Tale of Two Sundays

Last Sunday Lisa and the kids were with us for the day. We started the day off making homemade donuts for breakfast. Gracie was the official donut icing girl and Hannah waited patiently for her turn.

After breakfast I played a few polkas on my accordion while the girls danced around in the living room.

For lunch grandpa made a German potato and dumpling soup and blooming onions. Both were delicious! These sweet onions are from our garden. We have a "ton" of them stored in the basement.

Here is what the blooming onion looks like after it has been battered and deep fried. They were a big hit with the kids - me too!!!

The boys enjoyed riding their snowmobiles while the girls made a snow fort.

Little Ryan came in with snow all over his face even on his eyebrows. The boys were having so much fun riding. However, I think they spent as much time fixing the snowmobiles and they did riding them. They managed to get one of the snowmobiles stuck in a snowbank not far from the orchard, so grandpa went out to help them. First they got the snow blower out and blew some of the snow and then used my Envoy with the four-wheel drive to pull it out.

This Sunday Bob and I were home alone. No guests for the weekend. I went out to the barn first thing in the morning with Bob to observe first hand our crazy chicken that prefers to eat breakfast with the cats rather than the chickens. And, the cats let it! Big Foot was eating with Tiger and the chicken too, but I scared it when I turned on the camera. He's camera shy.

Then Bob and I decided to go for a walk on the property using our snowshoes. It was the first time I had used mine.

We were gone for about two hours and had a great time. The dogs loved going for the walk with us.

I was a little hesitant when we were walking across an area that was filled with cat-tails. But all is well.

Run Away Comes Home

While we were celebrating the holidays with family in Michigan and Oklahoma, we left the care of our beloved dogs, cats, and chickens in the very capable hands of our friends that have taken care of them many times over the past few years.

Bootsie, our female barn cat must not have appreciated our leaving her to be cared for by someone else, because she ran away from home. Bob and I were so upset that Bootsie was missing. However, Matthew was the most upset. Bootsie was Matthew's cat and had come to live in our barn while the family lived with us during their new home renovations. Then when they moved, Bootsie enjoyed the barn so much that Matthew left her with us since their new home didn't come with a barn.

Bootsie was gone for two weeks and we didn't think we would ever see her again. It was sad for me to think about what might have happened to her. I tried to convince myself that she had gone out looking for mice and she couldn't make it back to the barn because of all the snow.

When we arrived home from our trip we had at least three to four feet of snow on the ground. If fact our town made the national news - because of the amount of snow we received (60 inches in nine days and counting).

This morning when Bob went out to the barn to feed our other two cats (Tiger and Big Foot - Bootsie's two boys that we kept) and the chickens, he was so surprised to see Bootsie waiting to be fed. Of course when he came into the house to tell me, I immediately called Matthew to let him know - Bootsie had come home!!! We are all so happy that she made it back home safely. Now I just hope she isn't expecting kittens. We didn't want to get her fixed before we left and now it may be too late.

Bootsie

Homemade Bagels

Today I decided to make bagels. I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks. I added rosemary (my favorite herb) to the raw dough. After mixing the dough it had to rest for 15 minutes. Then to form the bagels, you just roll a piece of the dough into a ball and then poke your finger throught the center and shape it. Not too difficult. Then you have to cover them and let them rise for about 30 minutes. Then you place the bagels under the broiler for a minute on both sides and then place in a pot of hot water (that is simmering on the stove) for seven minutes turning once. After removing from the hot water, drain on paper towels and then place on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. They turned out really nice and I love the rosemary I added. Fresh homemade bagels are the best! I'll certainly be making these again.

Visiting Oklahoma City

It's been much too long since I last blogged. Several reasons . . . one I thought I was too busy . . . two my computer was tooooooo slow and temperamental. Now, I have a new computer that's much faster! I still am quite busy, but I miss reading all the comments and I hope I haven't lost any of my readers. I could never catch up on all the events that have taken place since my last blog in September. But, I'm going to try and blog more regularly.

Bob and I took a quick trip to Oklahoma City right after Christmas to visit my mom. After her car accident last May she has been living with my brother but her health continues to deteriorate and he is no longer able to care for her. She is now living in a nursing home. When I spoke with one of the nurses prior to our visit, she told me that my mom was quite frail.

Madeline was with us when we went to Oklahoma and it was the first time she had met her great grandma Annie. Of course, grandma Annie was thrilled to meet her and quite surprised to see Bob and me too! Being in Michigan for Christmas made our trip to Oklahoma City only a long days drive. We stayed with my cousin, Francie and her husband Pat. We had a great time visiting with them. Francie's sister, Carla, and I were very close as little girls and both played the accordion. Carla died several years ago of brain cancer. Francie had been given Carla's accordion and she dug it out of the closet and I played several polkas, waltzes, and other favorites which brought back memories of all the fun we had doing programs for the patients at the mental hospital in Norman, Oklahoma. It was so much fun. Carla's accordion was blue and my was white. After I entertained Francie and Pat playing the accordion, Francie told me she wanted me to have Carla's accordion because she knew it meant a lot to me. So she took a picture of me playing the accordion and said she would remember the times Carla and I drove the whole family crazy with our practicing.

We spent two days in Oklahoma City most of each day we spent at the nursing home with mom. She is so frail. It's hard to believe that she has gone down so much. She was so happy to see us and meet Madeline. I played the accordion for her and I could she her tapping her toes on the floor - she even knew the title of several of the songs I played. The first day I played the accordion in her room with the door shut, but the second day I played in the main social hall and many of the residents gathered to listen.

We also were allowed to take mom out for a little drive which she thoroughly enjoyed! I'm so thankful that I took the time to visit mom. She's in a really nice nursing home and the nurses are very attentive and nice to her.

Here is mom showing her two new sweaters from Rachael, Derrick, and the kids.

Mom may be frail, but she can still "dish it out"! And, Bob didn't mind "dishing it right back"!

Mom and Madeline sharing cookies (from Lori and Todd) with the residents and nurses. She loved the icing covered sugar cookies so she saved those for herself.

Here I am playing the accordion that my cousin, Francie gave me. (that's Francie in the picture with me).