Creating - For Yourself and Others

Recently my sister helped plan and present a program at the Boone County Conservation District called "A Day in the Life of a Pioneer Wife". It was a tremendous success and the participants came away with a glimpse into the chores and activities of a pioneer woman, circa 1850.

Some of the activities included dying yarn with indigo and other natural plants. They also sew together small quilt squares. It was a chance to go back in time.

At the end of the day one of the participants approached my sister and said, "Thank you so much. I forgot how much fun it is to create something with your hands."

She's right. It is fun and rewarding. In this world of the manufactured, we've lost sight of the beauty of handmade. Have you visited ETSY? It's filled with really talented people. Some of them, like me, have lost their jobs and have decided to use their talents to create home-based businesses. It's a chance to try and create your own success.

I am thankful for the talents God has given me and for two women who encouraged and nurtured all things artistic - my mom and my grandmother. I was taught to do something creative every day. On my last day on earth they'll probably have to pry a crochet hook or sewing needle out of my hands!

I've been sewing and crocheting up a storm to restock my Etsy shop and in preparation for an upcoming craft fair that my sister and I will participate in. But I decided to take time out of those tasks to create something for myself. Yeah baby... no shoemakers kids without shoes in this house!

My brain was stuck on having a nice large tote bag to carry with me on the plane when I fly to Arkansas next month. In my dreams it is filled to the brim with yarn, hooks and projects galore. I can get alot done on a plane ride, you should watch that hook fly!

I saw this tote bag in a newspaper ad.



I love the quilted design and this tote has wheels and a handle, neither of which is actually necessary for my needs. It's a Chanel Coco Coccoon Nylon Trolley. Don't you love cool names? Someone got paid big bucks to come up with that one. But, it's a Chanel and the ad says, "Price Upon Request".

Seriously.

This isn't an Italian sport car, it's a tote bag. But the old saying is, if you have to ask you can't afford it.

And so, I decided to create my own tote bag using some tapestry style decorator fabric in lucious fall colors. I bought this fabric on sale and have been hoarding it for a special project. This is a special project!

While in Tennessee I picked Amy Butler's Sweet Harmony pattern. It includes pattern and directions for either a handbag or a nice large tote.

Beverly and I worked as a team and this is what we came up with.


Sweet Harmony Tote

It's perched on top of our stupid Sahara Sand Luggage. Haven't heard that story? Click the link and have a laugh on us.

I added the strap to keep the tote from gaping open since it will be overstuffed with yarn and I needed a good excuse to use this vintage button.


Strap and vintage button.

As often happens I couldn't stop there. With leftover fabric I created this little pouch for lipstick and other stuff. This is from a cool designer called Keka Lou. I love her patterns. They're very simple to put together and her directions are wonderful.


Keyka Lou's Pyramid Pouch

While surfing around I found Skip to My Lou, who posted a free pattern for a luggage tag. Gosh, you've got to love talented people who share stuff for free.

Skip to My Lou's free luggage tag pattern


Matching Fabric Luggage Tag.


Reverse side of luggage tag.

Not Chanel, but not bad.


Tote, straining under the pressure of tons of yarn.

Do you sew? Have you always wanted to learn how? Ask someone who knows how. Beg them to teach you. It's so much fun and so rewarding.

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Here's what I'm going to do. I'll create a luggage tag just for you. Leave me a comment and let me know you're interested. I'll close the giveaway on Sunday evening at 8 p.m. Central Standard Time and announce the winner at next Monday's staff meeting.

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Monday Morning Staff Meeting. I've decided that today we're going to forego sweets and have something savory. How about this for breakfast?



It's a Potato, Onion and Gruyere Gallette. Doesn't it look delicious. It is!

The recipe is from Susan's blog, Schitzel and the Trout.

This is certainly a case of pass the recipe because Susan got it from Wives with Knives, who in turn got it from a bg called Moveable Feast.

Grab something to drink and a plate full of this potato and onion goodness and let's get started.

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Farm and Fru Fru recently posted a picture of a piece of wall art.



And the surprise is that it's made from toilet paper rolls! That's right up the Farmer's alley because you know how he feels about toilet paper.

FORT KNOX OF TOILET PAPER

You can learn how to make one for yourself at Design Sponge. Here's the tutorial:

TOILET PAPER ROLL ART

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I posted this photo of a sign from a local farm.

.

Tess said...

"Fresh eggs -- self serve? I'm scratching my head with thoughts of all the possibilities."

She's right and got me to thinking about it. Would that mean that you let yourself into the hen house and collect eggs fresh out of the nest?

No. This farm has a self-serve egg "store". It's the woman's enclosed side porch. She has a small sliding door cooler like you'd see in a convenient store. The eggs are arranged in order, small, medium and large. There's a table with pencil and paper and a slotted box to leave the money. You write down what you've taken - 2 dozen medium, 1 dozen extra large, put the the money in the box and you're done!

The eggs are wonderfully fresh. We also have many farmers who set up tables of self-serve garden fresh vegetables.

Do you have these types of self-serve places in your area?

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We al know that Facebook was set up as a social media for college kids. That's evolved and the joke is that the young people are leaving Facebook by the thousands. Why? Because their mother's have shown up on the site!



Well, it seems that their mothers are not the only ones who have shown up on Facebook. Their grandfathers and great-grandfathers are on "the Face".

The above article appeared in the Sunday Chicago Tribune and it tells the story of 89-yr. old Richard Bosack who recently joined Facebook. In the photo he's reacting to the fact that he's discovered how to change his profile.

I think it's great. We should never stop learning new things.

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And here's a final photo for you. Just because.



Have a great day. Join me tomorrow when I talk about sewing for fun and for profit.

A Slice of Americana

In an attempt to find some inspiration for today's post I went through the files from my photoblog, THE FARMER'S WIFE.

There are photos that are just such a slice of Americana and I want to share them with you.

First we have "Ladies in Waiting".



These elderly ladies were escorted from their nursing home to a prime spot on the parade route in a small town near the Wisconsin border. They were patiently waiting for the parade to begin and this man was patiently listening to stories from the long-ago. It was an extremely hot day and I remember being puzzled by the sweaters.

From the parade I present "Local Dignitary".



Local politicians, realtors and whomever else deems themself important enough can borrow a vintage land yacht convertible, make up a sign and have themselves driven through town.

I call this "Long Winded Speakers".



Another incredibly hot day. This was Memorial Day and this woman (one of the dignitaries) appeared to fall asleep during one of the speeches. She could have been checking out the program but honestly I think she was sleeping!

"Wild Ride".



You can drive out into rural areas and take a plane ride.

"Fresh Eggs"



You can stop anyplace they hang out a sign that says "Eggs for sale".

"Corn Dogs and Plowing".



You can sit in a wagon and eat corn dogs.



While you watch some men plow a field with a steam powered tractor.

And just because you need a smile today, here's some livestock cuteness.


Newborn


Happy Sheep


Dreaming only of you.

Close Encounters of the First Kind

Neighbor Betty and I have a standing date to meet up late at night to watch the Perseids meteor shower. We've been doing this for a couple of years. We set up our chairs and spend a couple of hours watching the sky and talking. It's always a beautiful way to spend an evening.

This year the Perseid shower was to peak on the night of August 12th. We set up our chairs on her daughter's driveway because she lives on higher ground. We saw several small streaks of light as meteors hit the atmosphere. There were also several larger meteors trailing brilliant tails. They were traveling incredibly fast.

About midnight Betty's daughter came outside to join our watch. It was a short time later that we had our close encounter of the first kind.

Let me say at this point that Neighbor Betty has several things on her bucket list. One of them is to see an Aurora Borealis. I have orders to call her any time of the night, if I see an Aurora. But seeing an unidentified flying object is probably NOT on her bucket list.

As we were looking to the northwest we noticed something very strange. A light appeared, faint at first, growing brighter and stronger. The only way I can describe it is that it pulsed slowly, from faint to very bright then back down to faint, and gone. It was not like anything we'd seen before. It was at least 30 times brighter than Venus. There were no companion lights, such as an airplane would have. In my mind it was definitely not an airplane.

We watched the area because if it was a plane the light would appear again but the position would change as it moved in the sky. I fully expected the light to appear again in a slightly different location.

There it was again. Pulsing from nothing to bright..... in the EXACT SAME SPOT in the sky. Now we were truly puzzled. Our minds raced to make some sense of what we were seeing. Seconds passed. The light pulse appeared a third time.

Seconds passed. I'm counting in my head. One... two... three... four. There it is again. This time very faint, making it seem as if it had moved a great distance away. And there was more. On both sides of the main light was a trail, making the light look like an elongated oval.

Oh boy.

We continued the discussion about what this could possible be. We scratched our heads and watch more comets. As we parted our ways we wondered once again.

The next morning I hit the internet. There were no reports of anything strange happening in our area. But something strange had happened. A few days later I ran into a neighbor who is a pilot. I recounted our experience to him, hoping he might have some explanation. And he did.

He said we probably saw an Iridium Satellite. Never heard of it. Evidently it's used to service satellite phones and the configuration of it's solar panels creates the light pulse that we had seen.

IRIDIUM SATELLITE FLARES

It is usual to see three, four or more pulses and certainly unusual that the light appears to be stationary. But what I've deduced is that from our position the satellite was moving directly away from us which accounted for the fact that it appeared motionless to us.


Iridium Satellite - Source, Wikipedia

The streaks to each side give the optical appearance of something ovoid.

Mystery solved. But I am not happy because I love a little mystery in life. It sometimes annoys me that scientists feel duty bound to explain absolutely everything. Let's leave some mystery.

And so, my bucket list still contains the item.....

- Have a close encounter of the first kind.

Biblical Plagues

This summer has been a little bit strange. The spring was cold and wet and the summer has been hot and humid. Nothing has been totally out of the range that would be considered normal but the conditions have been such to trigger some events that I'll refer to as biblical plagues.

About a month ago I mowed our two acres and everything was normal. Two weeks later I mowed and was beseiged by small beige moth like insects flying in clouds as my tractor passed over. Thousands, thousands of these insects flew up as I passed through them, attempting to dodge their path. Yikes! I'm not a big fan of the insect world.

A quick trip around the internet resulted identification - sod webworms in the lawn. Got a strong stomach? Read about them.

SOD WEBWORMS

Yuck. Insects.

Shortly after the appearance of the moth plague brown patches began to appear on the lawn. The old homestead was beginning to look like the Addams Family had taken up residence.

What to do? We called the lawn guy to come and zap them. I was reading that there are biological controls such as spreading nematodes but I would never be able to sleep with the thought that gajillions of THESE CREEPY ROUNDWORMS crawling around outside my window.

These webworms are an infestation in northern Illinois this year. When we were returning from Tennessee we encountered clouds of them as we drove north across the Illinois river.

If that wasn't enough a second plague has visited us in the form of an amphibian. Late one evening I went out the door on the small porch, intending to retrieve something from my car. I was stopped dead in my tracks. On the concrete porch floor was a knot of toads. That is the correct collective known for a group of toads but I much prefer "a slimy lump of toads".

I quickly retreated back in the house, not willing to confront the ugly creatures. Every night the scene was repeated. My son reported up to a half dozen toads on the porch when he returned from his late shift at the hospital.

Has my porch become the local toady disco? Personally, I want them to find another spot to party.

Although these things are an annoyance to us, in the time of our pioneer forefathers these types of occurrences - bad weather, insects and marauding amphibians - could have spelled death. They lived on a razor's edge of food production. The book Cold Mountain gives you a look into the seriousness with which people planned for the months and years ahead. The loss of your hog could mean starvation in the winter. Failure to stockpile enough firewood for the winter could mean you'd freeze.

Our recent visit to The Homeplace was a reminder of how hard these people worked to provide for their families and how organized, mindful and resourceful they needed to be just to survive.

Any unusual occurences in your area?

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Thanks for coming to the meeting this morning. I'd like to thank each one of you for taking time out of your busy day to visit here with me. I never cease to be amazed that someone would be interested in our little lives here in the American midwest. But, on second thought it makes sense because I love to hear about how you are living your lives in other parts of this country, and in New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Norway and many other places that I am able to visit thanks to the magic of the internet.

This past week seemed to just "poof" into thin air. Where did it go? Not a single blog post since last Monday's meeting. Heck, I can't even use the excuse of getting kids ready to go back to school, not unless our daughter has decided to go for her PhD. And our son? Yes, he's entering his final year of nursing school. He can buy his own back-to-school clothes and books.

Just to keep myself in training I went out and bought three spiral bound notebooks, just so I could feel a part of the school year excitement. They were 5 cents each so it was no stain on my budget!

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First and foremost in our meeting agenda is.... the food.

This week I traveled over to the Italian grocery store. Most days I try to stay out of there and certainly far away from their bakery department. The temptation is too great if I wander into the "bakery zone".

Anyway, the treat this morning is called a banana boat.



I'm not a big fan of bananas but this is really good. Yes, I had to do a taste test to make sure I wasn't serving you something awful.

It's basically a eclair shell filled with vanilla pudding, sliced bananas and whipped cream. It's not heavy at all. Everything has a nice light texture.

Enjoy.

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I am reminded to ask if you've ever made vanilla pudding from scratch. I certainly never had until a couple of years ago I decided to serve Elvis's favorite dessert to my guests. What is it? Banana pudding, the kind with sliced bananas and vanilla wafers lining the bowl. The recipe called for vanilla pudding made from scratch.

I was skeptical but it was easy and delicious beyond belief. The difference between homemade pudding and the box stuff.... well, just think about the difference between homemade macaroni and cheese and that screaming-orange-boxed-stuff. Yeah, that different.

I'm going to dig around my pantry and find that recipe. Stay tuned and I'll share it with you one day this week.

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Have you read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett? A neighbor gave me the paperback and I started it, but you know how I am with novels. Somehow I just can't dig into them. I put it down for awhile but now I'm determined to read it again.

Why? Because on Netflix I discovered that they've made a movie from the book. It's a made-for-TV version that is many episodes long. It's currently being broadcast on the Starz channel, which we don't get. You can imagine my frustration when I watched the last chapter available on Netflix and discovered that it wasn't the last chapter! I've got to wait for the others to be released. In the meantime I'm in suspense and have picked up the book in an attempt to pick up when the episode left off.

By the way, it's a very good movie and I'm enjoying it immensely.

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The heat has finally subsided a bit here in the midwest. It was pretty intense simply because we have such high humidity. It's like living in a steamy shower sometimes.

I'm very happy to be able to tag along with all of you on your summer vacations. We weren't able to take one this year. I will be traveling to Arkansas with my mom for the last two weeks in September. We'll have fun visiting our friends down there and eating the local fare.

Best barbecue - McClard's, Hot Springs
Best ribs - Shorty Small's, Little Rock
Best burgers - The Shack, Jessieville
Best fried pickles - Yet to be determined.

If it isn't too hot we'll take a day and go to the Crater of Diamonds diamond mine.

CRATER OF DIAMONDS

It's not a mine in the sense that you go underground, it's all above ground. This area is the ancient top of a volcano that has been worn down to ground level. The soil is a strange greenish/brownish color. They till the soil with a plow and disc, bringing new material to the surface. And yes.....some very large diamonds have been found. Just last year someone found a 5.75 carat diamond.

Wouldn't you like to go along with us on a diamond hunting excursion?

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My chores for the day are awaiting so I must go. Please feel free to stick around and discuss whatever you wish. Thanks again for visiting with me today.

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Welcome! I'm so glad you could join me today. You will notice that I've replaced the old chairs with some comfy new office chairs with lumbar support. We spare no expense here At Home.

The first thing on the agenda, as always, is FOOD. Yes, folks that is top of mind around here, although I seriously need to change that. Anyway, this morning we are having apple pie. Yes, it's American apple pie.



I don't know, what do you think? Were the Viennese the first to come up with the idea of apple pie.... a.k.a. apple struedel? The crust is different, but still.

Here's the offering. That's whipped cream on top. There's no way to keep the ice cream frozen until everyone arrives at the meeting.

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Today at JoAnn Fabric I came across a magazine that was titled something on the order of, "Where Women Create" or "Women's Creative Spaces", something like that. It was one of those slick magazines and really thick and wonderful paper.

The photos were incredible. Featured were sewing rooms, craft studios and other rooms specifically set aside for women's creative efforts. There was tons and tons of inspiration and "dream stuff" galore. I wanted that magazine in the worst way but it was very expensive, $17.99 if I remember correctly.

I certainly feel the need to return to the store and take one more look at that publication.

I'm trying to get things totally organized and picture hung so that I can share my newly redecorated space with you. Until then, pop over to Alicia's place at Posie Gets Cozy and see her new room

Alicia's Creative Space

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One of my favorite creative places to hang out online is a bake shop. Not just any bake shop and not one that contains any flour. It's Moda's Bake Shop and they offer free patterns for terrific things to sew.

I've decided that my kitchen table needs some kind of colorful runner and I'm making one from the Moda Bake Shop called Skinny Verna.



Right now I'm piecing the center section together.

Have you ever tried the Moda Bake Shop?

MODA BAKE SHOP

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I've never been a person to care about designer labels, shoes or handbags. You've heard me mention that the nearby town is probably the only place in the U.S. that has a Coach handbag store within three miles of a farm and feed supply store. It's true!

So, no Coach handbags for me.

But there is a designer item that I'd love to get my hands on.

Literally.

Seriously.

I want it.

A Louis Vuitton................

CHAIN SAW


Louis Vuitton Chain Saw by Artist Peter Gronquist

Yep, I can picture myself trimming that big tree in the side yard.

Gotta have it.

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So, what's new with you this week? I'd love to hear what you've been doing. Keeping cool I hope. (Those of you in Australia, pay no attention. We know it's wintertime down under.)

Grab Toto and Head for the Cellar

Yesterday was sleep late day after my late night meteor watching excursion with Neighbor Betty. In addition to some pretty cool meteors we saw something strange and as yet unexplained. More about that later.

It was another stinking hot day. The problem is that around here a string of hot days does not bode well for us. It means that some nasty thunderstorms will soon follow.

Last night about 6:30 p.m. the wind picked up and storm blew in at an incredible speed. The large maple tree outside our little home office was bending and the leaves were being whipped into a frenzy.

It's at this point that we go into readiness. Our standard response is to gather up the pets and prepare ourselves to head into the basement at a moment's notice. Last night The Farmer headed upstairs to find the cat. When he looking into my sewing room he saw that the force of the wind had knocked the bottom window clean out of the frame! It was sitting in the middle of the floor and rain was pouring in. He quickly put the window back into the frame and locked it tight. Unfortunately, he was unable to locate the cat who had found one of his hiding spots.

When he returned back downstairs he looked out the window and sounded the alarm, "In the basement, NOW!!"

Outside there were two clouds that seemed to collide and were sent spinning. A portion of the bottom began to dip to the ground. Fascinating as it is, that spells possible danger. We grabbed up the Chihuahua's and yelled for the Other Mother to come quick.

She said, "Oh, I've just got a couple more dinner dishes to wash."

"No, you don't. Downstairs NOW!"

We sat in the cool basement while the storm passed overhead. A tornado never did fully develop and for that we are glad. It's never a dull moment in the midwest.

And, sorry, no pictures. I'm sure that your imagination can whip up something dangerous and colorful. Right?

Sleeping Late

I'm sleeping late. Neighbor Betty and I were sitting outside last night until 1 a.m. watching the Pleides meteor shower. It was more like meteor dribble.

More later..............

Bill Bryson Better Get Crackin'

I've just finished my latest read, The Road to Quoz by William Least-Heat Moon. It was one of this best efforts. I loved it, not only because I love the genre (hit the side roads and see what you can see) but the addition of his wife's voice in this mosey made it all the better.

I get stuck on an author, reading everything they've written. This creates a bit of a problem for such a reader though. It takes a long time to write, edit and publish a book. In Heat Moon's case, he took seven years to write Prairy Erth and four years to write Quoz. That's a total of 11 years in the writing and under two weeks in the reading.

Bill Bryson is another favorite of mine and now I've read all of his books. I know he doesn't write just for me, but in a way he does. He is beholding to every one of his readers. So, he better get crackin'.

I had the idea for this post after the last book that I read but it took till today to actually put it together. In the meantime I discovered (by visiting Bryson's own site) that he has indeed written and published a new book that will be released this fall. Hooray.

Is there an author that you are loyal to, knowing that they will never disappoint?

Until Bryson new book comes out I need suggestions! What should I read next. I saw the movie, The Secret Life of Bees, which as terrific in my book, but a neighbor told me that the book is so much better.



So, that's on my list for my library visit today. Give me some more ideas, and thanks in advance!

The 924.82 Mile Grocery Shopping Trip

Yes, I drove 462.41 miles each way to go grocery shopping. No, I don't live quite that far in the middle of nowhere, it's just that any trip south of the Mason-Dixon line can be viewed as a grocery shopping opportunity.\

You must understand there are things that just aren't available up north. You can occasionally find a Moon Pie or Nehi but the more important basics just never make it into my local food store.

First up are the grits.



Don't like grits? I can pretty much guarantee that you just haven't had them cooked right, or you tried those instant grits. These yellow grits are delicious. We've already busted open the bag and cooked up a mess of them. They should be served with fresh buttermilk biscuits.

Next there's country ham.



This is nothing like your Easter ham or that ham steak that you slap on the grill. This is dry cured, salty, flavorful and should be served on fresh buttermilk biscuits.

The piece de resistance of meat products for us is Mayo's Country Sausage. I just about jumped outta my skin when my cousin opened his refrigerator and a saw the distinctive roll sitting one one of the shelves. That meant it was still available. The last time south I couldn't find it in the store.



This sausage is packed in a cloth bag.



The original packaging was a fabric that was rougher and more homespun looking. The cloth packaging is then wrapped in a plastic outer covering. I suppose this is for health department reasons but I don't mind as long as I can still get my Mayo's. Fry it up and serve it on fresh buttermilk biscuits. Do you see a pattern emerging here?

And finally, the jewel of the south..... southern mayonnaise. Blue Plate is my favorite. My friend Marie in Atlanta got me started on this obsession.



Southern mayonnaise is lighter and perfect for deviled eggs and potato salad. Love it.

Someone mentioned that Duke's was another favorite. So I bought a jar of Duke's also.



Im going to close the pantry door and let them duke it out.

Surprisingly there were no grocery stores on the side of town where our hotel was located. A drive to the other side was out of our way as we left town so we just trusted that there would be a store along our route.

Just as we approached the entrance to The Trace (the highway leading up the Land Between the Lakes) we saw a sign ahead and started cheering.

We were going to shop at the PIG....Piggly Wiggly, a mecca of southern food shopping.

Unbelievably, as I was checking out with all my loot the young checker said to me, "Y'all should try Hellman's, it's really good."

THE HELL YOU SAY!!!

I just drove 462.41 miles to get this mayo and I've got to drive another 462.41 to get it home!

Monday Morning Staff Meeting

Good morning y'all.

Oooops, I've slipped into my southern vocabulary. It doesn't take long for me to pick up regional accents. When I lived in Texas they'd say, "Oh, you're from Chicago" but when I came back to Chicago they'd say, "You must be from Texas".

I was sad for the reason to make a quick trip down south but happy to be among family and all things southern. Most of all, the food! You better believe we ate pulled pork barbecue from a place way out in the country. This guy only fires up the pit three days a week and we were lucky to be out there one of the days. Here's a shout out for Shiloh Barbecue west of Clarksville, Tennessee. (There are two Shiloh's in Tennessee).

First of all we're going to pass around the food for this morning's meeting. We're going to be munching on Moon Pies. (Sorry, no pictures of the legendary Moon Pie. My son ate the photo shoot sample.)

For those of you from the east coast, I'd compare these with Whoopie Pies. I've got chocolate and vanilla Moon Pies, take your pick.

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One thing about 8 hours in a car with someone else driving. You can get a lot of crocheting done.



I was a little one-woman washcloth factory.

The trip went quickly because we do a lot of talking. The miles seemed to just fly by. Eight hours is about my limit these days. It's 11 hours to our property in Arkansas but I can't do it in one shot anymore. If The Farmers is driving we can make it, with a stop in Missouri at Lambert's, the home of the throwed rolls.

How are you on long distance car trips?

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The International Space Station is once again positioned in an orbit that allows us to view it daily. Unfortunately it's passing overhead at 4:30 a.m. I am NOT a morning person and as much as I love watch that Station fly by, I'm not getting up before dawn.

I remember my grandmother also being a night person. She'd stay up all night sewing, cleaning and doing chores. That's when us night owls get energized.

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On our way back from Tenneessee we stopped at the Homeplace in Land Between the Lakes. It's the best living history farm I've every visited. The design of the place allows you to really believe that you've stepped back in time. People work the farm as they would have in 1850, including using draft animals to plow the fields.

I'll take you on a road trip this Friday. Don't miss the chance to step back in time.

After leaving the Homeplace we traveled a little further north to Paducah, Kentucky. This is the location of a huge quilt show and also home to a fabric store of mythical status - Hancock's of Paducah. It's located in a large warehouse type building. There are no fancy displays, but if Hancock's doesn't have it, it probably doesn't exist. There are rows upon rows of fabric and the walls are lined with patterns and sewing notions.

Don't get the switch. We arrived a 2:50 and to our surprise Hancock's closed at 3 p.m.!!! There was no time to actually do any shopping. I was saved by the bell, so to speak.

But, I cannot tell a lie. I did actually purchase fabric at a quilt shop in Clarksville. You remember what I said, if I purchased any more fabric you were allowed to cut a swtich and take me out to the wood shed. Well, here's the woodshed.



Are you up to the task?

Maybe you'll let it slide this time because it was only three fat quarters and besides I'm going to sew something wonderful with it.

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OK, I'm off to get something done today. The grass has taken off in my absence and it will take two hours to mow.

Have a great day everyone. Take a Moon Pie to go.

Take the Last Train to Clarksville

I think I failed to mention our Tennessee destination, we're in Clarksville, Tennessee. It's an old river town. The older downtown area is perched on a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River. Yes, the same Cumberland River that recently flooded Nashville. The lower portions Clarksville were also flooded.

The old railroad trestle has high water marks painted on one of the steel beams and it's hard to imagine the water rising to some of the levels indicated by horizontal paint lines.

The old downtown was forever altered when a tornado ripped through in 1999.

CLARKSVILLE TORNADO

Over the years the town has grown, the long strip of land out near the interstate has become a mecca of shopping and chain restaurants. The loss of regional indentity (good southern home cooking restaurants) and local businesses in the downtown area is a significant blow to the identity of the area. (My opinion) A man in the elevator at our hotel commented on the same subject.

"They call it progress", he said.

We all nodded our heads in agreement.

If you're ever headed down to Nashville on I-24, be sure to get off and check out Clarksville. Fort Campbell is just across the bridge over the Cumberland, in Kentucky. It's the home of the 101st Airborne Division and tours are given starting at Gate 4.

If you take the road west out into the country you can find a wonderful barbecue stand out past Tarsus Road. It's called Shiloh barbecue. But be warned, he's only open 3 days a week.

If you continue a little further west and north you'll come to Fort Donelson. In the summertime college students portray Civil War soldiers in a renactment camp.

Find The Trace, which is the road leading up and through the Land Between the Lakes. There are herds of bison and my favorite living history farm, The Homeplace. Reenactors work the farm daily and year-round, as it was worked in the 1800's. The time of year will dictate what you will see. In the fall they will be smoking hams in the smoke house. Every day the women will be cooking a meal in the open hearth. Don't miss this interesting place.

Travel north to the end of the Trace and you'll find Patti's 1880's Restaurant. The food in great. Have the beef sandwich with the French Dressing. But Patti's is known for their pies!!! And you know, I'm all about the pie. I've baked her Sawdust Pie for you before.

Sunday morning we are leaving Clarksville and traveling to the Homeplace and Patti'
s for lunch. I'll give you a review when I return. Maybe tomorrow if I'm not too road weary.

Thank you all for being here for me and for all the kind comments concerning Gene's passing. My cousin has grief work to be done, as Vee has mentioned. But she is so grateful beyond measure for having such a wonderful man in her life for 45 years.

Until tomorrow.......

A Wonderful Guy

A really, really wonderful man has passed away. It's my cousin's husband who has been battling cancer on and off for over 20 years, most of those years pretty healthy. It was only at the very end that he suffered and thankfully that suffering was of short duration.



Gene was the kind of man whose presence in the world made it a better place. He loved, ADORED my cousin. They had a full, fascinating and interesting life. They traveled the world during his career in the military. They lived in some wonderful places and took advantage of all the experiences available to them. The also spent time apart, as he served two tours of duty in Viet Nam and also in the Middle East as a military advisor.

So, there are no regrets, or even thoughts of wanting more. The spent lots of time discussing the end of life scenario. They were prepared! How many people actually face their realities and have those discussions? My guess is not many. The fact that they took these steps made the passage so much easier for both of them.

He was ready to go. She was ready to let him go and he was released from the horrible final days of pain.

I'll miss him as he was a man of great integrity.

Rest in peace Gene.

I'm not actually here this morning. I've scheduled this post ahead of time. My mother, my sister and I are headed down to Tennessee for the funeral. Unfortunately the Farmer cannot go with us.

I've been longing for a dose-of-the-south but this is certainly not how I wanted it to happen. When I am down there I'm certainly going to stock up on Blue Plate Mayo, eat my fill of pulled pork barbecue and visit the family cemetery.


Nesbitt family cemetery.


Hold down the fort around here while I'm gone. Feel free to poke around my archives if you're looking for something to read. Or go over to my photoblog and look at pictures.

THE FARMER'S WIFE PHOTOBLOG