Last week we went down to Georgia with my dad for my great Uncle Walter's funeral. Although the circumstances sucked, I'm glad we were able to see all our family.
That entire side of my family has a unique bond because everyone is "double" related. My grandma and her sister married a pair of brothers--my grandpa and his brother Walter. Growing up my dad got to run around with all his double cousins. And now Edward and I get to hang out with all our double-second-cousins and double-first-cousins-once-removed.For the first 3 nights Dave and I shared a hotel room with my dad. I've done this in the past and have always regretted it because of my dad's horrendous snoring. No amount of yelling or throwing things at him will get him to completely stop (because believe me, I've tried). My slim pocketbook kept me from booking us a separate room this time. Thank goodness Chip and Kathy invited us to stay at their house for the remainder of our trip. Dave and I made sure that Daddy stayed down the hallway, with two closed doors between us from then on.
After the memorial service and luncheon, the whole family went fishing over at my cousin Chip's pond. His friend George killed a huge rattlesnake while he was walking back to the house, which he then brought back to the pond for us all to see. It was pretty gross: he smashed its head with a stick until it died but it still squirmed around on the ground. It was gross but I touched it anyway. =)
The next day we wandered around the corn fields looking for the original (and very old) houses/barns on the property that my dad remembers from his childhood.
That day they were harvesting corn before the rains came and we got to watch. I got to climb up into the combine while Ray waited for the tractor and trailer to show up so he could off-load the corn.
It looks like Emmy is a farm-girl at heart...or maybe she just wanted to get to her daddy:
We found an old beech tree behind an equally old barn that had initials carved into it. Given that tree branches don't elongate (except at the tip, the "apical meristem") but only grow wider, the initals can't be more than about 20 years old. No one in our family could figure out who these initals belong to. Edward climbed up the tree and added our own legacy to the bark.
Wednesday was rainy (yay!) and Allison and I got snazzy new haircuts while the boys did some maintenance on her car. My dad stayed at the farm with Chip and fixed his band saw. (All major businesses in this town are closed on Wednesday so that's when Chip and Kathy get a lot of their house/farm work done. How cool is that?)
Thursday us Californians went to Rock City and Ruby Falls. I bought a shirt that says "I Love Ruby Falls" but I think the last word is unnecessary. =)
Us kiddos:
The whole family:
Friday we packed up our bags and flew home. Since we arrived about 4 minutes past the deadline to check baggage we all had to fly home separately. I went first, on my regular flight since I had no checked baggage. And then I spent a boring 4 hours in the SFO terminal waiting for Dave and Daddy to arrive. Thank goodness I had a book with me. Mind you, it was not the required book for my seminar nor was it my chemistry homework that I should have been doing. Oh well, I made do.Friday night we slept in Livermore. My mom looked so sick and thin that I nearly burst into tears when I saw her. She brushed me off and then got upset when I told her I was really concerned and that she was scaring me. Luckily on Sunday her friends stepped in and now she's doing much better (although she is still in the hospital).
Saturday in Davis Dave and I set up the apple press my dad made for us so we could make cider. We spent all day Sunday pressing about 400lbs of apples. Then my friends John and Christina came over with a bunch of bell peppers and tomatoes for a late-night canning marathon. Whew...it was quite a busy week.
Stay tuned for a detailed apple cider making post.
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