Farm Day 2008

Thirty-seven members of my family showed up Saturday for Farm Day 2008. Don't bother to count, they're not all in this picture.

The kids splashed around and played hard. Too bad the 'hot tub' was cold.

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It rained and got cool. And when the sun came back out, we had to find the rainbow.

My sister Ginnie (in the pic above) took lots more pictures than I, and I'm guessing she will show them at In Soul in the next few days.

We had a wonderful time, and I'm tuckered out. Back to work tomorrow. I'll visit you soon, I missed you!

Farm Day cometh

While I'm off work two weeks Don and I have the leisure of gradually getting tasks done before Farm Day.

The deck rail and skirt need painting.

















The porch steps needed painting last year, it never got done.

Yesterday I painted them! It took maybe an hour and a half. The wood is wolmanized, and no matter how much good primer I use, the paint peels off. I've painted them every year - except 2007 - since we've lived here. This time I didn't prime. Wouldn't help anyway.
















Don's been straightening the barn.

We have too much stuff. Well some of it is our kids' stuff. You can see Lesley's Barbie car. Do you think she and her boyfriend might play with it when they're home this week?

Oh, hey, Anet and Sharon (and Loring)! There's an ugly Vail mug.

While working in the barn Don fixed up this old wall, adding the door, hanging the old Coleman lanterns and tools, and also the 1939 sign, which he found in the barn. I wonder who 'W.B.' was. Our farm was built around the turn of the 20th century, 1904 I think. I wonder if W.B. was the first owner.

Just a bit more tidying inside and outside before Lesley and Brian come tomorrow night.

Maybe I ought to toss these decayed hydrangea blossoms. Believe me, they look better in this photo than they do in person.

Saturday 30-40 wonderful people from my family - my siblings, their spouses, their kids and grandkids - will descend on the farm and just hang out. It's our big event of the year. And while Don and I are not very social 95% of the time (maybe because we are both helping students ALL DAY in our jobs), this is one time we make up for it.

blackberries

Happy First Year DROWSEY MONKEY!

Dear Drowsey Monkey,

Congratulations on your first full year of blogging today!

In these honeysuckle flowers I hope you'll see yourself. In them I see a wild shrub that becomes as tall as a tree. (Are you tall?) And it smells very good. (You do smell good, don't you?) I see shapes unique among flowers. (Um, I mean . . .) I see a lightness that stands out from the rest. In this pitcher arrangement I see homeyness, a link to the past. I see each blossom as one of your outrageous stories.

Keep telling your stories. We need to smile more. And fall on the floor laughing.

Here's to another year!

love,
Ruth (aka your adopted mother)