Originally uploaded by tcboos
The girls and I left for the farm in the early afternoon. The drive through Indiana is always so beautiful this time of the year. Sometimes when I look over at the fields of corn and soybeans and then at a red barn and farmhouse in the distance, it makes me think of a postcard or a scene from a movie. There is something special about coming home to the place where you were born and raised. I enjoy Florida, and it is my home now, but Indiana will always hold a place in my heart, and I will always return. It is still "home," too.
We got to my Aunt Lorene's about an hour before the reunion wiener roast. I hadn't called to let her know I was coming, but she was waiting. She is 93 years old this December, and she was resting because she had just baked three pies from scratch, cooked baked beans, and made a cucumber salad. She still goes out in the mornings and gets her eggs from the hen house, and she always keeps a garden full of vegetables.
The wiener roast is held down at our pond on the farm. The farm has been in our family for over one hundred years. My father was born there, and he died there--a heart attack while working on the pump near the house. He loved the yearly reunions, so we continue the tradition.
The reunion is held at the same time every year - the third weekend in July. This year the third week fell early and caused a few empty spots in the family tree. Those of us that did make it tucked into our meals prepared by the younger generation. Madison loves an open fire, and she always volunteers to cook up all the wieners she sees. Not even a burn, earned when trying to remove a hot dog from her metal stick, deterred her. She put ice on it and let my cousin, an RN, take a look at it.
Shad: "Three things: It's a burn, put ice on it, you'll live."
Cousin Myra: "Well, thank god, you don't have to pay for that medical advice!"
We ate wieners, brats, and sausages, several different salads, baked beans, homemade pickles, and vegetables from everyone's gardens. We washed it down with sweet iced tea and beer. We finished the meal with homemade cupcakes, cakes, pies, brownies, and cookies, and of course, smores.
The adults sat and caught up on one other's lives. The children played hide n' seek, tossed balls around, and played badminton. As dusk crept in, they caught lightning bugs and put them in empty containers for night lights. When it became completely dark, a few of the cousins put on a fireworks show, and then we retired for the night.
The next morning my Aunt Lorene was up at 5:00 AM frying chicken for the reunion, making homemade noodles and peeling potatoes. She showered and dressed and was off to church by 9:00 AM when the rest of us were just getting started.
The reunion is held on the lawn of the farm. Usually, it is miserably hot, and this year my cousin had found some industrial fans that he set up near the chairs and food tent. We never turned them on. The weather was beautiful; cool with a breeze and so very comfortable. We ate, talked, played horseshoes, and ate some more. The girls and I filled our bellies up with Indiana corn and melon. The pond wasn't used for swimming this year, but a few people did wander down to fish.
Several relatives were missing this year, so it wasn't quite the reunion of the past, but we did have a few new additions and my sister, Bonnie and her husband, made it this year as well. A nice weekend.
The calm before the storm, as it turned out...
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