on the farm

Img_0690
45:52
Uh oh... another iPhone photo - I'm getting lazy with my 52 week portraits.  I promise to do better next week!  I spent the weekend back home visiting with Grandma adn a trip to her farm... loads of memories on that farm!  She used to measure me and the corn growth in the very spot where these hay bales stand. 

 

I snapped a few photos around the house while we were picking up some items to take to my parents house since Grandma will be moving in on Wednesday.  She keeps pretty much every single thing she's ever had, so her house is quite the archive.  Photos, cards & letters, jars for pickles and jelly, seriously vintage clothing and etc.  
She never had art - not one single piece of formal framed art.  She surrounded herself with photos of friends and family and the Lord.  I found a photo on top of a dresser of a young military man (will have to ask her who this is) in the second bedroom, a seriously old depiction of Christ that hung above her bed, a funny little plaque about some nights not being that great and then the styrofoam art that I made as a child.  

I always thought it was funny that she kept this - notice that I spelled her name wrong (Mere rather than Mary) - even after one of my little cousins defaced it (putting the "don't) after "I."  She is a sentimental old gal that loves her family and a good laugh.  
Time seems to stand still now that she is not there.  Her house in serious disrepair - she would never, ever let anyone do anything for her.  She is one of the lucky people to be genuinely happy with what she has/had.  Even if it's literally crumbling down around her.  

Though this house will go, I will always remember it fondly.  I will remember the games we played at the kitchen table after church.  Watching black and white TV and having to go outside to adjust the antena for better reception.  I remember grandma running laundry through her old wringer washer and hanging it on the line to dry - the smell is so crisp and fresh!  Riding the tractor out to the fields to check on cattle with grandpa.  Sitting in a wagon of soy beans playing for hours and hours - who needs toys?  I will remember all the Thanksgiving meals and the smell of freshly baked rolls greeting me upon arrival.  I will remember grandma always saving the food scraps to feed the kitties - she always had cats in the barn.  I will remember grandpa snoring so loud you could almost hear him outside!  I will remember grandma in her little blue floppy hat mowing the yard on the John Deere waving at neighbors as they drive by.  I will remember grandma sitting in her rocking chair knitting and chatting about all the fun things we have done and people we have done them with.  We had some great times in that little house on Tonganoxie Rd.... Good times! 

 

pasta perfection

Holly and I took a pasta making class at Cooking Fools in Bucktown last night and had a great time.  I've had one of those manual pasta machines for a couple of years and have to admit, I've never taken it out of the box ... a little intimidated I guess... and maybe a little lazy.  But after the class I realize just how silly this is... it's crazy easy to make past and tastes SO much better fresh than dried from a box!!  


I was totally impressed with the class too.  Our chef, Nick Faitage (and owner of Cooking Fools) was a great teacher, very personable and really hands on.  He gave everyone personal attention despite having 30 people in one class.  The whole thing was very well orchestrated too!  


We made ravioli with a mushroom, ricotta and parmesan filling with an almond pesto sauce and pappardelle with a vodka red sauce - none of which I would eat (shocker, I know) but he was nice enough to fix me up a bowl of plain pappardelle with oil and parm!  Good stuff!!   

the tridge

 

I've been working in Midland, MI for over a year now and FINALLY made it to the Tridge.  It's in the park directly behind the hotel where I have stayed almost every trip to Midland.  We walked down after dinner and found it all lit up and had a little iPhone photo fun .. The Tridge is a three way pedestrian footbridge built over the Tittabawassee and Chippewa rivers.  It marks the spot where the two rivers meet.