Old photos...old memories

The Lorelei is here now, so trying to hurry and do a post to get the previous one moved on down the page...in the hopes that if I do forget and open my blog with her around, it won't show up!

These have all been posted before...

In December of 2013.  How I wish we could go back to that time...but at least we have our memories.

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I have searched and searched trying to find if I posted about a little drive we did in snow and ice.  I think I told but cannot find it if I did.  I have searched under the labels of snow, and searched all kinds of words.  Anyway, it is one of those memories that I hold dear, but always makes me laugh till I cry.  And one we think of it quite often.

It was a day about like the above...snow AND ice was abundant.  We had headed out on our drive and was going a familiar route.  This route contains a downhill curvy road.    It is the leg part of a 'T' intersection...when our road comes to the other, on the other side of the road is a steep bank DOWN to creek bottoms...and there are fairly good sized trees...at least 7 or 8 inches in diameter are there.

We were turned down that road...we always like to go down it because we used to see wild turkey there often.  So we get to the downhill part, and we don't seem to be slowing down...I tell Roger to please slow down a little bit.  He says 'I have had my foot on the brake ever since we started downhill.'  I am getting tickled...but it is not a laughing matter...the road gets pretty steep...and at the bottom it is a sharp turn either right or left and you can't see if anything is coming from one direction...but the rate we were going, we would not have made the turn.

There on the right side is a little house with a fairly big front yard.  The end of it ends in a steep bank too.  Probably taller than me...it goes straight down to the road.

Roger was at his finest...instead of going over the bank he makes a quick turn into that yard, and just circles around and goes back out the way we came.  There was nothing to hit in the yard, and it was so frozen it would not have tore up the yard....probably barely left tire tracks!  But we always wondered did they see us...did they see our tracks.  Did they realize it was that or a bad wreck?  We would have stopped if we had hurt anything...

But any time it snows, and several times through the year we laugh about that day.

Ready for green, ready for spring....

This is from up in Parke county...looking back towards the Narrows Covered Bridge.  You can barely see it on past the regular bridge.  

It was not bad today...and even supposed to be up in the 50's before the weekend is over...but I still cannot wait for shirtsleeve weather.

Don't get me wrong, I would not be mad if we had a good snow, but if it isn't going to snow, then I vote for spring.  How about you?

Bridgeton Covered Bridge

This is another view of the Bridgeton Covered Bridge...I take a picture of it almost every time I am near it.  I don't know if I have ever taken one that I totally love.  Almost always the sky is too washed out.
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Do you realize that it is a bit less than two weeks to Christmas?  Are you ready for it?  I am close.  Got most things wrapped, though I do have to get a couple wrapped and mailed.  We bought the ham the other day, but still have to figure just what all we are having.  Since there are so few of us I do not do near the cooking that I did when younger.

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I have decided to make a crumb border for the quilt top that is on my design wall.  It is taking me longer to make it than it did to make the top.  Or at least that is how I feel.  I try to sew a little bit each day.  Some days I do more than others.  I had a friend comment on the post of the top the other day saying that crumb blocks are hard work.  I must say I agreed with her...they are no mile a minute block for me.  Yet they are sort of mindless.  No worrying about seam allowances or points matching.  Just sew and trim.

I am in the mood for a new sewing machine....I don't need one.  I absolutely love my Juki 98Q...I just want one to play with and maybe have upstairs. And it is another Juki that I want...but have been looking at some of the cheaper  Brother sewing machines.  I have been debating on getting a little sewing cabinet and bringing one of mine upstairs from the basement.  I know though that I would end up running up and down the steps half a dozen times every time I wanted to sit and sew.   Plus there would be the mess upstairs...so I never quite take the plunge to bring it up.
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I think it is supposed to get up to the freezing mark in the next day or two...and we are supposed to have snow tonight and tomorrow.  If it gets up that warm, and it does actually snow, I am wondering if it will be a heavy snow that lays on branches and sticks to fences...I hope it is.  

For the first time I am really showing my age about snow...I really consider the fact that we might get in a wreck when going out for pics.  Even on the back roads.  I have never been a fan of being on main roads right after a snow, but on the back roads where there is hardly any traffic, I have always felt pretty secure.  So we shall see whether we get out even if we do get a nice snow.

Covered bridge at Bridgeton, Indiana

We went on a drive...took the backroads to Bridgeton, Indiana and on to Mansfield.

Even though it was bitter cold, Roger cast around a few times below the dam a few times.  Did not get a single hit.  The fish were probably frozen too!
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I started getting this ready to post last night but did not finish. It looks to be another day about the same as the past two.  There is just another light skim of snow.  Up where we went yesterday had had more snow than here...I think they had had at least two or three inches.
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The house sparrows come in flocks....it is sometimes hard for other birds to get anything.  Then it will go a spell with not a single one out there.  I suppose they go visit other feeders at that time.

Not sure what this day is going to hold...I suppose I best get off here and get ready for it.  I still have the ham to get...and presents to wrap. 

A little covered bridge....

According to the other shots taken on the day this shot was taken, it is over in Illinois.  But I cannot think where for the life of me.  Even though I am beginning to enjoy some fall color, I like the springness of this shot.
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Lorelei went home yesterday.  This was one of those times I didn't even get the camera out so instead I just have to tell about her first morning.  She got here Saturday night....she had been to her other grandma's for part of the day.  She calls her 'Grandma L with the pretty white hair!'  Makes me wish my hair would just turn white and be done with it.

Anyway, so she had had a full day Saturday...had seen her other grandmother--I can't remember what all she done there.  Then they had left there and went to the birthday party of one of her dad's friends.  And had children her own age to play with there.  A very full day.  So she went to bed and was not up to her usual standard of talking and talking.

She slept in till 10:30, comes in here and gets on my lap and tells me good morning, talks a second and gets down to go play.  In just a couple minutes she comes back and says, "Guess what I want for breakfast!"

I guess bacon.

She says , "NO!"

I guess smoky links...again I get a very excited no...

So I say sausauge....

She says, "And what else?'

I say, "And Biscuits and Gravy!"

Oh, does she ever get a gleam in her eye....


since Roger had been up and down all night, I was trying to put her off till he felt like getting up...I let her have a little chocolate milk.  Thinking she would be okay....and she did go on an play for a while.  But sometime later...maybe 45 minutes or an hour, she comes to me and says, "Mamaw, can you fix my food....if you don't I am going to starve to death!"

So I fixed it, and her Papaw was up by then....we sat down to eat....and she would take a bite and say, oh, Mamaw, this sausage is just so good, or oh, Mamaw this gravy is good! 

Cox Ford Bridge

This is the Cox Ford Bridge in Parke County, Indiana, built in 1913 by J. A. Britton.
We try to always carry our rods with us...Roger threw his line in but did not have any hits.
This is looking up Sugar Creek...a beautiful place to be.

We used to come here and wade and fish...now there are signs that no swimming or wading is allowed, and inform that violators will be prosecuted.
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I am getting ready to hang out clothes! Supposed to be close to 50º F. today...I had to wash my tennis shoes since I had walked along the sandbar and my feet sank above the top of my shoes. So I always wash them with towels...figured it would be a good day to hang the out.

The cats are wanting us to come outside and play and I am not joking. They won't go out alone, but when I went out to wipe down the clothesline, all three came out to see what was happening.

Bridgeton Covered Bridge....

This poor bridge has seen more than its fair share of troubles...it was burned down in April of 2005.....and the whole thing rebuilt by a community of volunteers by October of 2006. You can read about it here....
A couple of weeks ago, give or take a day or two or three, we had some real storms and some tornadoes go through. Guess what...one hit the bridge...it took out some of the sides on both sides. We had heard about it but not had the chance to go by till day before yesterday....
The old mill also had the roof taken off and had some water damage to things inside...as you can see they were getting ready to re-roof the day we were there.
It was officially classified as a tornado that hit there....thank God it was not wide spread. There were places were there were lots and lots of trees down...I cannot imagine seeing acre after acre of stuff just destroyed as those in Joplin, Missouri.

Down a county road....

Just to get out a little bit, we headed north....I was sort of looking for the place in the post day before yesterday with all the big rocks....we didn't find it but we found the road in the first photo above...we have been down part of it before, one time.
I recognized this barn, and have posted a different view of it but cannot supply the link at this time.
We have been through this bridge before, but I did not remember it at all; the other time we were through here it was in the summertime.
This is a view looking back down the valley from the bridge....we want to go back when spring has arrived. It will look totally different.

Nevins Bridge

I did a post of another bridge, and I think it was Jacob asked why they were covered. Sorry that it has taken this long to do the post...if I had know I would take this long to do this post, I would have answered the query with a comment.

Anyway, believe it or not, years ago I did a google on it, and found several reasons. Some of the reasons were: to protect the timbers of the bridge and keep it from rotting, to keep horses from being afraid when crossing the bridge, to have a shelter from a storm, and I am sure there were others but these are the ones that stuck with me through all the years. At that time, no one wanted gave a definite answer.

However, after having a discussion with Roger--he was just sure it was to protect the timbers, I did another google on it. This time the first two links I checked out both seemed sure it was to protect the timbers from the weather, so he was right. You can check them out here and here.

How quickly we forget

I was looking for something to post tonight and came across this...I feel chilled just looking at it. I at least feel sure I remember being cold while taking the photograph.

That is the thing about photographs...they are remembrances of things past...of things we have seen. Things that have brought feelings rushing to the forefront, that makes us want to capture a moment in time.

I feel compelled to take photographs. When I was young, I always had my camera with me....though at that time I did not have the money to take near all the photographs I wanted. Then through the years of raising our girls, working, and just life in general my cameras fell by the wayside. I did take a lot of photographs of them when they were young, and a few when we would go to Tennessee. But the camera was no longer my constant companion.

The past year or two the camera has regained its place...I take either either one or both of them with me almost every where we go. If I leave home without, most times I regret it. I see things that are just so beautiful, I want to capture that moment in time. Sometimes looking at things with the camera makes me see stuff I would not have noticed otherwise.

Also, I get so much enjoyment from looking at old, old photographs of times past, it makes me want to start recording things as they are now to leave for future generations. There is nothing I like better than finding digital libraries on line....specially when they are about Tennessee.

Mansfield Covered Bridge

This is a different view of this bridge...not the normal one seen at all. I am sorry about the quality...not sure what happened. I worked on it with Photoshop some, but grew weary. Nothing seemed to really work. Still, I like the view.
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We are watching the Olympics, so not doing much else at night.

I did work on my quilt some today....I brought it upstairs to spread on the bed to see how much I had gotten done. I was happily surprised to find I had more done than I thought. It will still take a good bit of time to finish...just not as much as I thought.

Tomorrow we are heading to see Lorelei for a bit, so I may not be visiting any of the blogs I follow till tomorrow night.

Still cold

A photo from January,1996 of the covered bridge at Bridgeton, Indiana.

It is still cold here, but supposed to get all the way up in the thirties tomorrow. We will think a heat wave has hit. I will be thankful for it!

We kept Lorelei today while her mom did some errands and a bit of Christmas shopping. She is such a happy little girl. And have I told you that she loves books? I didn't realize Sarah had stuck some of hers from home in the diaper bag, so I got out one we had for her for Christmas. She looked and looked through it. She will sit and sit looking through and talking about the pictures....what she is saying I do not know, but she is very intent when telling me all about them.

Her other thing is to reach for her papaw every time he passes. He carries her around and shows her everything and tells her about each item. And while it is okay for him to leave the room I am in with her, she does not like it if I leave the room and leave them behind.

She also enjoys going after the cats and Shelby...not all the time, though she does crawl up to Shelby fairly often and talks to her also. Shelby doesn't know what to think...she is sort of afraid of being hurt inless I am right there. Or maybe she is afraid of Lorelei being hurt...not sure which it is. If I am right there about as close as possible she is fine with it. But if I am standing up, she gets up, too.
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I have went back to moderating comments....I tried just using word verification and it did not slow them spammers down at all.

A cold snowy day

Christmas past

From scanned slides...first a couple from Bridgeton, Indiana. I love to go for drives and look at Christmas lights. However, it has been a while since we actually done that. Seems like the time just flies as I get older.

And these are the blurred images that I ran across the other day that inspired me to take the photo that I posted Thanksgiving Day. I think these are best viewed when enlarged.
When we first moved here in 1980, or oldest daughter was just 5 months old. Not sure how long it was before we met the lady that lived two houses down from us. Veronica was from Lithuania and spoke very broken English even though she had been here for years. There were all kinds of rumors about her, which we will never know if they were true or not. One we know for sure is not true--she wasn't mean to kids. I had people that grew up here tell me that they remembered being so afraid of her when they were kids.

I don't know how she found out my husband could do stuff, but she would have problems with this or that and come ask him to help. Things like a leaky faucet, or the belt on her treadle sewing machine broke, just a few little things here and there. I know there were other things but right now I cannot think of them. And every so often she would get him to take her to the Chicago O'Hare airport. She was going back over 'there' for a visit. She went to Moscow.

She told us of her and her husband running and hiding under bushes and she witnessed her husband being shot. She came to the USA then and left two children over there...or that was what we understood her to say. At Christmas she would buy all kinds of clothes for children to send to relatives (grandchildren??) over there, and she would have us or this other neighbor write down a list of everything that was in the box, so whoever she was sending it to could tell if they got it all or if things had been stolen before it got to them.

She also had an old man named Walter that lived with her...one year he had a daughter come over from Russia(?somewhere in that area), and she brought her husband and one of their children...a little girl about 5 or 6 years old. They were not allowed to bring their other children for fear they would try to stay here. Her name was Elana...she was a kindergarten teacher. Her husband was Alex but I don't recall what he did...they did not speak a word of English and of course we didn't know a word of their language. But Elana had books that converted from their language to ours and from ours to their language.

We got the bright idea to take them on a drive...we had this little Dodge Colt. So there were us four adults and their child in that tiny car, and we took this big long drive just showing them the country...I showed them the orchard where I worked, and I cannot remember where else we took them. I think we showed them the other places we had worked. Elana and I would use the books to communicate and really enjoyed each other's company. I know we came home late enough to see the Christmas lights, so never does a Christmas pass that I don't think of her and wonder how she is.

Oh, and back to Veronica for a chuckle or two at my husband's expense. I told you he would take her to the airport sometimes. One time he went to pick them up, and it may have been the time when Elana came home. He forgot to pay attention to where he parked, and he came home telling about it...he was telling it and all I could picture is a duck with its ducklings following behind. Every where he went, there was this line of people following right behind him. I cannot do it justice...he was telling me and making gestures...he finally got them to understand and just stay in one place while he went and found the car.

And another time he picked up Veronica, she had been drinking. And she had it in the truck with her. Well, we don't drink...and she kept trying to get him to take a drink, and it was something strong...not beer. She just couldn't understand why he didn't want any. And all the time he was praying that he didn't get stopped by police cause they would never believe he had not been drinking...he said the truck smelled like a brewery. He was so relieved to get them home--I think Walter had went with him to pick her up.

So that is one of my Christmas memories....

A few more pictures from Sunday..

This is another of Parke County's covered bridges. This was taken in the middle of the day, so definitely does not make for great photos. But thought I would show it anyway...we thought it almost looked like it had been built in two sections, or else started at each end and worked towards the middle.

While at the bridge, I noticed all kinds of this flower. Actually, we seen it all along the way almost. I think any time I stopped, I could spot some of it. I have been looking for the name for it and having no luck, so if you know, please respond.Anyway, I know these are not great sharp, in focus photos, but I think the insects would have had to be dead to catch a good photo of one. I don't care what kind of insect I seen on them, they worked around the flower so quickly that it was almost impossible to capture even a half decent shot.
I don't generally care to get super close to bumble bees, but they are so intent when they are on the flowers they seem to have a one-track mind.
And I captured these guys, again, they were working very rapidly. I think this flower is made up of many tiny flowers...and they paused at each one for just a second before quickly moving around the head to the next.
Each photo is supposed to enlarge when clicked. If you want to see more from the Sunday drive, there are a few more on The Road Less Photographed.

I am late posting...we had storms start to move in around dark last night, so I unplugged the computer. I figured it would be one of the quickies that come and move on in short order. NOT last night. Lightning flashed all around for at least a couple or three hours--sometime seeming far away and others near at hand. With the thunder rumbling in the background.I fell asleep watching a quilt video, only to wake up in just a bit--sometime right after midnight and the storm was going full force. The power was knocked out before I could get up and do anything. And the wind was fierce....this is the second time I have been really thankful that we have those two big trees down.

I stayed up a while till it slacked off and started looking for my three cats that like to spend the night out. Mama Cat came almost instantly but I did not see Cougar, Jr. nor his sister. I went outside and called and called for them...no show. So finally I went on to bed. I wanted to wake early to make sure my daughter did not over sleep with us having no power. I got up bit before daylight, thinking I would go look for my babies, but Roger had already been up and they were in the house already.

I need not have worried about my daughter cause she was awake when I went to make sure she was up...how fun can it be to get up and have to get dressed by a flashlight and have no electricity to do anything like fix your hair. Her hair actually looked fine...she is lucky in that respect.

I talked to her later and she said there were trees down every where on her way to work....she said there were all kinds of tree limbs in the median that looked like they had just been sheared off. And she said down the side roads you could see trees on top of trees. One of the guys called her and warned her not to take her usual route to work cause the road was blocked off.

My husband called to check on a buddy of his and a tree had fallen on one of his vehicles...so Roger has gone to help him. He got almost to his house and called and said he was going to have to find a different route to get to him cause there was stuff across the road. He must have finally made it cause I have not heard from him and so far he hasn't showed up back home.

I called out to the orchard to see how they survived...as far as the orchard itself one old plum tree blew down. But a big limb had fallen on the hood of one of their vans, and there are two new, beautiful homes near them that were built right around 2005...I watched one of them go up the last year I worked there. Big old trees had fallen on each of them. And another girl I worked with that lives south of the orchard had trees down in her yard, but none had hit anything.

So what a night it was....

Which do you like best?

The first picture is taken with a cokin filter...I do not remember which one. I wanted to try it out because as you can see in the second photo the sky was on the colorless side. I am not even sure which one I like best. The third picture is taken from the other side of the creek, I think.

Click photos to enlarge.

This is the Narrows Covered Bridge, one of many in Parke Country, Indiana. It was built in 1882 by J. A. Britton and is 120 feet in length. Britton is interesting to read about...he read law had been admitted to the Kansas and Indiana bars, but that occupation did not satisfy him. Bridge building did. I suggest you follow the link--it is a short read and I cannot say it better.
The bridges were made of locally available timber, such as oak or tulip poplar. And part might be laid out in a nearby field and constructed first.

Bridgeton covered bridge one more time

I know I have posted more than enough photos of this bridge, but just had to show what I could do by using the photo software and all I did was use the fill flash. The top is the before photo and the bottom one is after fill flash. In one sense, it don't look real, but that can be good or bad depending on the mood I am in. I really like it most of the time, though I think it has more the look of an old time post card than a real photograph. Be sure and click to enlarge--it is amazing to me what that does for some photos. Some I look at and can tell that I really like even before, but when it is opened up it is just amazing.

Flooding....

Click to enlarge for better viewing.I really had plans to post some other photos, but we went for another drive today...on the way out of town we went down by the Wabash River. I wanted to take a photo of the railroad over the river that was in the photos on my blog on April24 of this year.
This is showing some more of the farmer's fields under water...
And if you click on the photo below, you will see a 'family' of bats up in the very top of the roof...I happened to notice the bat guano on the floor of the covered bridge and looked up and there they were. This is the best I could do, but it isn't too bad of an effort. I do not know what a group of bats is called and I actually wondered if this was a family. I think there are seven of them...

The photo above is the covered bridge at Bridgeton and down below is the old mill at Mansfield. I have seen these two places in all kind of weather after lots of floods, but I have never seen the water this muddy! We had more rain last night, but I think about an inch was all we got.

Maybe we should have a day called Buzzard Birdwatch, or something. I just got to thinking about when I went for my drive the other day...everywhere I went I seen buzzards. The above vulture is the first I captured, I missed a good photo of one on top of a barn with its wings outspread. I am not sure why they do this...I am currently trying to find the reason they do this.

If you look close at the photo below, there are two vultures on the roof towards the right side...I didn't notice them till I had done taken the pictures and I was there probably 4 or 5 minutes.

And below this is yet again another covered bridge. It is another one in Parke County, Indiana. It spans Sugar Creek--a place my husband and I plan to fish this summer. We have fished it some in years past but always on the weekend. Canoeing is very popular on this creek so not much fun to fish on the weekends. But husband will be retiring the first week of June so we should have all the time in the world to wade this creek.

He will probably use an ultra light most of the time, but I know he will fly-fish it some. I don't fly fish...I have never tried. If I try to picture myself fly-fishing all I can see is a wad of line back in my face. But who knows, I might give it a try sometime. I have an ultra light rod and reel combo that you could not buy from me--specially the rod. They don't make it any more. I done broke one--no, not on a fish, but during fishing. To make a long story short, we went to the two sporting goods stores in Terre Haute, and to the Kmarts and whatever else carried rods and reels back then. At the last Kmart we went to, they had two rods, on sale because they were the last of them, and my husband wisely insisted on buying both.

I tend to use these little jigs with a weed guard, or Johnson Silver Minnows, and sometimes beetlespins....I never fish in the creeks with live bait...though every now and then I like to take worms and go to a strip pit and throw a line out and just watch it. Though even then, I will have the line and bobber out, but will be casting about with my ultra light.

ETA: Just found that people believe the reason vultures will stand with outspread wings are for multiple reasons: warming the body, drying the wings, and/or baking off bacteria.

I just have to show the new, improved view of the bridge. Tom, I have Picasa and use it about half the time...just thought I couldn't improve it since it was a scanned image. Thanks for reminding me to try Picasa.