more traveling...

 Yesterday I blogged about the trip my spouse and I are planning to take in October and November to historic places in the US southwest.  Today my wonder spouse and I took a different kind of trip - back in time.

I'm happy to report that crops growing in the "Great Black Swamp" area that I blogged about several days ago are flourishing.  The field corn is tall and the stalks are turning yellow, almost ready to harvest.  The soybean plants are drying and about ready to pick. We were able to buy tomatoes and an onion (locally grown) at our favorite produce market and bread, pumpkin bread and apple bread at our favorite bakery. 

What makes this a trip back in time is that all of this is happening in the heart of Amish country northeast of Fort Wayne.  What we see, as we drive from place to place, are horses grazing in pastures, and at one farm, six horses hitched to a wide plow and turning up the good black earth in an already harvested field.  And all of this happens in vast expanses of flat, flat land, the remnants of the footprint of a glacier from thousands of years ago.  

With just a little imagination, it's easy to picture this land as it was 250 years ago - swampy and covered with trees.  Early canals and trains opened this area to settlement by farmers who obviously made the most of the opportunity.  I do not mean to belittle the impact on Native Americans in this area but that's an earlier story for another blog.

Today we simply enjoyed the feeling of driving through history. 

ready to roam...

 Over the last couple of months my friends have been asking me where my wandering wonder spouse and I are planning to go next.  It's a fair question.  During the three years that we have been together we have travelled as far as Michigan, Canada, Alaska, the north western United States, the Caribbean, several countries in South America, Egypt and Japan.  

So, where to next?  We have just begun planning a driving trip through the southwestern United States.  My spouse and I, separately and together have visited most of the southwest, we have even, when my wonder spouse was still piloting his own plane, flown the length of the Grand Canyon, a truly amazing sight from the air.

But now I am ready to revisit places I have marveled at and long to see again.  Places like Mesa Verde, Casa Rinconada, Carlesbad Caverns, the Colorado Rockies, and so much more.  We will not, like some hapless tourists, stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon taking selfies.  Did you know that 12-17 people die in Grand Canyon National Park each year with falling being one of the leading causes of death?

We will of course be taking lots of pictures, we always do.  Cell phones have replaced our cameras for the most part.  Isn't that handy?  I can take pictures and blog through the entire trip.  That isn't always possible when we are overseas.  We will also visit friends and family along the way.  Travel time will be three to four weeks, departure date tentatively set for October 14.  

Here's our first draft trip map.  Our trusty Subaru will carry us through deserts, over mountains and across some really big bridges. Happy trails to us....

9x13 day...

 My west coast brother, wanting to be very helpful, informed me that today is "9x13 Day," "National Grandparents Day," "International Chocolate Day" and "Bald is Beautiful Day."  I appreciate a day for grandparents since I am one, and chocolate is worth celebrating any time, but 9x13 and bald have special significance for me today.  

55 years ago today I gave birth to my first child, a healthy, beautiful baby boy, so obviously the numbers 9 and 13 are very important to me. 55 years later he is bald but still beautiful (or handsome if you prefer).

But a little more checking told me that the 9x13 being celebrated actually refers to those incredibly useful 9"x13" baking pans that we all know and love. I personally use that size pan for my famous sweet potato casserole, brownies and birthday cakes of all flavors.  

When my son was one year old I used a 9x13 pan to bake a chocolate cake for him.  It was his first taste of chocolate and he loved it.  Sadly, not having a cell phone handy back then, and being too busy cleaning up the mess, I did not get a chocolate covered picture of him.  

Here he is, all cleaned up, at one year old.  Happy, happy birthday darling son.  You have been a blessing and a joy to me all these years.  

Do you speak German?

 I always thought it was amusing that, in my very German small home town, the only foreign language offered in our high school was French.  Mrs. Wetter, one of my favorite teachers, only spoke English and French.  My west coast brother, who, by the way, had French toast for breakfast with his grandchildren this morning, informed me that today is "Tag der Deutschen Sprache" which translate to German Language Day in English.  

You would think that, since my paternal grandparents grew up speaking German as well as English I might be able to speak some German but, as it happened I never really heard them speak German.  My German paternal great great grandparents immigrated to the United States sometime in the mid 1800s.  

My father was born in 1916.  World War One had begun in 1914.  Because they wanted there to be no doubt that they were loyal US citizens, my grandfather and grandmother decided to speak only English at home and that's what their three children learned.  

That was all very well except that when my father was sent to first grade at the local Lutheran school the lessons were being taught in German.  That made for a pretty miserable first grade for him.  

I never heard the whole story but somehow, by second grade, enough families brought pressure to bear on the school administration (probably one teacher for all eight grades) to assure that the classes would now be taught in English.  

So now you know why I don't sprachen de Deutsch. 

we remember...

 All of us, at least all of us of a certain age remember 9-11-2001.  The subsequent 25 years have slid by quickly but that day remains firmly fixed in my mind.  Like the day JFK was assasinated, or the days my children were born, some events are never forgotten.  I remember rushing around getting ready to go to work when my then husband called to me "You need to come in and see this. Something big is happening."  I knew he was watching the morning news as usual and didn't think much about it but he kept insisting so I went into the family room to see what was going on.  

I got there just in time to see a plane crash into the second tower.  We watched transfixed as towers fell and sirens wailed.  As the awful news continued to unfold we learned of an attack on the Pentagon and a plane crash in Pennsylvania.  A friend I was talking with earlier today reminded me of the mass confusion as airports were shut down and people were stranded all over the world.

I didn't fear for my own safety on that day but I did have a concern.  My daughter's best friend from third grade through highschool is Indian and Muslim.  She and her family have lived in the US since she was five years old.  They are loyal citizens but in appearance their dark skin and hair could be mistaken for Saudi.  I feared for their safety.  Happily they lived in a neighborhood here in Fort Wayne where they were well known and accepted by their neighbors.  

These days, when we travel by plane or ship, I try to be patient as we pass through security checks and have our carry-on luggage scanned.  "It's ok," I tell myself, "I'd rather be safe." 

I remember those....

My west coast brother was busy today so I had to find out what special day September 10th is, all by myself.  Here's what I found.  Today is "National School Picture Day" and National TV Dinner Day." 

Each of these is a blast from the past.  I've gone through school picture days myself and with my children and grandchildren.  I have been sorting through lots of old family pictures this week and I found many, many school pictures.  If you ever wonder if buying those pictures is worth it let me tell you what I found today.  In a box of pictures that my dear mother-in-law had collected were school pictures for every year for my two children (her only grandchildren).  Some of the pictures had notes from the kids on the back, and every one of them had the year, the age of the child and their grade in school, so lovingly collected.  

In addition I found a school picture of me from my first year of teaching, a picture of my mother from one of her years of teaching, a fine picture of my west coast brother when he was in middle school and, of course, many, many school pictures of my grandchildren.

But enough about pictures.  Do you remember TV dinners?  Swanson introduced them in the 1950s.  They came in little foil trays with three sections for a meat, potatoes, and a vegetable.  My mother was an excellent cook and we always had good home cooked meals but sometimes, just for a treat (and to give her a break I suspect) we would have TV dinners.  What I remember most is the taste and texture of the mashed potatoes. Especially the texture.  Especially the texture....

Cheers to friendship...

 I think it's fascinating how, when you get together with good friends, things just seem to pick up where they left off the last time you were together.  

My spouse and I had that experience today when we traveled to Winchester (the Indiana town, not the cathedral) to visit with friends of ours whom we hadn't seen for over a year.  When I tell you that we have been friends since college you will understand that we are old friends in every sense of the word.  But, if anything, that made this visit even sweeter. 

It's true that our conversation this time around included a lot more references to doctors, hospital stays and therapies that it ever used to. Each of us had something to contribute to that part of the conversation. But we also found plenty of time to compare notes on how all of our family members are doing and share pictures of a grandchild's wedding and a super cute great grandchild. 

We also talked about trips we have taken, they to Thailand, we to Egypt, among other places, and future travel plans.  As we shared lunch at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants we made tentative plans for them to come visit us in Fort Wayne, probably after the holidays.  They would like to go to a play and their favorite Japanese restaurant while they are here.  Sounds good to us.  I love having future plans to look forward to, especially plans shared with good friends.