My Weekend

It was lovely weather here over the weekend.  Saturday I took my mother to visit the eldest daughter.  It was a warm Indian summer day, not windy at all.  There are not too many days that are not windy in KS.  Eldest daughter lives in a college town, but there was a big football game at the stadium that afternoon, so everywhere else was not crowded.  We ate lunch on the outside patio of eldest daughter’s favorite restaurant.  I had roasted vegetable tacos with rice and black beans on the side.  It was yummy.  My mother loved the house eldest daughter is renting and her Great Dane, Gabby.  We played with the dog and visited.  Eldest daughter had taken in 2 female kittens that she couldn’t really afford to keep, so we took them to the shelter for her and made a donation to the shelter.  Much easier to do that now.  There is a new grocery store in her town that carries my favorite coffee, so we went there and I bought some coffee for myself and some groceries for her.  All the things that moms do, you know.

The pug was not happy about being left in the kitchen all day on the weekend.  And she barked — scolded me about it when I got home.  So I puttered around and did laundry, etc. Saturday evening.

Sunday afternoon was lovely again, but a bit cloudier and with some wind.  I bought some groceries and finished my housework after church.  Then I took the pug to the park for a nice long walk and then stopped at the library to pick up a couple of books.

Sunday evening I roasted some acorn and butternut squash.  Made a lima bean artichoke heart salad.  Finished a baby sweater that I have been working on.  Finished another bright facecloth for my Sudan project.  Mended an afghan for a friend.  Started on some Christmas knitting.

The fashionista called yesterday.  She had been having some problems with her car, but she got that all worked out and she was in a much better mood.  She called to tell me that she was going to do some Christmas shopping and go into Philadelphia with a friend who would take her to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and some other sights.  I am glad she is getting around some — there is a lot that I would love to see in that area.  I may have to try to visit her there one of these days.

 

 

Fort Hood Thanksgiving Memory

Reading the news about the shootings at Fort Hood yesterday got me to thinking about my Thanksgiving at Fort Hood 11 years ago.  Eldest daughter’s hubby was in the Army and my first grandchild was about 2 months old.  The fashionista was 11 at the time and we went to spend Thanksgiving with eldest daughter and to see the new baby.

I remember thinking that the base was like a city — it was so large!  The kids lived in a small second story apartment just outside of the base and it was very warm there in November.  Naturally, since a mom was cooking Thanksgiving dinner, my son in law invited quite a few of his single soldier friends, which didn’t bother me in the least.

It must have been 85 degrees Thanksgiving Day and I spent most of it sweating in a tiny kitchen cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  24 lb. turkey, two kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, a relish tray, and pies — pumpkin and our family cheese pie, which is eldest daughter’s favorite.

I made turkey enchiladas with rice and black beans and turkey pot pie with some of the leftovers — although with all those soldiers there were not many leftovers.

The fashionista spent most of the week we were there playing with the baby.  She got to feed, change, and bathe the baby.  We spent some time cross-stitching ornaments. I bought the kids lots of groceries and babysat while they went and played cards with friends.  Took them to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  Took them to the exchange on the base and helped them get started on their Christmas shopping.

It was an expensive trip, but one that was well worth it.

Sometimes I miss young children and Minnesota

This morning I was reminiscing about the years we lived in the Twin Cities metro area, and some of our traditions that developed during those years there.  Particularly in the fall.  Every fall I would take the girls out to an apple orchard called Minnesota Harvest.  We would spend an entire Sunday afternoon there.

We would go into the main building and check to see what kinds of apples were being picked, and we would sample a few kinds to decide which ones we wanted to pick.  There were long tables set up with bins of apples to sample and paring knives for cutting the fruit.  Live polka music created a timeless atmosphere.  After we decided on the apples we wanted to pick, we would get our baskets and wait in line for the wagons to drive us out to the orchard.  We would get off at the trees we chose to pick from, and fill our baskets.  The fashionista was pretty little at the time, and she usually ate more than she picked.  When our baskets were full, we heaved them onto the next wagon that came by and went back to the main area.

There was a petting zoo that the little fashionista loved.  The girls would carefully choose their fall pumpkins.  We would have apple pie or apple strudel topped with cinnamon ice cream and listen to more polka music.  We always went home with lots of apples, apple bread, apple pie, caramel dipping sauce, pumpkins, and apple cider.

One year eldest daughter took a helicopter ride while we were there, and the girls rode the spinning apple ride.

And then the drive back home, full, tired, reliving the fun in our heads, and looking at the bright fall colors of the trees.  Ah, those were some good times.

And then we chopped and peeled apples and they both helped me make homemade applesauce, one of their favorites.

Fall in Minnesota was one of my favorite times.