Category Archives: Kids

2025, Family, History, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Remnants

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My mother and her four paternal aunts (Lena, Meta, Bertha, and Greta) spent a great deal of time in the mid-1930’s filling my mother’s Hope Chest with patchwork quilts they sewed. They used cloth scraps from their own and others’ unneeded clothing as well as larger pieces for backing. Mom never really used them and just kept them in her cedar chest.

I started using them after Husband and I married. There were four of them. One is still in tremendous shape and we have it on a bed in the basement. The quilts worked best as blankets under the bedspread as they are all sized for double beds. Two of the quilts disintegrated after about 10 years. I decided to preserve the third one and patched it as best I could and put on a new backing. I hung it on the wall in my work office for many years until time and gravity started it to sag and tear at the seams.

It has been in a cabinet in my new office until I started to clean and get rid of stuff preparatory to my retirement. I took the quilt out to our van and left it there to be used as part of winter survival gear

Husband brought it into our son’s house when we were visiting there last week, and our grandson insisted that we put it on his bed, and he slept under it every night we were in Brookings. Mind you, it hadn’t been laundered in 25 years, and was probably full of dust, but grandson loved it and wasn’t happy when we took it home. I told him I wanted to patch it better and we would bring it back to him at our next visit. It dawned on me that the quilt is about 90 years old. My mother and her aunts would be pleased some of their handwork is still being used and loved.

What precious things do you have that have been handed down? What do you want to hand down for future generations? What do you think are essentials for “Hope Chests” these days?

2025, Automotive, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Playing Chicken

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Most Wednesdays I leave the house very early to hit my favorite donut place.  When I left yesterday, YA said she was going to the gym before work and would probably be gone before I got back. 

I was thinking about that when I pulled into my driveway and saw that she was starting to back out of the garage.  She didn’t notice me right away (I was on the hill part of the driveway so my lights were pointing higher than her car) so she didn’t wait for me to pull into the garage next to her so I just sat and waited.

What you need to know is that YA and I have different strategies for dealing with our long driveway.  I almost always just back all the way down to the street.  YA does several little turns at the top of our driveway so that she is driving out headfirst.  Both techniques have their pluses and minuses.  But it meant that by the time she had turned herself around at the top, there would be room for me to get by and into the garage.

Went exactly as I had expected but while I was waiting it did make me think about “playing chicken”.  I’m not a big playing chicken kind of gal but it does feature in a movie I’ve watched too many times:

Have you ever been in a submarine?  Do you have a favorite submarine movie?

2025, Family, Health, History, Kids, Uncategorized

Running In the Family

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When our daughter was in college, it never failed that every time she came home at the end of a semester she would spend at least a day lying on the sofa with a low grade fever. I attributed it to her body’s reaction to the stress of finals and assignments.

Last Saturday after my last full time day of work, I was felled both by a flare up of sciatica and a low grade fever that has lasted all this week. Hmm? Could daughter and I have similar reactions to stress? I think so. She probably inherited it from me.

Both our children teasingly blame me for their propensity to Generalized Anxiety Disorder. From their father they inherited flat feet. I have lumbar scoliosis like my maternal grandmother. So does one of my cousins. I did not inherit my father’s athleticism, but I did his musicality. Goodness only knows where I got A- blood type. I did not inherit my maternal grandmother’s ability to do complex math in her head. Our grandson seems to have that ability, and is proud to tell me that in Grade 1 he can do algebra in his head and is in an enrichment Math program. It is hard at times to know what is nurture and what is nature, but however our forebears hand things down to us, it can make our lives interesting.

What did you inherit or wish you had or hadn’t had inherited from your forebears? Ever read Running In The Family by Michael Ondaatje?

2025, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Birthday Balloons

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YA doesn’t like a big fuss made about her birthday.  This year she did request a birthday breakfast at one of her favorite places – The Lowbrow – but that was it.

This is hard for me as I love making a fuss.  In my old job, everybody was in charge of someone else’s birthday.  Card and treat.  For the last several years of my employment, I had Norma’s birthday.  Norma loved having a fuss made over her almost as much as I loved making a fuss; we were a match made in heaven.  I miss those days.

Anyway, YA doesn’t ever want a gathering, a cake, a fuss.  About five years ago I made a banner that I hung up in the dining room and then I added balloons for her age.  She allowed this so that’s my go-to these days…. I hang up the banner and put up the balloons.

I figured out that year that I could extend the festivities a bit by celebrating the dog.  YA is 20 years older than Guinevere so all I had to do was take down the “2” balloon, leaving the “5” balloon up for the dog.  It’s the only fuss that Guinevere gets; she doesn’t even like the balloon.  If you take it down to show it to her, she runs out of the room. 

This year, with Guinevere turning 10, I did have to get a “1” balloon to make her age correct.  Seemed a little silly to buy a balloon for the dog, but I did it anyway.   Since I’m not making a big deal about Norma anymore, I guess the dog gets the attention!

Have you ever celebrated a pet’s birthday?  How?

2025, animals, Family, Farming Update, home, Kids, Nature, Weather

I Spy

36 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Every time I went outside this past week I’d say “Hooo Doggie!” like Jed Clampet. It was kinda brisk.

No one was very interested in going outside.   

The chickens were very happy to just hang out in the coop.

The guys working on the tower didn’t come back until Wednesday morning, and then Thursday they had a crane helping them.

Taking daughter into town one morning and I was telling her about a dream I had. (I have a lot of theater and lighting dreams). I was expounding on dream interpretation, when she said, “Okay Dad”. Ah. Point taken. I stopped talking. And I thought she was hanging on my every word.

The bathroom remodeling is in the dusty ‘sanding drywall’ phase. The guys are doing a pretty good job putting up plastic and sealing things, but that dust…it gets everywhere. Kelly taped baffles over the gap at the bottom of the doors, and even that didn’t help. I picked up my computer mouse and there was a dusty outline of that. And that was at the far end of a room with the door closed. Sigh. Part of the deal. This too shall pass. That’s Humphrey peeking through the plastic in the header photo, he’s just wondering when this will finish. Kinda like daughter. The guys know it’s not personal when she comes out of her room and yells, “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE DONE!??” It’s just messing up her routine.

I’m making progress organizing the shop. Construction is basically done, other than adding shelving or cabinets, and I do have to finish installing some screws on the ground row (because I hate getting down on the ground unless I must, I put off installing those screws) and a couple other places I realized I forgot to install screws. I’ve mounted an air hose reel inside, and finished the wall outside, and moved some toolboxes. There’s a couple things I’m not sure I should mount until the electricians are finished. I’ve ordered some fancy dancy lights: A bunch for inside, a couple big ones outside the shop doors, a small one over the walk-in door, and two over the work bench.

Luna the dog. Short for ‘Luna-tic’. When we go outside, she’s so excited to be out doing something, she spends most of the time hopping on her back legs chewing on my hand. We learned a new trick where she bites a big stick, and I can spin her in circles. Well, I myself can’t spin too many circles before I fall over, but she loves it.

Bailey hates to be left out.

And all three dogs love eating the corn I throw out for the chickens. Luna will eat right out of the bucket while I’m dumping it out.

They’re all so weird.

Last week I got seed ordered for spring. This week all the necessary fertilizer and chemicals was confirmed. My goodness, nothing is getting cheaper. $30,000 this week. It’s only money!

Saturday is the Met in HD opera movie. ‘Aida’. It’s a long opera, 3 hour 15 minutes. I’ll be getting the large popcorn. And taking a nap. During the movie I mean. I can’t stand the music, but I enjoy the “production” of it all. 

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD TO EAT RIGHT OUT OF THE CONTAINER?

2025, Art, Gatherings, Kids

Saturday Crafting

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When I was in St. Louis, looking for place close to Nonny’s where I might find an old-fashioned roller shade, I discovered that Fleet Farm was doing a free craft day.  Luckily it was after I got home since driving around in St. Louis after their big snowstorm was not my idea of fun.  Also luckily the craft event was at all the Fleet Farms, not just the St. Louis locations.

I didn’t have anything scheduled for that morning so headed south to the Lakeville Fleet Farm – about 20 minutes in the Saturday morning traffic.  Got there about 10 minutes early so wandered around a bit.  Although I was technically first in line, a family with two young boys was right behind me; I left them go first. 

It was a pretty easy project.  Paint the little jar with modge podge (a kind of craft glue), roll it in fake snowflakes, glue on the two little eyes and carrot nose.  Then twist together two pipe cleaners and pick out two cotton “earmuffs”.  The staff hot glued the pipe cleaners and earmuffs on the cap of the jar.  Then they gave us each a battery operated votive candle for inside the snowglobe.

As a planner at heart, I couldn’t help noticing how I would have done the craft day differently.  I would have put modge podge and snowflakes at each of the tables to prevent the big glut at the beginning.  I would have checked all the glue bottles to make sure the top notch was clipped off so the glue would come out.  And I would have had at least three employees at the hot glue station. 

Of course, these are big complaints… the craft was going as well as could be expected when most of the crafters were five and under.  I was the first one done and I was walking back to my car, two different families stopped me to look at it, as they were on there way in for the event.

I didn’t really need to drive to Lakeville to do this.  By looking at the photo I was pretty sure I actually had all the stuff to make this at home, except for the little votive candle.  But it was a pretty morning, I had a good CD for the drive and got a nice coffee before I headed home.  I used red and green pipe cleaners so it will be part of my Solstice décor in December.  For the time being it’s still sitting on the kitchen counter where I can still admire it every day.

Do you have a relaxing Saturday morning routine?

2025, Fantasy, Kids, Nature, Travel, work

Where in the World is YA?

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The photos above were taken from YA’s hotel room in Banff. 

It’s still a little bizarre that YA now works in the same travel division as I did for 33 years, albeit in a different department.  She designs website and mobile apps for group travel; when a client purchases a mobile app, she accompanies the group to provide onsite support for the app.  She seems to enjoy it.

I know people who have retired from the industry and many of them have really missed the travel.  I would even call it grieving in a couple of cases.  I wondered if I would feel the same, but I have not.  I’ve always felt extraordinarily lucky to have had my job and visited so many fabulous places; I even fantasized about making a life in many of those places.  My favorite destination was almost always the last place I’d visited. 

Banff is a gorgeous place and I’ve been there twice, both at this time of year, when there is snow and the air is clear and brisk.  Seeing YA’s photos did give me a momentary pang but it was replaced with a great feeling of gratitude that she is getting to have some of these experiences – experiences that certainly enriched my life.

Any place you think would be nice to visit in January?

2024, 2025, Fantasy, Games, Kids, sports, Uncategorized

It’s a Hobby

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When YA was seven, she wanted to be a “horse girl” for Halloween.  Took me a bit by surprise because she hadn’t shown any particular horsey interest up to that point.  We had fun putting the costume together.  Nonny bought the cowboy boots, I got her a hat and a stick horse.  The jeans and shirt she already had.  I still have that stick horse in a corner of my bedroom.

Imagine my surprise last week (while I was wasting time on my phone while Nonny did her morning exercises) when I stumbled on a website for Hobby Horse Championships.

This is a real thing.  It’s called “hobby horsing” and if you look it up on Wikipedia there is a note at the top, in italics, that says “Not to be confused with Hobby Horse polo”.  That made me snort coffee up my nose.  HHing was apparently born in Finland and started to make waves in 2017.  Most participants are young girls, between the age of 12-18.  Classic horse-loving demographic.  These days there are quite a few national competitions (most in Europe) and the largest gathering of 2024 was at the end of August in Finland.  The United States’ games were the beginning of August.

I doubt YA will be interested in this; her infatuation with horses ended after a couple of summer horse camps when she was in Girl Scouts.  But you never know.

YA’s stick horse needs a name.  What do you think?

2024, Family, Gatherings, Kids, Uncategorized

Naughty!

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We went to a very early Christmas Eve Service at 1:30 PM on Tuesday. It was nice to be in the congregation instead of being a church musician. Nice, that is, aside from the three very naughty children in the pew in front of us.

The children in question were apparently cousins sitting between their mothers. One was an 8 year old girl in a green, spangly dress. The other two were brothers, ages about 8 and 4. The girl’s mother was somewhat attentive. The boys’ mother was somewhat inert. Their father was seated on the other side of her from the boys, and he didn’t seem to notice what they were doing.

No one sat still. There was constant movement and activity. The four year old was the major instigator of trouble. The adults had wisely provided crayons and papers to color on, but the four year old decided crayons were weapons to draw on his brother and stick in his brother’s ears. He blew raspberries at his brother and cousin and they pushed and shoved him. Sometimes they tried to ignore him. There were snacks and crackers all over the pew. The boys’ mom sometimes whispered to them to settle down, but did nothing to stop any of the activity. This went on the entire service.

It wasn’t until the four year old decided to start smashing Goldfish Crackers in his brother’s hair that I intervened. I tapped him lightly on the shoulder with my bulletin. He spun around, saw my glare, sat down, and didn’t move for the rest of the service. I am happy to say that our grandson colored quietly for the majority of the service.

What were the most difficult venues for you to behave in? How would your parents have handled the naughty ones I encountered?

2024, Art, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Art

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I am amazed by the wonderful art kits and projects that are availble these days for children. We got our grandson something called Paint By Stickers. You can see one of his creations in the header photo. We also got him this amazing art kit:

It has water color pencils, pastels, charcoal pecils for sketching, and things I can’t even identify. He loves doing art projects. He set straight to work with it after opening it on Wednesday morning.

I sure can’t say the same for me either now or when I was a child. I despised art class and art projects in school. Sewing and embroidery made sense and I enjoyed them. I still do, but drawing? Forget it. My fingers don’t do what my brain tells it to do when I have an art implement in my hand. My hand writing is and always has been awful. I think it has something to do with a lack of patience.

One of my favorite college classes was Art History. I love other people’s art and learning about artists and their lives. .Just don’t make me create anything. I will leave that to the proficient.

What art projects did you like or not like as a child? How about now? Who are your favorite artists?