LOST MEMORIES-NO MORE WATER IN THE BARN

GREETINGS

A cloudy and brisk morning, the chestnuts are falling from the huge CHestnut tree on my son’s property, more trees are turning bright yellows and orange. Fall is upon us.  My favorite season.

LOST MEMORIES

For years and years in my bureau were these glass plates.  They were passed down from generation to generation..  They were wrapped carefully in tissue paper and all I do know about them is they are pictures of my family.  My family was keepers of our history, Some members handed down things and others wrote books about the history. All things were passed down from wooden bowls to kitchen ware to quits and material.  Sometimes it feels like a burden because I  am the keeper of things but most times I am comforted in having it all around me.  It feels like  I am surrounded by well-worn loved things that were important to family members.  I use the quilts and kitchen ware, things should be used. All these things will be passed down to my Children and Grandchildren.  I am hoping to bring my memories alive so they will cherish them.

  Cindy took the plates and I forgot about them till I got an e-mail yesterday with the pictures on them.  I wish my Dad was here to ask who was in these pictures.   We are guessing that they were taken around 1880 when my Grandfather was a boy in Chesterfield, Massachusetts.    I think the below picture is of him with his Mother, my Great-Grandmother.  I wish they had kept diaries so I could have known them better.  I am going to be better at keeping a diary and writing what I know about my family for future generations.

NO WATER IN THE BARN

Wow its a wonderful no water in the barn, I went up during the worst of the rain and the water was passing by the door on its way down the side of the barn.  We had more than 5 inches of water in a very short period of time.  There was minor flooding and in some parts of New England like Portland, Maine there was major flooding.  Now I can address the things that have happened because of all that water like some rotten boards.

A hurricane is heading up the Eastern Coast, there is a chance that it will go out to sea, I sure hope it does.

The sheep were very glad not to have water flowing inside.

You can’t make me go out in this said Carol K.

 

Lucy

Many thanks for reading my blog today and I hope you have a wonderful day.  Carole

 

 

RAIN AND BARN FLOODING-A GIFT FROM MOM-TURKEY VULTURES

GREETINGS

Beautiful clouds and a view to New Hampshire

RAIN AND BARN FLOODING

We had lots of rain the night before last.4.65 inches here in Colrain 4.95 inches the nearby town of Heath.  We did need rain but not the heavy rain we got last night.  The barn was totally flooded and all the downstairs coops need to be mucked out yesterday and refreshed.  The rain washed  at least a foot of mud from hill down in the trough I dug and then the water flowed through the barn.  Chris mucked out most of the barn while  Ricky  put the fan up to help dry it out and he made Pasta sauce for supper.  Yesterday was a long clean-up day.

A GIFT FROM MOM

We started cleaning the attic Wednesday.  I love the fact that things will finally be organized there with marked boxes and things that I don’t want  will be given or thrown away.  In a Christmas bag in one of the boxes was a pair of slippers which my Mom had given me many years ago.  I took them out of the bag and an envelope slipped out.  A treasure from my Mom.   My Mom loves getting presents but  sometimes the presents she would get for family members were way out there, these would have gotten recycled.  I am glad that I finally looked in the bag because the real treasure was the envelope in the bag.  My Mom’s Mom was  great crocheting, even with severe arthritis in her hands she kept going .Everyone in the family got pillow cases with crocheted edges.  I still have a few of them.  In the envelope was edgings that were made.

 And on the envelope were instructions from My Mom on how to put them on.

 A priceless small gift from the past.

TURKEY VULTURES

I had never seen a Turkey Vulture until I moved to Maryland.  Wednesday while taking a back way home from Greenfield, Ricky and I spotted one on the side of the road.  We were lucky enough to get some good shots of him.

  They are one of those animals that are ugly/cute.  They have a job to do and seem to do it well.  I am so glad that we were able to see this wonderful creature close up.

Many thanks for reading my blog, visit us at The Shelburne Falls Farmers Market today if you can and tomorrow and Sunday at Johnson Hill Lavender Fest in Buckland..  Hope your day is wonderful.  Carole

An organic dairy farm nearby.

REMEMBERING HESTER – TREASURES IN BOXES-SOAP FINALLY MADE

HELLO

REMEMBERING HESTER

Hester passed away last night.  I will miss her so .  A wonderful hen who show me the wonders of life even though it will filled with hardships.  Her disabilities started young when her top beak was cut way to short.  It must have been a painful experience.  She over came it and had to eat and drink differently than other birds.  She loved to be held and her little head would melt into my shoulder.   She realized that the best place to sleep at night was the nesting box and would make sure she was in there before anyone thought of bedtime.  I have one more Golden Comet, Lucy and will never get anymore unless they are rescues.  They are hybrid birds which lay quantities of larger than normal eggs which shortens their lives.  This is not what Mother Nature intended. 

TREASURES IN BOXES

I am slowly going through boxes of my Dad’s family things.  Inside one box was this guest towel done long ago by a family member.  It could have been done my Aunt Delia who died before I was born.  The delicate embroidery has faded over the years.  I love the  crocheted GUEST that separate the towels.

SOAP FINALLY MADE

Well the soap is done and is cooling under a blanket but it was not done without incident.  Some lye splashed on my face which made it necessary for an emergency Eye Doctor’s visit.    David took me down and everything is okay but I will have to get a new pair of safety glasses, my old ones are shot.  I hope the Calendula batch comes out as that is when it happened and I had to leave it and rinse my face.  I also made the Lime/Basil gardeners soap.  It has ground up corn in it to scrub the dirt away.  I love the smell and the last batch I made sold out.  I hope to make 100 bars of that.

Many thanks for reading my blog today and I hope you had a lovely day.   Carole