Peter, Peter...Pumpkin Eater...

Apples weren’t the only thing that was ready to harvest. So were the pumpkins! While we have small pumpkin patches here in TN, the ones in WI and MN cover huge fields. Acres and acres of beautiful orange pumpkins!

An average size pumpkin cost $2. For $5 you could get a pumpkin that would just fit in a bushel basket. $20 and you’d come home with a monster that would take two people to lift!

In case you haven’t realized it…pumpkins are extremely photogenic! And I had to keep reminding Himself of this every time I wanted him to pull over so I could take more pumpkin pictures.

Apple picking

September and October are apple season in Wisconsin. Trees were sagging with their red or yellow fruit. Everywhere we went were signs for orchards one could buy fresh apples from.

So we jumped on the chance to pick our own apples during our visit with Himself’s aunt Lorraine. Just a few days earlier she had been out there with her daughter and asked if we would like to go. Shortly thereafter we found ourselves on a hay wagon being pulled by a tractor to various parts of the orchard. Not only could you pick apples… they had raspberries and grapes you could pick too!

But it was the apples we were after…

Lorraine decided to wait for us by staying on the wagon as it circled the orchard. She said it was a pretty day and it was nice to sit and enjoy the views. So we grabbed a bag each and hopped off.
What fun! I don’t think I’ve picked apples in 25 years. The trees were so laden with fruit it didn’t take long to fill our 8 pounds bag. It was nice to just be there enjoying the sight of such bounty and smelling the sweet apple fragrance.

With each of us overfilling (as instructed) our bags… we ended up with a lot of apples. Not a problem tho. We gave apples to each person we visited and still had plenty to take home too.

I think I’ll bake a sour cream apple pie tonight!

Priceless!

Traveling to Winona, MN: $356

Motel accommodations: $76

Visit with 106 year old Herb Yeske: PRICELESS!

The REAL spot...

One experience we had on the trip was both frustrating and hilarious at the same time.

In 2005 we went to MN and visited with a cousin of Himself for a few days. While there, Himself and ‘cousin’ shared genealogical information. For part of this, she took us to a cemetery where she said Himself’s grandmother, aunt and step-grandfather were buried. She told us there were no headstones for them. Once there, we stopped at a section with a big blank spot and she said that is where they were buried. We paid our respects and left.

Now…flash forward 4 years…

Himself and I had been discussing the fact that his grandmother did not have a headstone. Maybe it’s my “Southern” coming out… but that’s just wrong! So we decided to buy a stone for her and his aunt.

We drove to the St. Paul cemetery and went into the office. Besides running the cemetery they also sell monuments. Good deal!

The nice lady breaks out a map of the cemetery and starts looking up where the gravesites are. I vaguely remembered where we had been (it was next to the road) and pointed that area out to Himself. The lady gets a funny look on her face and slowly says, “Uh…no… that is not where they are at…”

She then continues on to say that not only are they not in that section… the grandmother and aunt aren’t even buried together… they are in totally different sections!

We burst out laughing! Yep… you guessed it. That wenchy cousin had no idea where they were buried. She just pointed to a big bare space and claimed it to be “the spot” so she would look like she knew something! I wasn't surprised...

The lady was very relieved that we were not angry. She said we wouldn’t believe the things she has had happen in her office. Oh yes I would!

Anyway, we got it all worked out. Himself picked a nice stone and we were taken to the CORRECT burial locations.

The REAL bare spot!

Losing a sponsor child...

This has been a rough year for us regarding our sponsor children. We have had three children leave their programs and two we have been forced to drop due to inadequate sponsor interaction from the program. (In my opinion... if you are not hearing from the child OR sponsor program, it's time to move on to sponsoring thru a more responsible organization.)

Sintayehu from Compassion left the program early (she had about 8 more months she could have participated). Very shortly after that, my favorite Compassion "writing buddy" - Sundar from India - lost his sponsor and became available for us to take over.

And just a few days ago I learned that little Ruth and Jackson from Kenya's Kids In Need (KKIN) have not returned to school. So we are in the process of working with the directors to sponsor two new children.

Thomas from Uganda was dropped by us because outside of the initial letter when we started the sponsorship, we never heard anything from him or the program for almost a year and a half. Other people we know who sponsored children at the same event also have expressed dissatisfaction with how the sponsor program is handled.

We also had to stop sponsoring Jenifa from Kenya. There were far too many inconsistencies to be comfortable with the sponsorship. This was awfully hard because she is one of the children we visited on our trip to Kenya in '06. We plan on taking on another Maasai girl thru Compassion to fill the empty spot she has left.

Over about 25 years we have sponsored children thru about 7 different programs; from large well-known organizations to small grassroots programs. In that time we have decided that the important factors for us to have in a sponsorship program is first accountability. Is my sponsorship fee going to what I have been told it will cover? How are my questions answered and are they answered quickly?

Another big question is: Does the sponsorship program teach the children skills they need to break the cycle of poverty they are living in?

Personal contact with the child is vital for us. We are doing this to make a difference in the life of a child...not just to fund a program. Not only do we want to be able to write the child, we want to hear back from him or her! We want to build a relationship.

We have found a good fit with the child sponsorship programs by Compassion International ( http://www.compassion.com/ ) and Kenya's Kids In Need (http://www.galileeschool.org/ ).

So at this moment - we have 4 sponsor kids. Ivine from Kenya (KKIN) who is about 17 yrs old and in Form 3 (US grade 11). Then thru Compassion we have Mwayi from Tanzania who is 14 yrs old, Ntikoisa from Kenya who is 12 years old and Sundar from India who is 8 yrs old.

I'm looking forward to getting to know the 4 children we will be adding by the end of the year!

Littledale B&B

For this trip North, I added “vacation” elements to our trip. We spent a few days before and after visiting to do some sight-seeing. Also put a full day between visits so we could travel at a slower pace.

Another thing I did was to look for B&Bs to stay at instead of motels. Found a delightful one in Richland Center, WI. “Littledale” (www.littledalefarm.com ) is a working sheep farm and border collie kennel run by Graham and Margaret Phillipson. Graham and Margaret are originally from Manchester, England.

There are four upstairs guest rooms in the Victorian farmhouse, plus use of the front sitting room and dining room. Guests are also free to wander about the property… just please make sure to shut the gates behind you!

The Phillipson’s were wonderful hosts. We were warmly welcomed and shown around the house. Then we were left to relax and enjoy on our own.

You could say the B&B is “in the middle of nowhere”. An occasional car goes down the road but other than that all you hear is the sound of the breeze, sheep bleating and a bit of barking by the border collies. So peaceful!

Himself and I wandered out into the lawn and stretched out on the gentle slope where we could see the Milky Way. We watched shooting stars and satellites cross overhead. We were treated to see a pass of the Space Station too!

The next morning I was up early to go out and take some dawn shots of the valley as the fog lifted. It was so beautiful. And I got a bit of “puppy love” as Maggie the border collie came over to say ‘hello’ as she took her morning run.

At 8am we came in for our “proper English breakfast” served by Margaret on her lovely English china.

Too soon it was time to leave for our next destination… Taliesin in Spring Green, WI. But we are already making plans to stay next year when we travel north again. And this time we will stay a bit longer!



Welcome to Littledale!

Our room - it looked out on one of the sheep pastures.

Margaret and our fine breakfast!

One of the border collies. Don't you love his tartan collar?

The sheep they raise are North Country Cheviot, Scottish Blackface and a cross breed called "Mule Sheep".

Early morning sights...

Back from our MN, WI & MO trip!

Just back last night from our annual "pilgrimage" to MN and WI to see Himself's various older family members. We had a great time both with our visits and with the sight-seeing we did between each visit. And it was really nice to be out of Tennessee's heat and humidity for a while!

I'll post some of the highlights of the trip over the next week or so... from visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's home "Taliesin" to picking apples at an orchard to touring many different cranberry bogs during the harvest to seeing a pair of wild whooping cranes!

Below are a few autumn photos of sights we enjoyed along the way.