Harvest Time!

 

I am amazed at the sunrises and sunsets we get out here on the prairie. 

As a kid in Seattle, I could catch beautiful sunsets when we went to the beach. But we didn't often go to the beach. 

In Florida we could see some pretty colors outline the clouds if we looked up beyond the trees and buildings we were living among. 

In Texas we could watch the mild sunrises behind Comanche Lookout hill, and there were often pretty colors outlining clouds if we looked up above buildings and trees at sunset.

But here......

We get to watch the sun actually peek above the horizon and dip back down behind it. 

Soul-satisfying beauty.

And the fields around us are about all harvested after this past week. 

Papa said once they got in the field it would go quick. And it did go quick. I almost wish it had taken longer so we could watch longer. I kind of enjoy the people milling about, dumping grain in the bins behind our house, moving that massive equipment. 

Elizabeth visiting. 

She is working for the coffee shop at Christ's Church of Oronogo now. She's in charge of the ordering and volunteers and cleaning up and such. It's a great job for her, and I know she'll do great at it.

We got out the box of pictures.

I wanted to show Harrison our wedding photos since he couldn't remember ever seeing them. And we have lots of printed baby and toddler pictures of all the kids from before we moved to all digital. 

Phillip found his box of tractors from when he was a kid, and now Harrison has so many tractors to play with! He's been making stop-motion animation videos with them.

Phoebe got it in her head to cook some sweet-and-sour pork.

It was delicious! 

She said the same thing I did last time I made the same some 18 years ago: 

"It was really good, but I'm not sure it was worth it."

The kids had some friends over. 

The teens sit and talk.

The pre-teens play with toys.

Jonathan made this chair in Ag Structures at the public school. 

Good job, Jon! I like it.

Phoebe and I had a little outing to see some Van Gogh in St. Louis. 

We had a good time together but not a good time at the event. Now that we live in a small town where a mask is not required anywhere, I just rebel against any place else that forces me to wear one. 

Okay, okay, I told myself I wouldn't complain on the blog about the experience, so I'll move on.  

Phillip cutting down the black rail posts. 

He replaced them with wooden posts which we're thinking of painting black. I love how open the porch feels now.

He's now (literally, right now) sanding, or rather grinding, down the old paint that's peeling off the cement porch. He's getting down below that top layer of dark cement. It's looking nice and white and new.  

One of our stupendous sunsets.

Back to Nature Walks

Harrison is our mail retriever. 

He brings in the local paper on Thursdays and proceeds to read me the news like a little old man. 

I love that we have a local paper. We regularly see names we know. Phillip sometimes shows up in the Yesteryear section. 

I am realizing that you can't hide out in a small town. The newspaper guy has shown up at times with a camera, and I wasn't really prepared for pictures that might show up in a paper. 😬 If you're going to an event in a small town, you might want to comb your hair and prepare to see people you know.

We finally made it on a nature walk in Missouri. This is something we'd gotten into a habit of doing before moving, but I hadn't yet made it to any place around here that had hiking trails. We prepared for an afternoon at Mark Twin State Park, and I was very pleased with the trails there. It's really not that far away ~ maybe 20 minutes or so. We used to drive 40 minutes to go to nature trails in Boerne, TX. Of course there were also some closer to our house. Maybe we'll find some closer ones here too. 

The kids were good about humoring me. I think they actually enjoyed it a little. I'm the one who loves hiking, but they didn't complain this particular afternoon. 

I texted Elizabeth a picture and she said, "I probably would have loved to take the raft out there." That's about right. I'm glad she made it through her raft/water phase without drowning.

These boys have a typical brother relationship. They mostly get along, and they are so funny to watch when they tease each other.

The trees in our yard coming up out of dark pools of dirt reminded me of the pools in The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia). Do you remember those pools that you jump into to enter different worlds? 

Harrison suggested I take my walk across the newly harvested bean field, so I got a picture of the house and sunset from the East this time instead of the usual South.

Three Ashfords in a row. 

Paul, Phillip and Jonathan: their middle names are all Ashford. Ashford Gore was the first Gore to settle around here, I believe.* 

Phillip has good plans for spiffing up the front porch. He took down the wrought iron railing yesterday. It really opens up the porch! He's going to work on putting white posts up soon. Then figure out why the porch lights won't work and put new light fixtures up. And paint over the porch and so on. I'm so excited to see how it turns out!

* Ashford settled in Palmyra and eventually moved to Center. James Henry Gore came and settled in this area. Ashford is buried in the Vandalia cemetery though.

Prairie Days

Vandalia's fair time is called Prairie Days. *

I'm not sure it's a fair, per se; there weren't any rides this year. But there were market booths, a parade (with lots of candy!), games, children's activities, food, and live music. There was a great crowd without it being overcrowded. 

I really love this ~ all the tractors coming down the road. 

We went to one parade in San Antonio where the cattle ended their long cattle drive going through the downtown streets.  That was a really neat parade, but it was hard to find parking and hard to see through the crowds.

Uncle Lee was on the Veteran's float.

There were several people that we knew from church in the high school band. 

We love the horses and cowboy hats. 

Harrison didn't realize he would need a bag for all the candy that was thrown to him. He stuffed his pockets and my purse full.

To me, live music is always fun. There's something about watching people do what they love in front of an audience. There's a confidence, or maybe a little bit of bravado, to being on stage. I don't think I have it at all, but I admire it.

This past Monday, they harvested the soybeans across from our lane. We did school outside so we could watch. It only took a few hours before they were out of there, and I didn't want to miss it. It was dusty, but thankfully the wind was blowing away from us.

I think I'm going to start a collection of Quotes from Famous Dead People on Current Women's Issues. I have two to share. Please pass any others you know along to me.

Warning: Read with humor.

Martin Luther "Women have wide fundament......" 😂 (my favorite!)

“Men have broad shoulders and narrow hips, and accordingly they possess intelligence. Women have narrow shoulders and broad hips. Women ought to stay at home; the way they were created indicates this, for they have broad hips and a wide fundament to sit upon [keep house and bear and raise children].”  — Martin Luther

Samuel Johnson on women preachers......

I told him I had been that morning at a meeting of the people called Quakers, where I had heard a woman preach. 

Johnson: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Boswell: Life of Johnson

* Prairie Days isn't Vandalia's fair. Prairie Days is in addition to the fair and replaces Vandalia's Brick Skid.