Scattered Seed

It was late August.   We were living in upstate New York and traveled west for a family reunion in Oklahoma City.   On the way we stopped to visit George’s aunt in Independence, Kansas.    She asked us if we would like to take the girls to see the “Little House on the Prairie”.

She gave us directions which took us on roads-less-traveled,  and this is what we found…..

The sign says:   “This log cabin resembles one described as the Ingall’s home in Little House on the Prairie.  A claim was not filed because the land was part of the Osage Diminished Reserve.   The Osage signed the treaty selling the land to the government on September 10th, 1870.   The family home was listed as the 89th residence of Rutland Township in the 1870 U.S. Census and the family lived here about one year.  In her book Laura told of building the cabin, of encounters with Indians, going to Independence for supplies and of Dr. Tannis treating the family members for ‘fever and ague’.   Dr. Tannis’ grave is in Mount Hope Cemetery in Independence.”     Erected 1977

Unfortunately,  what Rebecca (age 6)  and Morgan (age 2) probably remember best of that day was the fact that the temperature was a blistering 103 degrees, and our car didn’t have air conditioning.

For more Remember Whensday posts,  see Sally’s site here.

As I was getting out of bed this morning,  George mentioned that the temperature was at Zero.    I was then less than enthused when he suggested that we drive down to Wellsboro, PA for brunch, but I do like the old Penn-Wells Hotel.   So I dug out my Cuddle Duds,  made him promise to keep the car’s heater running for the whole trip, and we headed south.    It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday for the drive which takes us about an hour.

Once, on a December visit there, Christmas carolers had come off the street and into the decorated lobby to sing in front of the fireplace.   We were just checking out,  so we stopped and joined them around this fireplace.   It was very festive and nostalgic, and I think of it every time we go back.

Today it was very quiet there.  We arrived as the brunch hours were ending and the lunch hours were soon to begin.   They have a delicious buffet which extends through much of the dining room with just about anything you could want or imagine.   Diners come dressed in their finest, or in blue jeans, or in their hunting garb.   I love the linen-covered tables, the heavy woodwork, and the rich-red walls which are covered in photos showing Wellsboro and the area in days-gone-by.

And as we left and headed for the car, the bank sign across the street showed that the temperature had risen to 19 degrees!

After a high-paced week,  and more overtime than I wanted to do,  the weekend couldn’t have come soon enough.   I slept well last night,  and I slept in a bit this morning,  which means that I probably missed the early birds for Feederwatch today.

This mourning dove sat out by the deck for the longest time,  and appeared to be huddled up in the cold (19 degrees was the high temperature).

A downy woodpecker discovered that I had moved the suet cage to the deck.   Last week two crows kept pecking at it from a willow branch till it was on the ground and soon empty.   I had to chisel it out of the crusty snow.

I spilled nyjer as I was filling the feeders this morning  and as many as twelve mourning doves came by to help with the clean-up.   That’s one way to increase the count,  and I was glad that it wasn’t going to waste!

Indoors we concentrated on taking down the Christmas tree and reclaiming our living room/dining room area.   As I packed up the ornaments I was thinking about each one as I tucked it away.

the oldest ornament on our tree (a plastic bell that I remember from my childhood)….

and the newest ornament,  hand-crafted,  which Morgan bought for me this Christmas….

Many little projects were competing for my attention today and I feel like I got quite a bit done,  especially around the kitchen.    I couldn’t let the day go by without time on the Mario rug though.

I’m more than a third of the way done!

This is the first picture I have of George putting together a truck model. We lived in a ’sparsely’ furnished apartment in Oklahoma City and it was our first Christmas. I remember being amazed by the amount of time and detail he put into it then.

fast forward thirty-seven Christmases……there is yet another truck model in the works!

For more Remember Whensday posts,  check Sally’s site here.

As with most things we try to accomplish around here, nothing ever comes off without a hitch.

All through Christmas week we had a drip from the bathroom faucet that didn’t want to be fixed,  and we wanted to get the new faucet that we had recently bought put in.  However the new one required a new sink layout, and if we were going to get a new sink, we wanted to get a new vanity.   We just kept our eye on things and jiggled the handle this way or that till the dripping was as slow as we could get it.

the old….

Fortunately we waited till everyone had come and gone, as our plan didn’t work out quite like we expected. The new faucet fit the new sink we bought quite nicely, but the vanity with its drawers didn’t line up with the way the plumbing came from the wall. We could have the vanity, but not the drawers,  or the drawers but not the plumbing….at least until we had someone come in and reroute things for us.

That was yesterday, and we are finally all put together. The old vanity and sink were probably the original from when the house was built and we were more than ready to see them go!

the new…..

We had a good visit with Rebecca while she was home over Christmas, and I was especially appreciative of her trip here in winter when she said a few years ago that she would prefer to keep her trips north for warmer weather. There is a lot that she likes to do and see around here in the other three seasons of the year,  but not so much in the winter, not to mention the long drive up in wintry weather.

I had thought about making her a cake to celebrate her day while we were all together, but with all the sweets and indulgences of Christmas, a cake just seemed too much.   But everyday that she was here I was thankful and celebrating her presence,  thinking towards her day which is today, January 4th.

Photo of a family celebration for her eleventh birthday….

and another from her twelfth where a printing calculator was the high-tech gift of the year…(left arm extended means Garrett doesn’t get to the candles before she does).

I hope this day is special!

George decided to do the dusting today, which is fine with me, as it is my least favorite job. After he finished with the clocks I noticed that he was setting them to ring for the first time in a long time.

We acquired the two clocks about twelve years ago and we had them up and running for awhile till the chiming kept us awake at night, and then we let them go silent.

Tonight as I worked on Garrett’s rug,  we were waiting for him to drive in from New York City with his girlfriend, Heather, on their way back to Buffalo.  I was sitting between the two clocks and the ticking and chiming was comforting as I worked.   It’s a long drive from the city, especially with the snow, wind, and bitter temperatures,  and I imagined what it must have been like for mothers waiting for their children to arrive without benefit of cell phones or texting,  just a ticking of a clock to mark the time.    It’s a soothing sound that eventually gave way to the sound of footsteps out front.

We had a good visit, though brief,  and within an hour they were on the road again.   Here I am, finding myself listening to the tick-tock of the clocks to soothe me till that text message comes that they are safely home and out of this wintry weather.

But I shouldn’t complain, because it’s a lot colder elsewhere. The temperature here is 12 degrees, windchill is -2. Snow is beginning to fall and we are expecting a few inches accumulation overnight.   There is a windchill advisory,  with gusts expected over forty miles per hour.   It’s going to be a wool socks kind of night!

We awoke to a fresh layer of snow, though we still don’t have much on the ground.

There is just enough that the few birds that came today had trouble finding my offerings so I set a pan of mixed seed and sunflower on the deck to see who would come. For the most part it was the blue jays, always nearby when the peanut feeder is full.

I kept an eye on Martha as she came up the steps. She struggles so much now and I was ready to go out and help her with the harness Rebecca and Melissa bought for her, but she took her time and made it to the door without me.

With the sun shining and cabin fever setting in, George and I decided we would head out on a drive to try out the new GPS. I think it was more of a challenge to see where we could lead IT, as George was constantly taking a different turn than suggested to see how it would redirect our path. We didn’t get all that far when the sky darkened and the snow began to fall. We even reached a point where the road became slippery, we reconsidered our driving plan, and returned to more familiar territory.

Chequaga Falls,  partially frozen over….

Our second option for the day had been to go to the movies to see ‘Sherlock Holmes’.   Being halfway between home and Ithaca,  George chose the Ithaca theaters so we headed that way.    The snow seemed to increase the farther north we traveled, and with slick and slushy streets,  I was just happy to get up the hill and in out of the weather.     Fortunately,  the roads had cleared, or had been cleared,  by the time we headed back out after dark.  All through the movie I had envisioned a continued snowfall.

After the few little unexpected twists and turns the car took on its own,  I’d say my cabin fever is cured.   It’s good to be warm and safe back home again tonight.

It was a day of clearing snow (after a few inches accumulated through the morning), running errands, and taking the day at a relaxing pace since we are both still on vacation.

While I planned our shopping trip, George finished off the last of Morgan’s fruit soup with a generous serving of vanilla ice cream on top.  It has become a tradition that she makes a big pot of this for us each Christmas.

We didn’t need much at the grocery store since the kids had shopped while they were home and left us with many goodies. It was mainly a stop for milk and pets foods until we passed the seafood counter and noticed a sale for the holiday. Not having real plans for our evening meal, we splurged and had a lovely (but messy) New Year’s Eve meal at home a few hours later.

And not wanting to let a free evening get away from me without putting some time into my never-ending project,  I attached twelve more squares to Garrett’s Mario rug.   It’s still only about a fifth of the way done at this point!

Now we are having a quiet evening, waiting to turn the page to 2010.   I’ll be spending some time with my photo albums,  relocating some of my oldest photos to a better quality album and wondering what photo memories I’ll be documenting in the new year!