First Snow of 2008

October 28th 2008: First snow of the season. The snow is falling, the woodstove is going and I'm making chili tonight.

 

 

 

You always suspected we were a wierd cult with strange rituals. Anyone venture a guess?

 

Hoping the picture is larger this time

 

Jake & Edwin & Scarf

This past Saturday UNCA Men's Soccer played Winthrop at home and we beat them 1-0. After the game we were surprised to see Edwin had been sitting on the bench cheering the guys on. You might remember Edwin (Watortsi) is the defensive player whose spleen and pancreas ruptured early in the season when he collided with the goalie on the other team. He was in the hospital here for a few weeks and we even had the privilege of having his mother and sister stay with us while they were in town. Here he is looking much better though he still has a drain in his side that he says should come out any day. He's wearing the scarf that Franklin's mom, Nancy made him. She added one thread of orange to the fringe in remembrance of the fact that Edwin attended Clemson for a year. (Jake's scarf has a red thread symbolizing the HFC team he'd played on). I thought you'd like to see that he's doing better and dreams of playing again next fall. In fact, he's hinting that he wants to practice with the team in the spring. His girlfriend says, "We'll see." Thanks to all who prayed for him.

 

Dress-Up Time

Yes, this is our middle son working undercover so the sheep don't recognize him when he comes to give them their wormer. Actually, he found these glasses and Cameron correctly identified them as 3-D glass only not the kind most of us are used to. They can only be used in selected theaters and with selected movies. You have to be very "selective" to wear them as you can tell is the case with Walker.

 

As a little girl I remember sitting in the bathroom watching different men shave: my dad, my grandfather, my uncle. Here's Cameron with that look. She's watching Walker trim his beard and is ready and able in case he needs help.

 

Cameron and Jake on KP duty, peeling, coring and slicing apples for the apple crisp.

 

Once every few weeks Cameron convinces Walker of the merrits of going out on a date - just the two of them. Usually Walker does good to change his shirt while Cameron beautifully holds up her end of the dressing-up thing. Tonight Jake was here and we sat around with him for 45 minutes while Cameron was getting ready. When she came down looking stunning, Jake and I insisted on taking Walker upstairs for a makeover. We didn't have much to work with (as in clothes - not the man)but we were proud of our accomplishments. It was nothing short of Cinderfella.

 

Josh & Carla

I never took a close-up of Josh and Carla so here's a cropped version. Josh is a long-time Fairview friend and Carla is his girlfriend from Paraguay who was an exchange student here for a year. They've endured a long-distance relationship for a while now but we finally have her in the states. She's at Kansas University (I hope that's right) and Josh goes to N. C. State (Franklin's alma mater). She also came to visit two weeks ago because she was homesick for Fairview.

 

More Saturday Night Live Photos

Rebecca MacNair proudly shows off the cake her sister Grace baked but which she iced. This cake had so much icing in between the layers that we couldn't keep it from sliding sideways.

 

From L-R: Jake, Mark Clarke, Thomas Gibson paling around. We're glad Thomas could make it down from App. He LOVES dessert nights!

 

Here's the entire gang (except Susan who is taking the photo and minus Thomas who'd already left). We filled up two couches and a blow-up mattress and a few chairs while watching the movie. Grace and Cameron preferred chatting and giggling in the kitchen to a beat-em-up Bourne Identity movie.

 

Cameron Bakes a Pie

Cameron was kind enough to pose for me while making an awesome pumpkin pie that included a layer of roasted hazelnut paste just above the crust. The four of us actually sat at the dining room table one evening rubbing and scraping the skin off each nut. Like the Little Red Hen, the guys complained a lot while peeling but not once the pie was ready for tasting.

 

Here's Cameron with the finished pie next to a chocolate cake Grace brought. Cameron's an awesome cook as well as baker and Walker and Franklin are kind of rolling in desserts. Over the winter we may even fatten them up a little. Having Cameron live in Jake's room has been wonderful. We all seem to mesh well and are blessed by her presence.

 

Here's a hot and heavy Schmiddle game. I don't know who won but we ended up having a crowd that night for dessert, cards and a movie. Jake had a great weekend with his friends home from college. Both Friday and Saturday nights there were opportunities for everyone to get together and eat and play and see one another.

 

Grassboarding Movies That Don't Play on the Blog

Sorry, these don't play as movies for you and I pushed the wrong button last time I published them before I could write any info. Walker, Jake, Mark, Austin and Lily went grassboarding - where you pull a person through wet grass as if they're skiing, behind a truck. They get going pretty fast and it's pretty wild.

 

 

Firewood

Yesterday was a full fall day. It started with Franklin, Walker, Jake and friend Mark (who is home on break from Chapel Hill) helping us do a wood shuffle. The wood we have stored in a shed is too long for our stove and the wood Walker has stored is shorter so we swapped. The guys took two loads of ours to Walker's porch and two loads of his to ours and stacked it. In one of the photos they're trying to overload Mark with wood which is why everyone is laughing - except Mark. I have no photos of another manly thing they did which is to turn a normal ping pong game into a game of risk and pain. You place you paddle in the middle and on the edge of the table with the handle hanging off. Players take turns bouncing the ball over the net in hopes it hits the other player's paddle. A hit on the face is worth one - a hit on the handle is worth two. Not one or two points mind you - one or two HITS. The player who lost takes his shirt off and turns his back while the other player tries to hit the ball at warp speed into his back. We're talking college-age guys here so they have welts to show for it. Sorry, no photos of their version of ping pong - yet.

 

 

 

Erik Passes Paramedic Test

Erik is my 31-year-old oldest son. I've begged him for months for something for the blog and he's just now found enough breathing room to humor me. My father, his father, his uncles, great-uncles, brother and cousin are all on the force or are about to be so he comes by it naturally. Your mom's over-the-top proud of you, Son.

 

~~~
In Erik's own words: Well, after 8 months of grueling hell, I have passed my paramedic classes. Overall, it was very difficult to manage with work and additional study time, forcing me to make many hard sacrifices. Suffice to say, the last month was particularly challenging. In the last few weeks of class, I was working close to 60 hours a week (not including additinal management of students), in addition to 14 hours of class, 24 hours of ride times, and additional 8 hours of clinicals (per week). All in all, I was lucky to get 6 hours of sleep a night (4.5 was nice when it happened too).

Regardless, I now have my certificate and will be sitting down to take the state test after the state of Florida approves me to sit for it.
~~~

Farm Store

This first shot was taken right after the sheep shot and just before Walker's house. It was a beautiful, foggy, fall morning.

 

The rest of these are of the Hickory Nut Gap farm store which is at the bottom of our gravel road near our mailbox. This is the farm where Walker is Farm Manager. They're becoming known for some of the best pasture meat in the country. The store gets better and better each year thanks to the women of the farm. In addition to meat, the store sells goat's milk soaps made by Molly (her husband is William - Cameron's boss and the Hamilton's son), knitted hats also by Molly, homemade cards with photos of the farm, local organic blueberry jam, HNGF beef jerky, apples and cider, and more.

 

 

 

Farm Shots

Shaggy and shorn: This isn't a farm shot but I nabbed it just as Jake was leaving last night after spending the weekend here with his girlfriend, Sara.

 

This is "Curley". Erin Curley to be exact. She works with Walker on the farm and is an awesome baker (her secret is using enough butter to choke a horse) and just a fun person to be around. She and Walker argue like sister and brother but with smiles on their faces most of the time.

 

This scene was toward the end of my hour walk this morning as I was coming near Walker's house.

 

The baby chicks at the farm store. Part of the "petting zoo" here.

 

Turkey Killing

Today was turkey-killing day at the farm. Walker was up by 5:30 getting the volunteer crew together, catching the birds, heating the water, sharpening the knives, setting up tables and hoses, etc. Here's the horse trailer where the 60+ birds were put until they were processed (the politically correct term for terminating turkeys).

 

Walker: sharpening the knives.

 

A helper, Andrew, whom we met at last-night's potluck, volunteered to help. He said since he was a carnivore he should at least be part of the process and experience the unpleasant side of things. Most of the birds are spoken for and the rest will be sold at the farm store.

 

Fall Shots

I was laying on a bench at the Big House, waiting for Jake to finish showing Sara the "Pirate Hole" upstairs where the boys had hidden out and played for many years, and I saw this maple just starting to turn.

 

Egg baskets next to the spring house. Color seems to be everywhere. We try to soak it all in before the browns and grays of winter.