The Spook House

 My parents could have made a fortune flipping houses if that had been popular doing the time I was growing up. They bought a farmhouse with a wrap around porch right across  route 60 and the Muskingdom River. It was so over run and down at the heels that they didn't discover the standing hand pump right in the front yard for three weeks. Every week-end we had traveled to the house and they worked and I sunned down at the river.  At night in bed you could hear the river talking like ocean waves.

They fixed it up and it was a show piece by the time they finished.  I was teaching at Maize School and talked about the Spook House to my class one year.  I believe it was grade five. I always tried to do special things with any class I had and so I thought I would invite them all for the week end at the Spook House.  I did not tell them it was fixed up, instead I told them about Pearl and Edna, the sisters who lived and died there. They were happy to go anyway. There were sleeping bags and tons of food because those kids could eat! They were allowed to sleep anywhere on the property but had to stay away from the river. We had dinner and one boy in the class was not used to big meals or meals of any kind really and he ate so many hot dogs he threw up running through the house from the kitchen to the living room.  Suddenly every one was asleep and I was left to clean it up. The boy crawled into a sleeping bag and was asleep as his head hit the pillow. The next day the room mothers prepared breakfast and the children were again allowed to eat where they were happiest.  They were very relieved that Pearl and Edna had not made an appearance.  They also thought I had pulled their legs because they thought the place was wonderful and pretty. Then the rain came.  Twenty-five pairs of eyes turned to me.  No problem, I knew just the place to spend the afternoon...my old stomping ground The Colonial Inn.  It was a bar with dancing and the best french-fries in the world . One of the fathers was a preacher so I asked him if we could get away with going there and he was all for it. So we spent the entire afternoon playing pool and  dancing to the jukebox. Do you think I could have pulled that off in this day and age?

Andy and I were sitting out side in the sun just now and I had a feeling like we were at the Spook House.  So happy, so relaxed, and that made me think of that story.  Many of my former students are on my Facebook. They were such a fun group of smart children with good parents.  It was kind of like the fifties vibe.

I hope you find your happy place this week end. Enjoy.

The Spook House

This and that

 Today I looked at the groaning fridge and freezer determined to cook from one of those units at least.  I made a lovely vegetable gratin using up more of the products that tend to let us down if not used right away.  So I am on the good track there.  I am thawing a beef roast for the week end smoker feast. Matt and Stacey bring their girls over on the week end sometimes and we give them a break to go shopping or whatever. The girls cry when they leave to go home, so I guess they like it here at Many Branches.

I wanted to tell you one thing to not buy at Trader Joe's is the Norwegian crackers...seeds and grains crisp bread. It is packaged and looks like a deck of cards size-wise. Enticing but dull and no taste.  I have been thinking what to do with it.  Yesterday I crumbled a cracker into a salad and that worked. I have avocados, so I could make a spread.  It's a shame, they look right, they just have no taste. One could easily break a tooth on one of those crackers as well.

Starting tomorrow I am going to have a rough week ahead, so I will be either in a state to write like crazy or too stressed to do anything. This too shall pass, thank God.

I start early in the morning with Andy's coffee and the computer.  I tell you it is getting harder and harder to do this. It's like flogging yourself with all the nasty news that greets us each day. That nasty and the new TV shows are nasty...what will we do? 

l calm myself with another coffee and a container or two of flowers to dead head. Yesterday and today were perfect for this and I regained my composure. Nate has hung bird feeders and I have never seen so many birds and we have lived here 34 years. That and the birthing of butterflies keeps us entertained.  We have four now getting ready to turn into butterflies. We sent one on its way and he never looked back. That's nature. See, it doesn't take much to entertain us these days. lol