Boys Week 2011

We seem to have started a tradition. It didn't start out that way, but now that it has happened, I am enjoying it. I know it won't last forever, so we'll have fun with it while we can. Some of the grandchildren seem to enjoy spending a few days with us during the summer. This week 3 of the boys, ages, 10, 8 and almost 4, have been staying with us. We've been trying to keep them busy. They are ruthless UNO players! They worked on projects in the garage with Grandpa. The older boys made wooden spoons, while the little one made a brontosaurus.

Now that hot summer weather seems to have arrived at last, we had to get out the Slip 'n Slide. (Note to the mothers: Yes, we put sunblock on them!)





One day we decided to make a picnic lunch and go to the shady park here in town.







Before we went to the park we spoke to the boys about the danger in the little creek that runs through the park. With the sudden onset of hot weather, the snow is melting rapidly in the mountains, causing our usually placid little creek to seem pretty ferocious. The boys were very respectful of the water and were careful to stay close to us and observe the water from a distance.



Of course the time would not be complete without a day to spend at the living history farm playing pioneer. The boys worked hard carrying water and using the 2-man saw.

I was amazed how much food they ate after all the work they did. They must have worked up a real appetite.



Of course it is not all work at the pioneer site. You see, there is this marvelous game where you use a cloth ball hung from a tree branch which you use to knock cans off a stump. Such a game could entertain some almost 4 year olds for hours.





On a blazing hot summer day, one job turned out to be quite fun. The cabin needed a bit of new chinking and daubing, so the children rolled up their pant legs and waded in to make some lovely mud and straw mixture to use in fixing up the cabin. It was a good way to cool off.







We even found a special visitor again today:



Later we made a batch of soft cheese flavored with sage leaves for an afternoon snack....and also had some nice cool watermelon.




We finished off the day in grand fashion with rides on ponies and the train.








On the way home, the little one fell asleep almost before we left the parking lot.

Painted Turtle?

Today at the living history farm we were busy cooking, fixing rags to weave into rugs, playing games and all manner of other activities when we became aware of a strange critter walking across the field toward us. We've seen raccoons, rock chucks, and snakes of various kinds, but this one was a new one for us.




We think maybe it is a painted turtle. The problem is, painted turtles are just not native to this area. How on earth did it come to be in our field? We'll probably never know.



The pioneer children picked some succulent dandelion stems for it to eat.



We made a lovely pond for it to splash in.



Since the turtle is not native to the area, the local wildlife people came and picked it up. Did it really live around here? Did someone drop off a pet that had grown to large for them to care for? Did it escape from the zoo and make its way out to us? We don't know.

In the meantime, the peacocks and peahens were active today, chasing each other around and begging for food. One peacock was aloof and above all such behavior. He spent his time strutting his stuff.





At first glance you might think he looks albino, but he has black eyes, so I think not. He looks like a giant snowflake.

You never know what you might find there.

Red Letter Day

A number of years ago we met and grew to love this young man when his father married our daughter.



Recently we were pleased to attend a very special event when our daughter was at last able to legally adopt him. Strangely enough, the event happened in a probate court, so after sitting through several cases related to probate, name changes, etc. it was finally time. After all the legal formalities were taken care of, the judge asked if they wanted pictures and even let Garrett sit in his chair.






Since it was such an important day, Garrett got to choose where we should all eat dinner. His choice was Brick Oven.



I think Garrett enjoyed his meal...but his little sister had just had too long a day!






After a nap she felt re-energized and ready for the evening ice cream party to celebrate with big brother Garrett, family and friends.











Congratulations, Garrett! We love you!

Olney, Buckinghamshire, England - 2011

Recently my sister was visiting in England and had the opportunity to visit some of sites from our family history. These are some of her comments. The highlighted names of Henry Carter and his daughter, Euphemia Jane Carter Freeman, will link you to more information about them.

June 11, 2011

This morning we took the time to go and see a Canal Museum. My great-great grandfather – Henry Carter - worked building a canal tunnel near Blisworth and then worked for many years as a “legger”. Boats traveled on the canals by way of a horse pulling the boat along as the horse walked along side the canal on the “tow path”. When there was a tunnel, the horse couldn’t pull the boat, so each boat would have 12 men lay on planks attached to the boat – 6 on each side – and use their legs against the side of the walls of the canal to push the boat through. The Blisworth Canal is over 3,000 yards long. The lady at the museum told me she tried to see what it was like to be a legger a few years ago at a re-enactment and she was exhausted in less than 5 minutes. Anyway, at the canal museum I found a map of the canal – it shows the Blisworth tunnel! I actually found a book that looks quite interesting and has pictures of what the leggers looked like.

The lady at the museum told us she came from a long family of canal people. She told us that there were two tunnels that she did not like. One of them was the Blisworth tunnel. She said her family told her it was haunted and difficult to get through.

After we got back to our flat about 10:45 am we headed out on the tube for Heathrow where we had made arrangements to rent a car for the next few days. It’s very expensive to rent a car here – It cost about 460 GBP – and since we’re getting an exchange rate of about $1.65 to 1 GBP, it works out to be over $100 per day to rent a car – and that doesn’t include the gas. Still, I was very happy we could rent a car because it meant we could take a little side trip to Olney – where my Grandpa, Ernest Freeman was born.

After some great adventures with round-abouts we made it to Olney around 2:30 PM. We found a place to park and then set out to see some of the city. The first thing we did was to find 20 Market Street – where Grandpa Freeman was born. It looks like it is now a clothing store. I walked all through it – it has a very low ceiling on the bottom level. I couldn’t go upstairs but we went in the side yard and took pictures. There are several shops in the various buildings around.

The town square was really a town triangle. I asked at a store if there might be anyone that did bobbin lace. I was directed across the corner to a small museum that has been built to preserve the lace history as well as for William Cowper – author of God Works in Mysterious Ways and John Newton – author of Amazing Grace. In fact there is a small building there in the back that is maybe 8 ft. by 6 ft. where Newton is said to have written Amazing Grace.

Anyway, since it was a Saturday they had some things going on there – an afternoon tea and - most exciting for me – a couple of ladies that were making lace with bobbins! They were interested in knowing that I had an ancester, Euphemia Jane Carter Freeman, who was involved in making lace. They said there had been several Freemans in the town over the years. One tried to help me find a pattern for making “Running River” – a pattern mentioned in family history – but we weren’t successful. She went through a box of patterns on the floor and then said she would keep looking for me. On the 3^rd floor up – they call it the 2^nd floor because there is the ground floor and the 1^st floor – was a display of a lot of different lace patterns. As we were looking at them, Jason found a small piece of the Running River pattern that I was able to take a picture of.

On the wall was a picture of 4 women making lace – one was even labeled Mrs. Freeman – wondered if she’s related?? As we looked around downstairs, we found that they had a few used bobbins that they were selling – so I bought what I could.

They were closing up at 4:30 so we had to leave. From there we went and found the old Church of England building. We could see the steeple from far out of town and figured it must be the one that our ancestors went to. When we got there, there was a very old, old cemetery. Some names you could read, some (many) you couldn’t. We didn’t have a lot of time and so weren’t able to find any headstones of family members. We did go in the church. It had a beautiful stained glass window at the end. It was a lot like a smaller version of a Cathedral – very high ceiling, a beautiful quire (choir) where at least one of our ancestors sung as a boy, and very ornate woodwork. The sign in the foyer says it was built in 1325. To think that would be about 500 years before George Richard Freeman was born in Olney! And life was hard here in the 1800’s – what was it like in the 1300’s? How could they build a church that massive out here in the countryside? I bet the inside went up around 40 ft! (the belfry was enormous. It was over 150’ and massive. When we went in the church you could feel that this was an important place. It was beautiful inside, but there was more to it than that. Built during that period (1325) it would have been Catholic, taken over by the Church of England. When we left they started playing the bells. It was a humbling experience.)

It’s the middle of June – it’s light out tonight at 10:30 PM and will probably be light at 3:00 AM – and yet it is very chilly out – too cold to be out without a jacket. I could see my breath! What was winter like in this part of England with the damp air and maybe only being light from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM? What would it be like to be working on (hopefully not in) a canal in that type of weather? Or trying to climb up a tower to be a signalman with a peg leg?? It rains often here – wood things are very slippery when wet.

Hailstorm

This afternoon was pleasant...but this morning? Not so much. The hail was really noisy. By the time I took the picture of the hail, it had started to melt, which left the deck feeling more like an ice skating rink. Hail ought to be outlawed in June I think.



Really...it IS summer. The grass is green. The tomato cages have tomato plants in them, with tomatoes already forming. That didn't stop the hail from collecting on the landscape fabric. Hopefully the tomatoes weren't too badly damaged by the hail.

Cache Valley through the years

The American West Heritage Center is a different sort of living history museum than many. Rather than portraying life at one particular time, it portrays a number of time periods in one particular place, Cache Valley, ranging from about 1820-1917. The living history portion is open mostly in the summer months with many activities which visitors can observe and sometimes participate in.

During other times, the main building has a small museum with static displays with information about the area.

The first display shows a little about the culture of the Shoshone people who lived part of the time in Cache Valley during each year, portraying their life around 1820.



The mountain men also were in the area in the 1820s. Like the Shoshone, the mountain men were rather migratory.



In the 1850s and 1860s the valley was first settled by Mormon pioneers. These folks came to Cache Valley to live permanently.



The last time period depicted is Cache Valley in 1917 during World War I.



Many classes which include Utah history in their curriculum come to visit for quite a nice, hands-on review of Utah history. I believe it makes their history lessons more memorable.

The Creek

When I was young, we sometimes visited Grandpa's cabin where there was a little mountain creek just over the hill. We loved to play in that creek...or 'crick' as he called it. We cooled watermelons there for family parties, we waded, we fished and made little wooden boats to float in it. It was a great place to play.




Yesterday we stopped by to do a bit of work at the cabin and went to look at the creek. Boy! What a difference there was! We have had a lot of snow in our area this winter, and now a very rainy Spring. Our tame little mountain stream looked very different. This is certainly no place to allow the children to play!