I am a Hoosier girl through and through. Born and bred on an Indiana farm with straw in my hair, mud between my toes, dirt under my fingernails and chicken feathers sticking to my clothes. Days spent playing on the farm are some of my most treasured memories. There were all sorts of animals to play with and all kinds of places to play. I would get up in the morning, eat my breakfast of hot tea and cinnamon and sugar toast and run outside to the great out there where fun and surprises awaited. My mother didn’t know where I was most of the time. She just knew I was on the farm somewhere, whether it was in the sandbox, up a tree, in the haymow playing with a new family of kittens, or swinging on the porch swing reading a library book. At times I was asked to weed in the garden or help around the house or gather eggs, but for the most part I was allowed to just be a kid and have fun.
I was thinking of those days this weekend as David and I traveled the country roads of Brown and Morgan County. We got up early on Saturday morning and headed to Bloomington to a soccer tournament our two younger grandsons were playing in.
It was a foggy morning making everything look mysterious.
Past corn fields ready for harvesting.
Seeing the sun rise. Something I rarely see these days as I have become a late sleeper. I would usually be tucked away in my comfy bed fast asleep on a morning such as this, but not that day. And I am glad I saw it all.
It was fun watching our grandsons play. Both their teams won their games I am proud to report. This grandson was an excellent goalie for his team. Not one ball got past him.
It was a beautiful morning to watch the games.
Always nice spending time with these loved ones.
After watching the games, David and I set off for home, but we didn’t take the fast way. Oh, no. We took the back way. Off the beaten path. Where we love to wander.
Down lonely roads where we might see a car or two. I think of all the people who come to Brown County this time of year to see the foliage and all they see is downtown Nashville with all its stores. Shopping is fun in Nashville if that’s what you like to do and I have done my share of shopping there, but we prefer being out in the country. I am sure Brown County State Park was very busy that weekend. Vice President Mike Pence’s son was getting married in Brown County last weekend, something neither of us knew at the time. His plane flew into our city and several friends went out to see it. It’s not every day the vice president comes to your town. But David and I were wandering.
Past woods…
and old barns. So sad to say the old barns are going away pretty quickly. I wish people would take better care of them and preserve them for the next generation. My family barn is gone because of lack of care. It makes me sad.
We drove by fields where farmers were getting in the harvest.
Past old building like this and this…..
Past an old one room school. I think about the children who walked to this school which was probably heated by a stove and they used slates to write upon.
I dearly love old barns. In their day they were stacked with straw bales and hay bales and the farm animals sheltered in them. Now they either stand empty or have old farm equipment in them that is never used.
The trees were just starting to turn.
Another week and they will be at their peak unless the rains take off the leaves.
We saw some interesting Halloween decorations along the way. Even out where hardly anyone would see them, people like to decorate.
We found a restaurant that looked interesting so we stopped to eat. This is what happened. When we went inside the hostess asked us if we would like a table or a booth. We like to sit at a booth so she proceeded to sit us and give us a menu. I had thought I wanted a hamburger but they served liver and onions. I love liver and onions and most restaurants don’t usually offer it. This is the second time in a month I have been to a restaurant that served liver and onions. We perused the menu and decided what we wanted and then we waited. And we waited. And we waited. We noticed the tables all around us were getting their drinks and food and we still had not seen a waitress. Then a group of four came in and were immediately given their menus and asked what they wanted to drink and were served promptly. David and I just looked at each other. Then we got the giggles because every time a waitress was heard asking her table if everything was okay, David would say, “Yes, it is.” Even though we had as yet seen a waitress. “We must have been zapped with the invisible ray gun,” David said and we started giggling again. Then I said let’s wait and see how long this would go on. The waitresses were buzzing like flies all over all the other tables and there we sat with not a drink or a wink. Finally I said I was going to go talk to the hostess and David said, “Do you want me to? ” and I said, “No because I will be nice.” So up I went to the hostess and this is what I said, “Excuse me, did you mean to set us at a booth that would not be waited upon? Everyone around us, including a table that arrived after us, have been served their food and no one has even brought our drinks.” ” “What booth!” she almost yelled. Well, I thought to myself, “The booth where you sat us.” So anyway, suddenly a waitress that I had not seen before was suddenly rushing to our table and was getting our drinks and our order. I noticed there was a man standing where the hostess had been standing. I wondered if he was the manager. We got our food pronto and it was very good. The waitress was almost overly solicitous at that point, bringing David not one, but two glasses of sweet tea. Anyway, I won’t give the restaurant’s name as we did get a really good meal there and the liver and onions was excellent. By the way, in a previous post I mentioned a restaurant where we got horrible service as the Outback. I was mistaken. It was O’Charleys but I have to say we ate at another O’Charley’s in Indianapolis last week and the food and service was excellent and we happened to be there on free pie night and I got the best piece of pecan pie I have ever eaten,
But enough about restaurants and food.
Using this pattern…
I am working on a pumpkin quilt. This is such a fun quilt to make.
I’m enjoying getting out all my Autumn fabrics and playing with them.
I am loving each block I make. Another project I am working on is molding for around the windows in my shop. Since we took down some old fencing, I decided to repurpose it as molding. I cleaned it up and gave it a light brushing with white paint.
I’m loving how you can see the swirls and grain in the wood. When David gets it installed, I will show you how it looks. Now I am thinking of preserving the rest of that wood for a bathroom I am dreaming about that I would like to see put in a little house we may build one day in our woods. It would look wonderful on the walls.
We were given this little chipper shredder the other day and David and I spent an afternoon trying to find twigs to put in it to mulch. If we weren’t looking for twigs, they’d be everywhere, but we had trouble finding any even with all the trees around us. It doesn’t take very big limbs so it takes forever to get a cup full of mulch, but we had fun playing with it anyway. It really does not take much to entertain us.
Hope you are enjoying the season.
Hope your skies are blue.
And hope your friends are close. Bye.