Memorabilia--Youth Saturday dinner!

Well....this post reflects on youth days of 75 years ago!  Probably Alice definitely remembers; Perry might; but I doubt if Ada does.

The standard Saturday noon dinner (and it wasn't lunch) at the EJK family home consisted of the following:

1. Quarter inch sliced potatoes cooked in water and then over spread with butter and salt;
2. Navy beans well cooked and over spread with ketchup;
3. I'm not sure of the meat selection but my memory says--home grown link sausage.  Dad almost always was raising some hogs and the first very cold morning about 5 o'clock he'd roll us out of bed and have a "butchering."  Uncle Joe would come with his rifle and shoot 2 or 3 hogs to butcher.  From that process of "butchering" we'd make link sausage that Mother would "fry down" and with all the grease store the meat in a very large crock.  The meat would not spoil because the grease solidified into lard.  When needed one of us would go to the cellar and break off about 36 inches for the meal.  Mother would heat up the sausage in the fry pan.

Well....LadyK did a great job to create a facsimilie (All but killing the hogs and frying down the sausage).  And it was good to relive the Saturday Noon Dinner!   mmmmmm-gooood.

Uncle Petely Meiss would say:  "Clear good."

On His Way

Our son is over the Pacific as I write this, headed for China.  He flew out of Charlotte this morning at 6:30 EDT to Chicago, and left there at 10:30 a.m. CDT to fly to Shanghai.  From there he goes to his city in northeastern China, and will arrive at 8:30 a.m. EDT tomorrow morning.  (That is 8:30 p.m. in his time zone in China - nice that it is exactly 12 hours ahead.)  Would appreciate your upward thoughts for him as he flies and during this transition time.

I know this will be a wonderful experience for him, both in growth for himself and in what he has to offer his students.  But it is still hard on a mother's heart to see him go.  :-)

p.s. Added Wednesday morning 8:45 a.m. - just received a brief text that he has safely arrived.  Very glad for that.

Last Day of Freedom

Today I have the former feeling from when I was a teacher.

Today is my last day of freedom.

On Monday I will begin my new job here in Texas. After almost six months I will return to the ranks of the employed as a training program specialist with a national economy hotel chain. I will be facilitating classes and managing the learning management system as my main responsibilities--at least that is basically my understanding of the job.

Many of you have encouraged me over the last few months and I want you to know how much I appreciate and value this family. Your prayers, thoughts, comments, and even visits have had a great impact. These transition months have been a time of healing and refreshment and I'm ready to put my hand to the plow again!

(I even sat in a waiting area with quite a few children getting back-to-school haircuts this morning waiting to get my back-to-work haircut!)

Ellie and Timon's train trip to Kansas City

 

waiting for the train

 

Maria, Milan, Anna, Alice, Timon, Ellie, Jesse at the zoo

                                                                    Milan and Maria

 

river otter enjoying a shrimp "popsicle"

 

Timon, Anna, Ellie, Jesse

 

Ellie is not so sure she wants a bird landing on her.

An Update

Okay, Ada, I will try to oblige and put something new up here!!  Seems like this blog runs really hot, or really cold - but it always goes back to being hot again at some point - for which I am glad.

My folks sent me these pictures from your cousins' reunion about a week ago; school is starting so I've been busy with that and didn't get these posted until now.  Would appreciate someone identifying all the people.

Dad and Mom left this morning with Uncle Chuck H. for a bus tour of New York City.  No doubt they will have quite the time!  Uncle Chuck drove down on Sunday/Monday so we got to visit with him a couple of times also - always a treat.

We are getting ready to say goodbye to Andrew for at least a year, but will post more about that later.  Even though it's going to be a great experience for him, it's still kinda difficult on this old mom and dad to see him go for that long.

FUN WEEK IN VERNON HILLS

This week Drake and Michelle have been off on a vacation and we've had the privilege of staying with Grace and Owen. They have been so cooperative with anything we suggest doing. But the first order of daily business was their participation in a summer symphony camp at their school. Grace plays the violin and Owen plays the cello. Both are WAY more talented than we realized. They had a concert for parents on Friday afternoon as the finale of their week. It was great. A couple pictures shows them in action. They also have a new dog named Trixie. She's quite active, loves me - aren't I lucky? I even play with her, who would've thought?!?!? G & O are the official caretakers and they have so much fun with her. Today we took the train downtown and went to Navy Pier where we rode the giant ferris wheel. I must say I've always been scared of that thing and thought anybody who rode it must be crazy. But today I decided to take the plunge - after all I'm 70 now and can do anything, right? It was a great ride with a beautiful view of Chicago. Later we went down to Grant Park, listened to music from a distance and wandered around awhile, then back to the train and home.