Once upon a farm...

Today.... mom and I set out for "Old Concord", It's a small town about 40 minute west of here but east of "West Concord". Old concord is where my mom's family is buried.....

...my grandparents Gertrude & Lee, and my grandpa's parents and some of my great aunt's and uncles. I knew my Grandma She died in 1980, and wish I had known my Grandpa Thomas but he died 2 years before I came about.

We payed our respects, I asked mom a few "who's who " questions and then I asked mom if we could drive by ...

THE FARM

This sight brought me back to my childhood, when Grandma still lived on the farm. It was a place we loved to go explore, there were a few animals....

Grandma proabably would have whooped us if she knew we put those chickens "to sleep" and made them all dizzy....poor chickens, I wonder what that did for their egg laying?

We played in some awesome old buildings with holes in the lofts in the barn that if a child fell through they would surely land on their head on the cement below.....and proably die.

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Maybe it seemed higher cuz we were kids, but i know it was fun up in the loft... the parents and grandma were busy visiting, having coffee and grandma's home made cake donuts. I'm pretty sure they never checked on us. Not that they were delinquent parents it's just the way it was.....

Kids played....

without helmets....

in dangerous places and somehow we lived :)

To the right of the driveway used to be the old farm house.


I miss the old house with the lopsided kitchen floor and the neat pantry. Grandpa's old jean overalls still hung on a hook on the wall in the kithen...right by the front door. I miss the old wood burning stove in the living room that kept the farm warm. I miss the Crank telephone on the wall, yes the ones you see on old movies that you crank and then the operator puts you through. And the outside cellar...you know where the canned good were kept, cuz it was cooler down there with the dirt floor and all.
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Then there was that door.... the one we were not allowed to open. We did know this much, it lead up some stairs to the bedrooms that my mom and her 6 siblings shared.

But we were NEVER...

EVER ...

allowed up there....never even got to peek.

After Grandma died, mom and I went back to the farm to get a few things and I asked if I could open the door and go upstairs, Mom said sure, "but it's just bedrooms up there, there's really nothing to see". All those year of never being let to see what was behind that door was finally gonna happen. Mom was right, not much to see but....

I'm glad I got to see where my mom slept all those years on the farm. It was ALOT to see....

to me!

This one will never cease to amaze me...

Music comes easy.... he doesnt read music but he hears it..then plays it!

5 minutes after he watched the YOU TUBE video he sat down and played a part of

Eric Clapton's, Layla

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Gavin struggles with acedemics. Although when "tested" he ranks right up there in the top 25%

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Some of it is... he doesnt like school, never really has. Math, English, reading...It's not his thing.

He's talked about teaching... but how do you "teach" when you have to do college first?

Gavin would be a good teacher!
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His doctor told us, "he learns different than how they teach him in school"
Therefore he has always struggled....right through his first year of college.

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What Gavin does love, and is very gifted at it is....

Music & Sports

Gavin struggles with Focus, organization,and overlooks details ....even in sports, the thing he loves most.

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But he does ok.... and we're proud of him

and know God sees the BIG picture and has a perfect plan for Gavin

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Such a talented and bright young man ... That's our Gavin

It takes a bit of work....

...But it's worth it !!!

The deck is up and running.

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Now it's time to get the flowers (annuals) in the ground

Made a trip to Whitings, and brought a whole trunk load home

My mother's day basket from Brianna, Chris & Audrey

My beautiful Gerbera daisy from Jenny & Brice

I bought myself this cement basket for mother's day, and I love my new flowers in it.

Before and After...they will grow big and trail over the planter.

My traditional ring of Geraniums around the tree

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So the planting is done and the deck has already been occupied for a couple of evening meals and plain ole lounging. Now I can just sit back and watch everything grow :)

Trackin' out west

The best decision ever is to go on vacation BEFORE everyone else does.

We ditched the crowds the millions of families and strollers .

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Monday afternoon we took off for our little get-away to the Black Hills of SD.

We drove six hours to Chamberlain MN and stayed in a great

two-room suite before heading out the next morning.

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WALL ,South Dakota

home of Wall Drug

Everyone needs to visit Wall Drug at least once,

It was a nice break to get out of the car for a bit.

Thanks for the pose guys...I know it was painful.

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Mount Rushmore

Such a beautiful monument. I visited once before when I was about 10.

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My history loving husband took some time to read about the sculpture

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Crazy horse was our next venture.

It was a little hazy but still an amazing site.

The statue in the forground shows what the mountain will someday look like.

It will not be done in my lifetime.

Now we are in Custer State Park, beautiful park, crazy roadways, hairpin curves, wildlife etc.

A very nice girl took our picture :)

The week before they got 8 inches of snow

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Donkey

Hungry Donkey

Evening lighting of Mt Rushmore

More Custer Park

Mountain goat, minding his own business

Oh Gavin...please stay away from the edge.

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On the way home... The badlands

Such a beautiful site

one last look....

Gettin' my "macro" on

• I love Photography...always have
• I dont pretent to know what I'm doing...but I love to try.
• Someday I hope to take some classes...
• So I can claim to be a real photograher (of sorts)

• I Love to take nature shots... flowers, trees and water droplets, ha ha
• and I love to use my macro function....get real close up

My son once told me.... "well mom, anyone can take flower picture", I agree.

I also love to take photos at night...

In my gardens...

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at the lake

just about anywhere I see a pretty flower

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Stay tuned for part two...

My other favorite photography subject... people