The Jammers

Daughter Amy often tells me, "Mom, it's YOUR blog; you can do whatever you want!"

So, I've decided to tell you about Farm Day by its themes instead of just giving you an album of pics. Last post was sister Susan deadheading the plants. Today it's brother John jammin' with 2 of our gorgeous nephews!

That's John in the beard (#7 of us 8 sibs!). Nephew Paul is in the middle (my brother Jim's son) and Eric is on the right (my sister Nancy's son). To give some "scale" to this, Paul is expecting their 4th child, the oldest who is 7; Eric has 3 kids, the oldest who is 16, I think.

Now look at John looking at you! He always wears a MICHIGAN t-shirt when he's around our family. You gotta love him. He's wearing it in Michigan State territory, mind you, but he knows who has the clout. (Yup, MICHIGAN is my alma mater, as you surely know by now!)

Okay then. John is a singer from the second you say Hello. If you like Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, you will LOVE John. As far as I'm concerned, he beats them all, hands down. And I'm not prejudiced!

So he starts to sing a song the 2 nephews have never heard (me neither). A bit of this and that to get it going...and did you notice the laptop in the above pics?

I'm guessing Eric was the lead guitar, since the other 2 kept watching him.

I watched him, too. Guitar playing totally fascinates me!

In no time, the flow just happened. All 3 were in sync, with John singing like there was no tomorrow. As he left later, he remarked that he couldn't believe how well the nephews picked up these songs they didn't know, just like that!

In the context of Farm Day, this was just one thing happening...while Susan deadheaded, the kids rode the tractor and ran all around, Nancy Word-processed, Donica and Wilma shot baskets, Lesley read stories, Paul and Todd played ping-pong, Peter, Caitlin and Lisle croquetted, Rodger napped, Ruth hoola-hooped (took her own photos and prepared meals!), and I took pics. More on that, of course, to come! That's what it's all about!

The Deadheader

I had never heard of the term before Donica's mom and aunt called it that. Deadhead: transitive verb : to remove the faded flowers of (a plant) especially to keep a neat appearance and to promote reblooming by preventing seed production.

So let me start off Farm Day in Michigan with my sister Susan, the deadheader. She's 2 years my senior and is also a Gemini. Think "someone who likes to do a little bit of everything." Also, think hard worker, because that's what she is!

First, look at the context. There's Don and Ruth's farm house (100 years old) and the yard, starting to fill up with family. The big barn is behind me as I look out on the world. Even Susan is looking. And this is where she started, at the water-pump/wheelbarrow photo op!

Then she moved on to the next station at one of the sheds.

And then on to the last "station" out by the entrance to the farm!

Trivia: Susan and Rodger live in the Chicago area and drove 5 hours to get to The Farm on the east side of Michigan, arriving at noon on Saturday. Around 8 that evening, they headed back to Chicago (gaining an hour) because of church obligations on Sunday. They figured they'd be in bed by midnight, Chicago time.

Which is to say that Susan, the deadheader, took about 2 hours of her precious farm time to do this labor of love for her sister, Ruth! I think what she would say is that it was just what the doctor ordered!

Okay, now I'm back to work on my next batch of pics! I started with 500+ and am paring them down, little by little. Stay tuned.... :)