is the old plant that Patsy told me the correct name for and as usual I have forgotten.  It is not a pretty bloom but it is a lush plant for early spring.  It will fill the flower bed with great, green leaves.

 Two bearded ladies in my yard.

 Grandma Gaddy's Hens and Chickens are thriving.

 When I walked over to take a picture of Sig's flowers, I spotted this wild cat with breakfast in her jaws.  Wild cats are a nuisance.  They carry diseases and hang around your house at night.   You will find foot prints on your car.  Larry and I don't really like cats.

 Cousins?  How long does it take a family to grow distant.  Well, I was thinking of this yesterday.  I think after two generations the connection is really broken usually.  I thought back to our family.  Daddy did not know much about his Aunt Oma's children and nothing about Bertha's.  Then our generation was blank as to their existence and they to ours.  Daddy knew his cousins from Uncle Jesse really well, but we don't know much about the generation after that.  If you live in the same town or better yet as neighbors, it is different.  Melton Powell's Grandchildren and Jesse's were not close growing up.  A tie that binds is snipped with time!

May Day

 Astrid and Laura and Astrid's friend, Zac, hiked yesterday.  She shared these pictures with me.  Astid jumped off the Falls here.  She said it was really cold!

 I am not sure where this is.  It is is really pretty.

 Ingrid and her friend Claire after church Sunday.  Ingrid came over last evening and ordered a life case for her Iphone.  She is going on a big trip soon and she wants her phone to be protected.  The life case even protects against water damage.  I am sure not dropping in a lake but at least a heavy rain.  Claire's Grandmother is sending Clarie on the New York-Washington DC trip, too.  I know it will be so much more fun with a dear friend to share the adventrure.

 Fleta has been going through stuff in a "shed" is the way Helen put it.  She found some of Daddy's old shirts.  Dad passed in 1988--almost 30 years ago.  Helen is a seamstress and she recognized 3 shirts she sewed for Dad.  She asked me if I made this one.  "No", I said...but then I started remembering it.  I did make it.  I bet she could tell by the sorry work!  Daddy loved it and nearly wore it out.  Momma must have loved it too as it was packed away.  Below Daddy has it on and Sweet Patsy came by his house for a visit.  I think I made the shirt before Laura was born in 1974.  I did not make another.  I guess the better sewer took over the task!  Seeing, remembering, wondering how I could have forgotten--it has made me really sad.  Erin, see the lawn mower on the front porch?

Daddy and Mom's life together was shaped by the person below--my sister, Debbie Lee.  Today, she would have be 60.  The photo is from the Patsy Powell collection.   Patsy wore the pictures "out" when she lived in California.   I miss both Patsy and Debbie Lee today.  I see our farm dog, "Jackie", the old barn, the path we wore going back and forth to do our milking chores,  and the year--April 1964. 

Like A Warrior

When Astrid was small, she stayed with Pop and Gigi a lot in the summer.  Eric was in college getting his teaching degree and when he went to class, Astrid stayed with us.  Ingrid went to daycare most of the time, but with Astrid staying with us the family did not have to pay for two child care bills and she was not at our house all day everyday just when Eric had class.  I took the above photo in the summer of 2004.  We raised a lot of Feist pups and she helped with all of them.  Even then, Astrid was a warrior.  I was glad to see the praise Coach Ben Goodman lauded on Astrid in this morning's paper.  I taught Ben in 6th grade.  Seems like time as just flew by and now Ben is an adult and Astrid almost grown!  

Sigrid called yesterday to see if I had a cake mix.  I had chocolate.  She created this masterpiece using the tools Erin gave her for her birthday.  She loves baking and gardening.  

Erin sent a picture of Clayton by phone and I sent it to the computer--TWICE, but still it has not arrived.  He was eating a pancake breakfast before church.  And he used Papa Clifton's muscadine jelly for syrup.  It sure looked good.

We have enough rain for a while.  Garden is growing nicely.  I hope now it will dry out and I can use my old new tiller in between the rows.