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Monday, August 14, 2006

Farm Day

Click on photos for larger views (especially if you want to see just how blue these eyes are)


my "great" great-niece Lydia decorating a stepping stone

Hezbollah and Israel and the UN were coming to a ceasefire agreement. But we weren't paying any attention.

It was a perfect day, and more than 30 of us (my side of the family) were on the farm, loving each other, playing, making stepping stones, painting birdhouses, playing badmitten, volleyball, ping pong, croquet and foursquare. We were eating, singing, sitting on hay bales around the bonfire, playing a drum or a guitar. We were talking about our lives and watching little ones pick queen anne's lace, clover and timothy grass. We were riding Don's tractor. We were riding Lesley's bike "Betty."


We were sitting in the "atelier" feeling the residual life started by chickens 100 years ago.

We laughed until we cried. We cried until we laughed. We hugged and hugged.

Some of us slept and woke up and did it all over again.


Lydia (in Don's t-shirt) painting a birdhouse

Some of us took pictures. I only took a few, and the only ones I'm happy with are these two of Lydia, my nephew Paul's daughter. Forgive me, the rest of you, for not posting your photos here, but they are not worthy of you. Ginnie, maybe you will have a post of Farm Day soon. The rest of you, please visit there for an upcoming post of our wonderful day/s. (Ginnie, my sister, is our unofficial official family photographer. And she is SO good!)

There's a new post at Paris Deconstructed.

14 comments:

Ginnie Hart said...

You are so kind/sweet, Ruth, to assume there will be a few good pics out of the 822 I took. HA! What a daunting task but it will be done and will be fun. Half of the pics are of THE FARM! That magical place! The other half are of the family get-together. There were 34 of us altogether! One helluva Farm Day, if you ask me!!! You and Don were so brave to do this but never flinched a second, as far as I could tell. Talk about the Welcome Mat being out for one and all! Thank you. I think it was heaven....

Ruth said...

It felt like heaven to me too; so much love.

Ruth said...

Wilma, glad Greta slept through the night! "Hi" to Simon and Stacy. We loved having you.

Anonymous said...

A very special thanks Ruth, to you and Don for hosting this wonderful event. You had everything planned and organized for a stupendous weekend…...all we had to do was show up and have fun!! I can hardly wait for next year's event.

In the meantime, I will be looking for a badminton set to put in my yard for practice! (But only after the rope burn on my toe has healed from Sunday’s event ;))

Love to all!!

Ruth said...

Donica, hahaha, you make me laugh! First, you didn't exactly "show up and have fun" -- you worked harder than I did! And second, that poor toe! I don't mean to laugh, but I do hope it heals soon. :)

Heather: You're welcome to join us at the farm. :) Maybe we'll have animals next year.

rauf said...

Down to earth farm gathering ! how pleasant it would be. Yes Lydia's eyes are so clear and transparent blue. She is lovely.
Wish you had posted more pictures Ruth.

RennyBA said...

Thanks for sharing your Farm Experience - you know I love it and thanks for your nice comments on my farm post too:-)

Ruth said...

Rauf, I wish you could experience a Michigan farm, it really is a treat, one that I didn't appreciate as a child growing up in MI, but now I realize how wonderful it is.

Renny, welcome and thanks for stopping by! I look forward to hearing more about your Scandinavian life.

Elle said...

It all sounds wonderful!! And those lovely eyes are unbelievably blue :)

I am so looking forward to seeing all Ginnie's photos. She does have a photographer's eye for the perfect shot.

Ruth said...

DW, yes she does. And her blog is so much fun.

Thank you again for sharing that post about Dr. Sultan. I'm still blown away.

Anonymous said...

We love farm day at Don and Ruth's. We were at the first one and this one is not to be disappointed or as Peter said "I don't hate it" inside joke and all! I can not put all my experiences in to words because it is more than just a fun time, a spiritual time, a bounding-connecting time, a healing time, a time of sharing, rejoicing and celebrating with each other. For Joe and me it is most of all a time that is lasting. We were still talking about the first farm day when we are enjoying the second one. Thank you for sharing your paradise with us Don and Bert, and Pete you rule with "Rock, Scissors and Paper" and last but not least my pink girl, Leslie! we coming to see you soon in NY!
Dee Dee (Earnie)

Ruth said...

Dee/Earnie, of course you were the 13th commenter! (your birthday) :)

Thank you for the nice things you said. I feel the same way. We're just participants in something bigger that resides in that place.

pablohart said...

Thanks for the wonderful photos of Lydia. I especially love the bandana and white t-shirt. I missed that. Guess I was off galavanting around or playing ping pong when they were painting. :)

Love to everyone,
Paul

Ruth said...

Paul, I know what you mean. I missed so many things, off doing something else. I completely missed the tractor!