Misc catchup post

This has been an interesting summer.  We had a cool and wet spring and summer, which brought a large and amazingly varied crop of mushrooms.  This is just 1 and it was very large.

We always get together for a family camping and picnic over the 4th of July, along the shore of a lake.  This is me and a couple of our grandchildren. 

Then in early October, the 11th to be exact we had a blizzard, and received 4" of snow.  Not as much as other parts of the state, some very "lucky" farmers received about 28" of heavy wet snow. 

below are 2 of the pictures I took

                           

This is a small Black Walnut

All the rain we recieved this year and the snow caused the fields to be very wet and has made harvest very difficult. 

Also in October we went to 2 concerts, first we have gone to in all the 46  yrs we haev been married.  At the end of September, Farmguy answered a trivia question on the radio and he won tickets to a Mickey Gilley/Johny Lee concert.  It was fun.  A week later he was reading the paper and saw that Miranda Lambert and her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars tour was stopping in Fargo ND.  We were able to get tickets and the date was just a few days after our  Anniversary.  We had a good time at that concert too. 

On November 2 one of my daughters got martried. Below is a picture of our children. 

Left to right: Elizabeth #4 Doctor of Chemistry,

Mary #1 Graphic Artist and para professional for their local school, 

Naomi #6 runs the city and county housing dept, 

Rebecca #5 works in the compliance dept for a multi state bank, 

Joseph #7 works for a national restaurant chain,

Sarah #3 PharmTech in a hosp,

Anna #2 Stockbroker/Financial Advisor.

I am so proud of my kids, they are all silly, succesful, responsible adults who have persevered through good and bad times. They are amazing people and I am glad I know them and am very proud to be there mom. I do not claim any responsibility for how they turned out.  All I did was give them a framework, they did the growing and maturing themselves with God's help. 

Look what the mailwoman brought

the mailman came to my door today which meant lucky me, I didn't have to walk a 1/4 mile to the mailbox in this chilly windy weather. 

Yeah! but she brought me a package from the U.K. oh boy, was I excited.
remember this post from Sally at Tat's Heaven?   The black walnut is from my parents back yard. there are several huge black walnut trees in their yard.  they had some branches that had needed to be trimmed a few years back, and they were well seasoned.  Sally husband "I'm in the garage" does wood work and so I sent him some, as American Black Walnut is not native to the UK

here is a look at what was in the package

look at the pretty box.  it is a present all by itself.  the stars and reindeer confetti fit the season and then there were 3 shuttles in the box.  When Sally asked for my address, I was thinking 1 shuttle, but 3.  Wow.  Christmas came early this year. 

the 2 darker shuttles are the Black Walnut and the lighter color one is Apple wood from Sally's father's garden.  Thank you Sally and give my thanks to "I'm in the garage" too. These will be cherished.

would you like to see a close up of the shuttles?

Here in the SE corner of North Dakota for the past 10 - 15 years a group of 40+ men and women of mostly middle age get together each year starting in the end of Sept/beginning of October and practice a Christmas Cantata.  The folks come from an area about 70 miles from end to end.  We practice each monday at a location in about the middle. then perform 4 times.  Tonight was our 3rd performance, and tomorrow will be the last for this year. 

this years Cantata is  Night of the Father's Love by Pepper Choplin.   we also sing several well known Chrismas Carols with the audience's participation and always end with Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.   our accompaniment is a single piano played by an amazing pianist who in the daytime is the local physicians assistant.  The Director is the manager for the local senior living center. 
The local handbell choir performs before us and also accompanies us and the audience during the Christmas carol sing along parts.