Hello to my family and friends from the hilltop in Norwood. I think I have decided to reschedule my weekly date with myself to Tuesdays. It appears that my weekend life is getting full of many wonderful events and activities and thus I am usually late to my appointment. Sometimes by several days. So, here I am again – the late journalist of “just over the hilltop.” I may be slowing down, but I still don’t like to be late!
The kitchen was very busy last week as three friends came for breakfast on Friday, several friends came for the monthly hymn sing that evening, four friends came for breakfast on Saturday, and my second cousin came that afternoon and stayed with us until Monday afternoon. It was wonderful to be cooking again for so many and I purposely scheduled them close together to see if I could keep up in case we ever have a bed and breakfast.
Setbacks and family
I say ever because we have to now appeal for a variance. It appears we aren’t zoned for a “tourist home” after all and we bought this house with the understanding that it was. So, I have finished the appeal paperwork and we’ll start this process again tomorrow. It will take about two more weeks so the launching of the website and the mailing of the postcards will wait. But they are all ready to go.
this glorious reunion of two!
Back to my second cousin, Alice. This weekend was our first meeting and it seems that all we did was look at pictures, both hers and mine, and talk. Well, we did take a break and went for a Sunday afternoon walk and then we took her to meet Eric and his family. She thinks Eric looks like cousin Rodney (and she called him that often), and I think she looks like my Grandma Bills. When I was growing up, I knew her parents, but Alice was somewhat older than me and was either in college or out of the home. Consequently, our paths hadn’t crossed until now. And this was because of my research to find living relatives and more history on the Swedish side of my family. I found and connected with her on facebook and she came up from Pennsylvania with her pictures and articles for this glorious “reunion of two.” I still have more questions but we covered a lot of ground while she was here. I am looking forward to another get-together one day.
Last week, Dick went to the calling hours for a co-board member who had died suddenly while I went to the Ashley House. I am building a supply of placemats and napkins from there and wanted several styles to choose from. I also realized from serving guests two mornings in a row that I will need more napkins than placemats. So, back to the Ashley House I go.
Music in many forms
My mom has played the organ at her church the last couple of weeks and that is good news to me. I love hearing her play and I know her congregation is overjoyed when she sits down at the organ. Keep it up Mom! I had a sweet phone call from Garrett last week asking if I was having a good day and to say they were coming up for Thanksgiving and staying at our house. Then Heidi chattered for a while and as always the voices of little children was music to my ears. I can hardly wait to see them.
he whispered, “but I know how to fall
We have had two young red squirrels running up and down the driveway for several days and their antics are a pleasure to watch. My only prayer is they don’t try to get in the house or the barn. At that point they are no longer cute and become like the aggravating deer. This morning they kept running down the hill but I never saw them come back up. That reminded me of the time when Eric was six years old and I saw him come into the house and go upstairs. A little while later he came into the house again and went upstairs. This repeated several more times until I realized I wasn’t seeing him come back down the stairs. Upon stopping him on his way in the next time, I inquired about his activites and how was he getting by me without me seeing him? To my astonishment, he replied that he was entertaining the neighbor children by jumping out the second story window. I was appalled and forbade him to go upstairs again. Walking away dejectedly he whispered, “but I know how to fall.” And he did, for he had been taking gymnastics for a couple of years. My answer was the same, you still can’t do it again. Isn’t it interesting what sparks our memories?
Have a lovely week and I’ll be back next Tuesday! Love, Sharon