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New, Old Flower Bed

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I love flowers. But, living in the woods isn’t a good place for growing flowers. I’ve tried and tried and have had only a little success.

I also love antiques. We have lots. The ones that mean the most are ones that have been in my family from years and years ago.

One of our antiques is an old double bed frame. It’s been in the family for years and years! In fact, Jerry slept in it in his growing up years.Now, what does a person do with an old iron bed frame? It’s been hanging in our pole barn for years.

Somewhere, in our travels, we saw a ‘flower bed’ or ‘bed of flowers’ in a yard! It was an old iron bed frame with flowers blooming inside!

So that’s where the idea came to us. Last fall Jerry and I worked hard making a flower bed inside the frame of our old iron bed frame! IMG_1495  It used to be black, we painted it brown.

It’s still not what I want it to be yet, but we have had flowers blooming in it this summer! Flowerbed 2 (2)  Flowerbed 1 (3) In the right-hand corner, I have a lonely, little, red Petunia.  Actually, I planted Petunias all along there but most of them didn’t make it.  IMG_2208 (2)  This is a close-up of an Oriental Lily.

I’ll have Dahlia’s blooming early this fall. So there you have it!

 

A Worthwhile Project

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A fact, hard for me to admit, is that we’re aging. Jerry is 80! I’m 77! Us, 2015 This is the latest picture of us taken, as you can see, at Christmas time, 2015. We’ll celebrate 57 years of marriage next month! Jerry has always been a very hard worker, but those days are pretty much gone now. These days we are enjoying life in our log home. Our wonderful children come to visit and tackle jobs that they see need to be done. We also hire men to do work now and then.

Spring has arrived, birds are returning. We have bird feeders in our back yard that we watch when we’re sitting in our sun-room. But we’re in our living room a lot of the time and wish for birds to watch there.

So Jerry  got an idea. Project Jerry 1 It was a lot of work. Project Jerry 2  It’s beginning to take shape! IMG_1879  He filled the old cream can with pieces of cement and dirt. Project Jerry 6  Then he put this heart shaped hanger in the center of the can and hung a bird seed bell! Now we can sit in our living room or on our front porch and watch the birds come and eat the seeds. These were all things we already had so we only had to buy the bell bird seeds.

So come on, birds! We’re ready!

Let’s Go For A Ride

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“Let’s go for a ride.” is all Jerry has to say. I drop anything and everything and say, “Okay, let’s go!”

We actually stopped going for rides for a few years because the price of gas was so high. But now with gas under two dollars, we’re going for rides again. It’s one of our favorite pastimes! It’s actually the times when we have communicated the best with each other! No interruptions! Now, of course, we have our cell phones, but we can select our incoming calls! Or just turn them off! We enjoy being together with just scenery and each other!

I remember one ride Jerry and I took to a small lake near Spring Arbor, Michigan. To get to the lake we had to drive down a steep hill. When we wanted to leave, the car had a malfunction of some kind and wouldn’t go up the hill! Oh, what were we going to do? Then Jerry discovered it would go in reverse, so we backed up the hill and out on the main road, where he put the car in ‘drive’ and off we went!

We have some rides that are even kind of monumental! One I’ll never forget was when our children were young and we had some news we wanted and needed to share with them. Jerry and I decided to go for a ride and while we had their full attention, told them we were going to have another baby born into our family! They were very excited! Their ages were about thirteen, eleven, seven, and four.

Lots of times our rides included a stop at an ice cream shop for ice cream cones! When we rode up to Wixom Lake, to ride and ski with our boat, we always stopped for ice cream cones on the way home. It was almost required!Scan_20160323 (2)

In 1990   I went for a drive all by myself to Minneapolis, Minnesota! My mother had flown there from Washington state to visit her brother, my uncle Richard. He was in the Veterans Hospital for cancer surgery. He was my uncle who had been in WWII and lost both of his legs. I always loved him but hadn’t seen him since I was about 13!

Jerry and I discussed the possibility of me driving by myself and studied road maps. We decided I could drive north to the upper peninsula and drive on US 2 across the UP until I came to Norway and US 8. I could remember Norway! I’m half Norwegian! I’ll skip the rest of the trip except to say I had no problems! When I arrived in Minneapolis, I just followed the signs and ended at the Veterans Hospital! Those were the days before internet and cell phones! It was an unbelievable ride for me all by myself! Scan_20160323 (4)Aunt Ruth, myself, and Uncle Richard.

A few years ago, Jerry bought a MG! We called it our ‘ice cream cone car’!  We only went for rides in it and often stopped for an ice cream cone!IMG_2008_07_04_9533 - ASF  He loved to take our grandkids for rides in it and they loved it too!Sydney 032 Jessica, one of our daughters-in-law, took this picture of us driving ahead of her! We didn’t even know she was following us! Archers MG goodbye Just yesterday we went for a ride and saw some Sandhill Cranes! Jerry stopped and I took a picture of them. Sandhill Cranes    Another favorite ride of mine is to horse ride! I don’t get to often but I love it. This is Sandy and me up in Saskatchewan, Canada!Scan_Pic0238 I’ve gone for rides in airplanes, cruise ships, buses, trains, boats, bicycles, dog sled, and more! I even rode a camel up Mt Sinai, Egypt! There is nothing more relaxing, for me, than going for a ride!

Surprise!!!

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On Sunday, January 10, Jerry turns 80! Jerry & Anita Jan 8, '06  How can that be? Where have the years gone? Neither one of us know!

It’s been a few days of surprises for Jerry! Our Canadian son, Tim and daughter-in-law, Shauna, came as a surprise! I almost  spoiled it several times! I caught myself just in time and was able to keep the secret! On Thursday, about 3:30 PM I told Jerry I needed to go to the store to pick up a few items. Instead of going to the store, I drove to the airport to meet Tim and Shauna! When we arrived home I let them out so they could go to the front door. I drove into the garage and went in through the kitchen as normal. Jerry mentioned it took me a long time to buy a few items! Then Tim and Shauna walked up and knocked on the door! In they came! Jerry said he thought he was seeing things! He was thoroughly surprised! It was so fun! They brought a surprise gift to him from a friend, Keith. IMG_1673  IMG_1674

This morning, Saturday, we, Tim, Shauna, Jerry, and I went out for breakfast at our favorite restaurant, Lanny’s. When we walked in, there at the far end of the room sat our family! Jerry could hardly believe it! How fun it was!All Here  Here we all are! Shauna, me, Bella, Gene, Pam, Ted, Sydney, Christy, Jerry, and Tim! Jerry was so surprised! They had come from Chicago; South Carolina; and Holland, Michigan! They had stayed overnight at a motel so they could be at the restaurant before the four of us got there!

When we got back home it was interesting to see how everyone was enjoying catching up with each other! Reminscising  Bella and Pam are looking at the calendar Sydney had made and given to us for Christmas. Christy and Ted are looking at the book of photos Christy had made and given us for Christmas! Dad overwhelmed  Jerry is a bit overwhelmed with everyone here since he didn’t know they were even coming! On the sofa is Bella, Ted, Christy, Sydney, Tim is sitting in a chair talking with Sydney. Bella, Grandpa, Sydney Bella and Sydney love Papa! They were the only two grandchildren who got to be in on this birthday surprise! Then Christy decided grandchildren couldn’t take her place on Dad’s lap! Christy loving Dad  Two in-laws escaped to the kitchen to chat! Shauna and Gene  Shauna and Gene.  Finally, Pam had to escape to the sun room to get some work done. In today’s world, you can take your job with you, wherever you go! Pam still working

We missed Rob’s family from Georgia but they were here between Christmas and New Year and just couldn’t take the time from jobs and school to make a return trip so we celebrated birthdays while they were here! Haleigh turned 19 on January 8 and Jerry will be 80 on January 10.Jerry & Haleigh B-day cake

 

FAMILY! The most important and special people in the world!

I Do Love A Taco

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I made tacos for Jerry and me last evening for supper. We do love tacos! Tacos  I forgot to take a picture of an actual taco before we ate them! Sorry! This lazy Susan with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and meat mixture in the center is just right since there are only two of us now.

I’ll never forget the first time my family had tacos for supper. We were in Portland, Oregon, visiting my sister, Lorraine, and her beautiful family. There were six in each of our families. This would have been in the late 60’s. Bob, brother-in-law, suggested we have tacos for supper. My family hardly knew what a taco was! It sounded Mexican. But we were game! As I recall everyone, old enough, helped out. Grating the cheese was the biggest job… We warmed the shells for just a couple of minutes, then filled them with seasoned ground beef, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Oh boy, were they good!

Tacos became a favorite of my family. Everyone pitched in to help with preparation, especially grating the cheese! We never ended up with the right amount of cheese, somehow it got eaten as it was being grated!

One year at our family camp, Pam, our oldest daughter, had her first boyfriend, Lyle. She asked if he could come for supper, one day. Sure, he was a very nice young man. Lyle and Pam were both young teenagers, and what a coincidence, my very first boyfriend was also named Lyle! We decided to have a family favorite, tacos! I worked hard making sure everything was just right. I grated the cheese myself and made sure we had a large bowl of it. We ate outside under our camper awning. I stepped inside the camper to get something and when I came out, I was shocked! The cheese was on the ground! I was mad…okay, I was upset. I said, “WHO SPILLED THE CHEESE?” No one said a word, they just looked at me, like they wished I would keep still! Then Lyle spoke up and said he was so sorry, the bowl just slipped out of his hands! Oh, I felt so bad and so embarrassed. We salvaged as much as we could. I apologized for getting upset. It could have happened to anyone. As I recall we ended up with just enough for everyone to put some in their tacos. Years later, I saw Lyle at family camp again. This time, he was there with his wife and two young children! We talked and laughed about that fateful day, so many years ago!

Years later, Jerry and I went to Mexico, two years in a row. We worked at Rancho Betania, a Free Methodist camp, near Santa Ana, Sonora, Mexico. We were there about two weeks both years. We had a great time. One highlight was going to town for Tacos! We’d been advised to be careful what we bought to eat whenever we went to town. But this little restaurant we were told was an ‘okay’ place to eat! We all went as a group. The owners knew we were coming. Oh my! I’ve never eaten such delicious tacos in my life! What a wonderful memory!

Once in a while we go to a Mexican restaurant here but the tacos we prefer are the ones we have at home, made by me! By the way, I now buy grated cheese, no more grating cheese by hand and eating half of it! What wonderful memories of a simple, but delicious meal!

 

 

 

 

Our Fun Homes Away From Home

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Camping has always been a favorite activity for our family.

Jerry and I bought our first camper in about 1962. It was a fold-up camper and we loved it! We had two children, Pammy and Teddy. It had two double beds, Jerry made a cupboard for our dishes. I used the top of it for a workspace. When we were traveling the cupboard set on the floor. In this picture Pammy is in the doorway, Teddy is sitting on a rug on the ground. Fold-up camper

This was at Higgins Lake Conservation Park in 1964. Timmy was a tiny baby. We also took our camper to our church family camp.

An experience I’ll never forget happened at family camp. Sunday morning, Jerry had taken Pammy and Teddy and gone on to the big tabernacle for church. He carefully zipped the flaps down before they left. I was in the camper, not dressed yet, nursing baby Timmy. All of a sudden the flaps on the camper unzipped and flew up. A man stuck his head inside! As he looked around he said, “I’ve always wondered what one of these looked like on the inside!” There I sat, in my nightgown, nursing my baby! He zipped the flaps back down and went on his way! I had no idea who he was! What a shock!

But we have so many good memories of our fold-up camper! However, with our growing family we decided we needed something bigger.

So we bought a 17-foot used trailer.  Bunk beds in the back for the kids, a kitchen in the middle, Jerry and I slept on the sofa in the front. Yes, we had more room but we didn’t have the feel of camping!

Next was our Gem pick-up camper. We bought it brand new.  But the truck was old! These two pictures are also old, but I want to show how we loved camping as a family! The second picture shows Teddy, Pammy, and Christy, backwards in her stroller! The kids slept on the bed above the cab, and Jerry and I slept on the table which made into a bed!  This was in about 1969.New pick-up camper Gem  Pick-up Camper It was crowded but we were happy. The picture above was about 1970, from left is Teddy, Christy is sitting on my lap, Timmy, and if you look closely, Pammy is looking out of the camper window above the truck cab! In 1976, we bought a different truck and traveled all over with our Gem, clear out to the Pacific Ocean! We had another baby, Robby! Sometimes we just went to Higgins Lake State Park and every year we went to our family camp. As the kids got older they slept in a tent, so Jerry and I moved up to the bed. We just loved camping. The top picture here is at the Black Hills National Park in South Dakota. The lower picture is at the Pacific Ocean at Cannon Beach, Oregon, in 1976. Jerry drove our truck right down the beach! Timmy and Christy are standing beside the truck.Camper

In 1990, we bought our Shadow Cruiser, fifth wheel trailer. It was also brand new and we loved it! In fact, we still have it! Yes, we still have it!

Jerry & Rob camping

Rob, our youngest son and Jerry, relaxing after setting up camp!

We found a map to put on the side of the camper! Grandson’s, Andrew and Matthew, were excited that we went to Pennsylvania to visit them! Andrew & Matthew map on camper

We went to Iowa to Aunt Bessie’s 100th birthday party. Several others in our family had also gone. We actually fed 11 people dinner inside our 5th wheel camper! Looking from left: son, Tim; Jerry; Mother; Dad; grandson, Matthew. The rest of us are there, just not visible!Family dinner in 5th wheel

We added Canada, to our map, to show we went to Saskatchewan, Canada! Adding Canada to map In 1994 and ’95, we went to Sonora, Mexico, to Rancho Betania!Mexico So we added to our map again!Adding Mexico

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Sometimes grandchildren stayed at family camp with us! Here is granddaughter, Sydney, relaxing by her tent! Just look at the map on the side of the camper! Our Shadow Cruiser took us all over North America! Sadly, we missed Alaska and the northeastern states. We’ve actually been to all 50 states…just not with our Shadow Cruiser! But we came close!

Oh, what wonderful memories! We love our Shadow Cruiser, home away from home!

This year, 2015, is the first year we’ve not gone anywhere with our camper! We didn’t even go to our wonderful family camp at Covenant Hills Camp. We used it as an extra bedroom for guests a couple of times in the summer. That was a relief when we had a house full!

IMG_1492 (1)Here’s Jerry, after washing it, backing it into our pole barn. It’s rather sad to think we didn’t go anywhere with it this year. Age has a way of determining when it’s time to slow down.

What wonderful, fun, loving memories we have of camping and traveling!

Mother’s English China

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Back in about 1952 Dad bought and sent a beautiful set of English China dishes to Mother. We lived in Elk Run Heights, a sub burg of Waterloo, Iowa. Dad, as an evangelist, was traveling, as usual. He was in eastern Canada and had been looking for just the right set of dishes to buy and send to her. He finally found it!

I’ll never forget the day several large boxes arrived in the mail. We were both so excited! It was like Christmas day to us! Mother and I carefully unpacked the boxes. Only one cup was cracked and later it was replaced.

Mother was a beautiful hostess. Between graduating from high school and marrying my dad she had worked for a very prominent family in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. There she learned how to be a proper hostess. She said at the time she never dreamed that knowledge would be so important to her later on in life!

Being the wife of a pastor, an evangelist, an executive, a conference superintendent, and more, she had entertained many important and influential men and women. Bishops, missionaries, pastors, evangelists, college presidents, professors, the list goes on and on! Her beautiful set of English China was well used!

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Table set with Mother’s English China.

We were visiting Mother and Dad, at Warm Beach Retirement Center, in Washington, in about 1994. Mother surprised me when she said she’d like to give her set of English China to me and that we should take the set home with us! Oh, I didn’t know what to say! I was thrilled that she wanted me to have them, but how could I take them? Maybe she would need them again! Why not wait a few more years? But she insisted I take them when we left back to Michigan. So Mother and I carefully packed the dishes into a couple of sturdy boxes. English China 1

I treasure Mother’s English China! On the bottom of each piece is the name and location where they were made. I can’t read the whole thing, but I can see ‘Simpsons… Cobridge, England’. I only use them on very special occasions. Today was one of those occasions! We invited our new lead pastor and wife, Pastor Gene and Lois, for dinner! As we all sat down at the table Pastor Gene exclaimed, “Oh my, what beautiful dishes! Are these special?”

So I had the joy of telling them about Mother’s English China and my joy to be serving dinner with them.  I told them of all the important people who had eaten from them and now they were among the important folks also! It was a wonderful evening!