Fiddy

 I had all kinds of posts planned this week but now it's Friday, somehow, and the big day is here. 

Fifty years ago these two nineteen year-olds were married in during a one hour mass and celebrated a reception at the country club.  

The engagement on Christmas 1975

A year after the wedding.

Actually Christmas 1982 with a 4 year old, a 2 year old, a 1 year old and my youngest daughter under my maternity smock. You can tell I am expecting by the slits of my eyes in my swollen face. 

The 1990's.

The day we learned we were going to be grandparents. 

Our fortieth wedding anniversary.

And now the 50th! 

There were even more but I will spare you. Didn't the photographer do a good job? More dress up, I guess. I got his tux on clearance for only $99 last winter and my dress was $19.99 from Temu.  I just realized today that I could have probably used it for my Bridgerton Dress for the tea  party by adding a ribbon under the bodice. Oh well. 

And while I am speaking of dress up again, the witches outfit is not going to work. The sequined blouse, which is lovely, is too blousy for the skirt and it is just not good.  I have already ordered a second top and if worse comes to worse, I will just wear a plain black dress I already own with one of my fabulous witch's hats and call it a day. 

We have reservations for a fancy dinner tonight at the resort where I used to attend the Christmas weekend. We are spending the night and enjoying the fabulous breakfast buffet in the morning before coming home.  Sunday our children (five children, four partners, 11 grandchildren) are taking us out for lunch at the restaurant that hosts my tea parties.  And Monday will be leftovers. 

Playing Dress Up

When my oldest daughter started kindergarten her teacher told me "Emily has a spinning mind".  I was very proud of her imagination.  She is now a college professor of nursing practices with a Phd. which isn't where I thought she would be, but there we go. 

Meanwhile let's talk about my spinning mind and dress up.  

I have a milestone birthday coming up and my best friend since high school found a neighboring community is turning their downtown into a Bridgerton knockoff for several hours complete with harpists and a tea.  It coincides with my birthday and she has bought us tickets. After conversation we have decided to dress in Regency wear although we are not competing in the costume contest.  I have ordered this outfit (it didn't come with the hat). It actually fits me without hemming.  I do look more fluffy then this lovely young girl, but the gloves fit my arms so I couldn't ask for more. 

A nearby city has an annual event they call a "Witches Walk".  Last year they had 15,000 spectators and participants - grown women in witches costumes. 750 witches participated in the witches dance (you study Facebook videos for weeks prior) and there were 950 in the costume contest. It is four hours of dances, parades, contests, concerts and more. There are vendors, and restaurants with themed meals and bars with themed drinks. It is pretty crazy. 

The tickets for the Witches Walk are $45 and this enters you in a $5000 raffle, $200 costume prizes plus other prizes and admissions.  Last year the Walk raised tens of thousands of dollars which were donated to Meals on Wheels, After School Programing, Kiwanis Club Literacy Program, and other programs benefiting senior citizens and youth. Spectators can attend without a ticket, but will not be admitted to all events. If you are interested in more photos and videos, check here.

https://www.sanduskywitcheswalk.com/

AND for the second year, my own little town is copying the event on the first weekend in October, calling it "Witches Wander" in the downtown on a Saturday night.  We aren't dancing or having a concert, but for $21 we can dress up, shop at all the local stores who will remain open with special events for us, the downtown restaurants and bars will have specials, there are all kinds of contests and we get a fancy swag bag.  Instead of thousands, they are only selling 200 tickets. 

My husband and I drove through town last year and saw everyone having such a good time and I decided I would participate this year. And I talked my youngest daughter into coming with me. 

I have been gathering options for my dress up. 

I have another top option on order.

The skirt is slated for double duty. 

I am dressing up for some special birthday photos! My favorite photographer has a session reserved during my birthday week for one of those photo sessions with a sign board and a cake that little children have.  Mine will be slightly silly (okay, major silliness) and the skirt is part of the costume along with my pink cowboy boots. And the boots might make it to the Witches Wander, too.  

So I guess my theme for my (choke, gasp) seventh decade of life is dress up.  Or at least year one! 

Photos to follow after events. 

One Minute You're Young, Hip and Carefree

 

I can't stop! 

I have begun peeling and chopping cucumbers for every meal, putting the pieces in my salad bowls and covering with ranch dressing. I miss salads! Mr Merry has replanted the lettuce crop with seeds and we will see how that fares. 

We still have plenty of green tomatoes

And they only grow this big. A very disappointing year for tomatoes at the Merry Homestead. 

One Day at a Time

The garden is still gardening. 

My neighbors don't even want more vegetables.  This counter full went into a cardboard tray from Aldi and was delivered to the food bank. 

Holding Mimi Camp for seven grandchildren the week before school starts was not the best idea.  I am so tired. 

This morning I asked my husband why he was waking me up so early on Saturday. I was crushed to find out it was Friday and I really did have to get up.  We are only making breakfast and putting two children on the bus this year.   

After feeding them and getting them off to school I sat in my chair.  Mr Merry went out with the weed wacker and it's motor burned up. We had to go to the hardware store to pick up a new one which I ordered on line because it was $40 cheaper to order it on line and pick it up at the store which is less than a mile from my house. This meant I had to get dressed. 

By the time we got home it was lunch time. I made sandwiches and then he weed wacked while I did dishes.  By then it was time to start planning the afterschool snack and getting them off the bus. 

Mom picked up the kids and we left to go get my prescriptions.  And then I made dinner (cucumbers, tomatoes and yellow squash - his with a side of a bratwurst burger, mine with a piece of salmon). And it took me until 6:45 p.m.  

And basically that is how my days have been going - a whole lotta nothing.  I haven't even walked for three days - I am just too tired.  Hopefully I can get into a routine by next week and maybe get it together.

I did get my act together for the first day of school. 

Okay, so it is mostly store bought. 

 I did fry the eggs. 

After school apples with salted caramel spread and toppings. Thanks Aldi. 

Farm Marketing

 The garden keeps growing. Today I put photos on our neighborhood page and advertised free vegetables with free front door delivery. 

I still have a few cucumbers left but the peppers are gone. 

I will be back with my Mimi Camp review next week! 

Mimi Camp

Somehow school is starting in two weeks. And that means my daughter teachers are going back to mandatory whatevers this coming week.  And that means that my grandchildren will be coming here. 

Still Reaping what we Sow. 

When I counted heads and realized five out of the seven participants under high school age will be here during the day for five days, I surrendered, invited the two remaining grade school grands and decided it was Mimi Camp. 

Unfortunately they are mature young men (mostly) and a girl and they are not longer pacified with cute little crafts and themed snacks.  And Mimi is gets tired quickly when they run wild.  I quickly planned some outings to tire them out.

Monday we will go park to park in my town and they can run, play sports, whatever, while I watch them from my lawn chair.

Tuesday we are going to the amusement park. Each child can pick one thing (that makes 7 things) to do and I wrote that we would go home when Mimi gets tired. 

Wednesday we will travel 45 minutes to a children's museum where I will renew my grandparents pass allowing myself and unlimited legal grandchildren a year's admission to climbing walls, engineering activities, pinball machines and all kinds of stuff to tire them out.

Thursday is my church day and I imagine grampa will allow unlimited screen time.

And Friday we are driving them up to Lake Erie for a picnic on the beach (no swimming) and a trip to a diner for gigantic milk shakes. 

I am sure I will return with plenty of pictures but this is to advise you of my absence next week. I will be TIRED.  

There is a young woman in a small village next to us. She is an attractive blonde with three adorable young children and a very handsome, ruggled husband who is a full-time welder and a volunteer firefighter. She is a leader in the "Embers", the volunteer fire department's women's group who help with the annual breakfast fundraiser, the booth at the village festival and all the other activities. 

She is very sweet and nice and popular and everything I just said about her and her life is important.  

It is important because that is how to help you afford healthcare in this country.  

Megan has cancer. And the fire department is rallying to make sure she can afford treatments. 

Last Sunday the fire department sponsored a Chicken BBQ.  Every business and family in the village volunteered to help.

Firemen barbequed the chicken and roasted the corn. There were cups of cole slaw and homemade baked beans. A local candy maker donated chocolate covered pretzels as a dessert. 

There were over 100 raffle baskets donated for drawings.  There was a second raffle for more expensive tickets that included a freezer and a 1/4 beef donated by a local beef producer.  

We were smart to get there early because they sold out of the 400 dinners in 45 minutes. And because it was the week after the village festival, they still had some boxes of hamburgers in the freezer and were able to start frying burgers for those who missed out on chicken.  

I have not heard the total amount raised, but it will be substantial.  

Megan's family is lucky that they have life long ties to the village, that they are well known and, to be honest, they are an attractive and sympathetic family in photos. Because that is the formula to raise money for health emergencies.  

Rose O'Sharon

I've shared this story before. My sister in-law Peggy had Rose O'Sharons planted around her house.  She was splitting them and gave me three baby plants. 

When she was 33 years old she got up, got dressed and went to her eight year-old son's soccer game. She was standing with my brother and her 5 year-old daughter when she suffered a massive heart incident and dropped to the ground.

Despite numerous doctors in the crowd, nothing could be done. She was dead as she fell.  

This was over 31 years ago and it seems like yesterday to me.  And my Rose O'Sharons are a memory of her. 

For most of the summer my gardener (Mr Merry) has been at war with Japanese Beetles. 

The Japanese Beetles can devour every blossom on a bush in a few hours.  

Mr Merry is winning the war! 

More. And More. And More.

 

This morning. 

We Did It

I started at Christmas. I wanted a date during the summer that we could schedule a family portrait.  This is no easy feat with a family of twenty-two.  We needed to work around school schedules, job schedules, vacation schedules, child custody schedules, and anything else they threw in.  By mid-January I was able to call the photographer, pay the deposit and schedule the photo session.

Then I had my heart incident. As soon as I could catch my breath in the ER, I made my husband promise to have this portrait done whether I was there or not.  I might have been a little crazy. 

We were scheduled for sunrise on Sunday August 2 which worked around teens with summer jobs and sports.  Then my daughter's best friend scheduled a wedding the night before and we had to move to evening. With lots of recontering we managed to move 22 schedules to make it work, even with the out-of-towners. And the photographer's schedule so I guess 23 people's schedules. 

The day dawned and the photographer started texting. We did not have a venue large enough to put all of us indoors. The sun was shining too brightly during the day with storms forecast in the evening.  We ended up moving the session up by one hour and did have heavy winds. 

Luckily my photographer is magic and not only was able to get 22 people looking at the camera at the same moment with their eyes open, but they all had a pleasant expression on their faces too.  She actually provided 61 finished proofs of this menagerie, but I only needed this one. She gave us separate family groups, girls vs boys, grandkids, the OGs, and more.  

There was a Mexican restaurant across the road and I treated them all to dinner for being such good boys and girls. 

We did make reservations, you can't just show up with 22 people.  

I am so grateful that everyone was able to show up and they all looked so nice.  My anxiety was through the roof (for no reason, I get like that) and this will probably be the last time I will be able to gather them all in the same spot at one time.  There are two college students in the bunch, two more rapidly approaching college and it is just getting more and more tricky to sync these schedules. 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Prolifically.

Unfortunately my tomatoes are tiny and barely red. We picked them because if we leave them they split and get blossom end rot.  This is not a banner year at the Merry House for tomatoes. 

It is the banner year for cucumbers. I just can't do any more pickles (as much as we love them). I am now begging people to take cucumbers. 

I am still dicing and freezing the yellow squash.  I will need the freezer space in October for a 1/4 beef steer with my name on it. We have a lot of squash to eat before then. 

Peppers. We don't even really like peppers. I am not sure why we plant so many peppers! I do slice them into strips and freeze small bags to put under the broiler with brats or burgers. I am also begging people to come get a pepper. 

I am grateful I do have fresh produce with all the issues this summer. I am not trusting the grocery store or wholesalers inspections; the USDA seems to have given up with so many employee cuts. I really don't even trust the Amish farm stands. I am not sure what is true about these parasites and other issues. I guess we will just keep eating cucumber salads and cooking all the others. 

More Pickles

With all the posts about our 49 3/4 Anniversary Trip, I don't want you to think I forgot about my freezer pickles project. One morning I woke up to this on my kitchen counter.

Farmer Merry had been in the garden early.  I posted the photo on Facebook and said "The peppers are trying to edge out the cucumbers."  

That evening he returned with this. I posted "The cucumbers saw what I posted about the peppers and said, Hold My Beer".  

Luckily my youngest granddaughter was here to help. 

We sliced and diced and sprinkled with salt to put in the refrigerator for 90 minutes. I rinsed them, made the pickle syrup and they sat in the refrigerator covered overnight. 

And now I have another 11 pints in the freezer bringing our total to 34 pints. I usually don't get so many pints in a batch. I think I am out of containers and I promised myself I would not buy more. 

Thanks for all the nice comments on the trip. My next bucket list item is a family photo session and then we are going out to a fancy schmancy dinner on the actual date.  I am hoping to talk him into wearing the tux I bought him for our anniversary photos but I think the chance is slim to none.