Greetings to my friend in the UK

Today I am using the blog for a different purpose, as advised by my daughter, S with RM.
I have tried to email the mother of my soon to be son in law but the emails have been returned. I know she reads my blog, so will tell her of my problem. The message said it was undeliverable, but not why. I was able to receive your email, but not reply.

Just wanted to say hi and see you soon. Also, don't fret about the dress and hat for the wedding. We will both look great, but not outshine the bride, I am sure. It is coming up fast, isn't it?

I am finishing up the menus for the reception and other meals where we will have guests. I am using the plan used for the reunion so am feeling OK about it. I trust all the guests understand they will be put to work. Hopefully, I also learned a lesson from when I had the 60th birthday party for DH last year. My poor future son in law, chopped onion and garlic for hours. That's when I know he was a keeper! I hope to not have that much last minute preparations, but we will see.

A new toy for DH

I want you to know that I went on a garden walk yesterday where I saw seven spectacular gardens and took pictures. But instead of posting them, I am letting you see a beautiful new (to DH) bike and the proud owner. This bike will do well for dirt riding like on trails in West Virginia and for street riding. He is planning to ride it in Colorado in 2009. I'm very happy he found it.

My own space

As all of you know, DH has a very large shop for all of his wonderful possessions. I would add that a bit has spilled over into the basement. I believe there are car parts and part of an ultralight airplane down there. I have been campaigning for a small corner for my gardening things, like hoes, shovels, rakes and potting soil. Well, it has been hard to come by in the shop.

But the Universe had me in mind even though I did not specifically ask for this. Today there was an auction a couple miles from our house. I decided to attend just to learn what goes on in "the sticks." Apparently the people had built a new house next to their old one, and are going to demolish the old one. So everything was for sale. Seriously, they sold sinks, all bathroom fixtures, even the electrical outlets in the walls. Anything you bought you are responsible to take down from the house. They just wrote on the walls with magic marker the things that were for sale in the room.


In case you cannot read this, it says: whole house switches and outlets, hanging light fixture, ceiling lights, sink and faucet, garbage disposal, etc.


I was the highest bidder on a 10 x 16 foot wood barn, which is about the size of a one car garage. It looked like it was in good condition. A couple men there told me I got a really good deal. A new one is $2500. I paid $300. Of course now we (DH and I ) have to figure out how to move it in one piece to our property. I forgot to mention that DH was not with me. He is at a motorcycle event for three days.

Lest you think that is all I got, I also am a proud owner of a garage door for a double garage including the garage opener for only $5. My guess is that most of the readers of this blog are not getting real excited about the garage door. But I am sure DH will find a use for it. And again he (we) have to take it out of their garage. Looks like some good blog material for the future.

Reunion: Class, auction, and food prep

Other activities that generated a lot of interest were the meals, classes and the auction.

First was the classroom, then the demonstration.






































The master chef and the sou chefs:
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Preparing the Auction and contemplating what to bid on.

The pictures tell it all, well maybe not

Here are four more great pictures. As I look at my pictures I see that I certainly did not get a picture of each person who was here. If you are not in a picture, please do not take it personally.
I'll post more in the days to come.

Twenty five house guests

Twenty five people visited us for several days. The first photos I will show are of some of the accommodations. de-I seems to really be enjoying driving the RV. But in reality he is just steering it as it is pulled backwards. Seems the engine wasn't working, but we needed the space for sleeping. The towed RV is actually hidden behind the other campers.









































The next three pictures show group activities, but not the eating part. Sorry no pig pictures until the next post.

Just a quick note today

I realize it has been a long while since I posted. G and I are really into getting ready for the group this weekend. Since he offered a beginner's motorcycle riding class, we spend half a day on Sunday, picking up a couple smaller bikes from a friend. And then along the way, a friend (if you can call him that) gave G two bikes that are no longer running for him to make into one. They don't even have engines in them.

I have been spending every spare minute in the yard and garden. Having the non stop rain has not helped. I do enjoy it however. Today I will do the grocery shopping for 28 people for meals for three days. I expect I will feel like I have a very large family to shop for. The great part is that I will not be expected to prepare all the food: just get the ingredients, the recipe and then recruit. Hey, I may like this arrangement.

Blueberries and Basil

We have a "Pick it your self" blueberry farm about 10 miles from our house. In the last three days I have picked each day. I invited two neighbor women to go along. I now have frozen about 20 quarts of blueberries and will make a pie today for G's birthday. I enjoy the berries on my cereal almost every day. They are extremely easy to freeze. Just spread out a single layer on a cookie sheet, freeze, and then put in a freezer bag. To use just scoop out a few, rinse off and eat. I won't make any promises, but there may be some for the reunion (fresh).

Last night I went to our local produce auction. There were two flats of basil plants. I had started mine from seed and they are about one inch tall. These were about one foot. As I might have mentioned in the past, when you bid, you have to take the whole quantity they have put together. So for $9 I am the proud owner of two flats (36 plants each)!!! I was unsure how one foot plants would transplant, but we will see. I plan to make and freeze pesto for daughter and son-in-law (soon to be) and a couple of her friends.