Monday, September 12, 2016

Going forward ...

The last few weeks have been sort of up and down for me.  Feels like I'm marking time some days, in a way, but other days moving onward.  I had some time the week after Mom's death to re-read her old letters to me, written over the years.  For some reason I saved them.  So when I finished, I put them altogether with the few old pictures that I have of her, and put them away.  So it's time to move forward ...

We had a great day yesterday.  To church then right on to Elnora for a visit to the last day of the WRVAA antique tractor show.  We enjoyed demonstrations, looking at old tractors & equipment & steam engines, shopping the consignment barn, visiting with Becky and Sara in the log cabin (where they weave & spin), taking the shuttle all the way around to see what we needed to get off and look at more closely, watching people pick up hams and sides of bacon from the smoke house, ate a fish sandwich and had home-made ice cream, chatted with some old friends and some perfect strangers, then wandered off to the car and came back home.  It was beautiful, weather-wise, and good to be outdoors.  When we got home I showered and sat out on the porch and finished a book from the 44 Scotland Street Series by Alexander McCall Smith.  Really enjoying this series!  Listened to the Colts get beat (heartbreaker); so glad we sold the rights to our season tickets -- I think we chose a good time to do so.  After a light dinner of cheese and crackers and wine, we sat out on the porch and listened as the turkeys went to roost 'just' east of the house!  Wow, do they make a lot of noise.  It was a wonderful experience.  They get up into a tree then flop their way from branch to branch, up higher.  This is how high they went to roost: when I got up this a.m. I went out on the porch just in time to watch one fly over the top of the house and land right out by the round flower bed!!!  Honest!  You can't not love living here when something like that happens.

Well, even though Wendell's been suffering with a sinus infection we have been out and about, and enjoying the country life, so here's a few pictures of what's going on ...

One Saturday recently we went to Spencer to the car show down along the river.  We really enjoy looking at old cars ...

That same day we found that also in town was an all-VW car show at the courthouse square.  I took lots of pictures but here's a few. Some old and restored, some fairly new and tricked out.  There were bugs, things, buses, trucks ... It was great fun!






We've really had a super abundance of butterflies this summer.  And hummingbirds.  Maybe because we got so much rain and the flowers bloomed like crazy?  I don't know but I took tons of pictures of them this summer!
Here's some pictures I took yesterday at the Elnora WRVAA Show:

They've got a really neat old gas station ...

Remembered that Jeff once had an old Studebaker pickup truck when I saw this one.

Saw some weird paint jobs ... not a factory color!

And another odd-ball color ...

It was fun watching people carry away these large hams and sides.  They had tasty samples for people to try!

An old wagon from Swartzentruber's ...

The saw mill was very popular; the steam engine was making it all happen!

Horses pulling making the hay-baler work.

All in all yesterday was a very good day ... God is good.