Good Times

Wow! What good times we've been having over the last week-plus! Bluegrass, farming, bluegrass, baptism, bluegrass, battles, bluegrass, Martin and Lewis, bluegrass, Larry-Boy, bluegrass...and, oh, the laughter!

Eight members of a family of nine (first child is out on his own, now) followed us home from church in Georgia over a week ago, and since then, the laughter hasn't stopped.

My father had asked a few weeks ago for Keith and our three eldest kids to sing and play--"perform" sounds too professional--at a revival service at one of his churches last Monday. Since this family was here at the time, and they are so talented and fun to play with, the dad and one of the sons took Keith's place, thus adding a bass that we wouldn't have had. The performers worked a lot that Monday, and had a great time that evening. The folks seemed to enjoy it, too. Sadly, my father was sick and unable to attend. (He's fine, now.)

We've had a lot of cold rain over the last week, so not as much outside work was done as we'd hoped. However, the yard got mowed; a bit of fencing got done; and we had delicious meatballs and a couple of awesome apple pies. And, as Keith blogged about, Ribeye was slaughtered. The kids were also able to have a few battles using some improvised weapons and shields; mighty warriors, they are!

We also went to a fall get-together at a friend's place, complete with fire, chili, and a good bit more bluegrass. Can't get too much playing and singing time in!

One evening, we had a fire in our fire ring and enjoyed a very casual dinner outside.

Two days ago, Keith's brother was baptized, so we all (yes, our guests, too) attended the service. It's not the kind of service we've come to so appreciate and love, but we're glad we were there and that he has made that step. Afterward, we all went to his house--his family of five, his mother, the six of us, and our eight guests--and ate lots of good food. (We helped with the food effort.) Then, of course, there was more bluegrass.

Yesterday, we cleaned up the berry patch. We had let that go badly; Keith was afraid we'd have to start over next year. However, with the large workforce we had, we made quick work of reclaiming it. I was very pleased to see how many of the plants have survived. We also chipped some stuff up for the compost (Keith built a pallet frame a few weeks ago for a compost pile.)The two older boys (one ours, one of the visiting family's) split wood for kindling--we used our fireplace for the first time this season; a fence repair was made; progress was made on moving the water at the barn to a cow-proof spot; a delicious soup was made for lunch by the visiting mom; and we had the first meat from Ribeye.

Throughout the days, we've watched a couple of episodes of the old Martin and Lewis TV show, but they're quoted so often, that Dean and (especially) Jerry seem to be with us throughout the days. So does Larry the Cucumber; he shows up anytime, anywhere.

Anyway, we've had a great time and have gotten a good bit of work done, much of which would probably have been left undone for many more weeks (okay, even months).

And now, I'm going to close and enjoy some more bluegrass.

Mary Susan