Wednesday, November 30, 2011

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, the 112th Carnival of Genealogy

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Jasia really challenged us, errr, me this month over at Creative Gene, with her challenge to write about "An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving".  Thanks to footnoteMaven for the beautiful poster.

I started, as I always do, by reviewing photos that I may have available to share.  Well, I don't have a one from my family, and only found one (and it is a maybe photo) from Man's family.   There are a number from "our" family Thanksgivings.

When I quizzed Man about Thanksgiving meals menus when he was a wee one, his reply was "traditional".  I pressed a bit further and he said, turkey, traditional, stuffing, traditional, potatoes, traditional, home made bread, traditional, pies, traditional, homemade wine (drunk in the basement because his grandmother did not approve of drinking), traditional.   I know from family stories that Man's youthful Thanksgivings were spent with lots of family around, including the "kids" table.


Below:  the kids table (date is approximately 1969).  And, yes, this is probably a Christmas kid's table, not a Thanksgiving one.  When you are desperate for photos you will take what you can get!  (Hear Carol snicker?? Ya, I know you do.)


Below, now, THIS looks like it could be a Thanksgiving photo, of Man's grandparents, his father (in the suit and bow tie and his first cousins).   See that very dark chair to the right of the photo, we have one of the set now, Man's mother treasured it and now we do as well, it belonged to the set owned by her parents.  In fact, we have a photo of Man's mother sitting in one of those chairs when she was a wee one herself.


When I was a wee one we usually spent Thanksgiving with friends of my parents, as both sets of my grandparents and all other relatives lived well over 600 miles away.  I remember very large turkeys that took a good many hours to cook, and our "traditional" was dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls to die for, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pies and delish whipping cream.  One year we would go to the friends house, the next year they would come to our home.  And, there was always the Thanksgiving Day Parade on the telie, first the parade from New York, then, the parade from Detroit.

(No photos from my family at Thanksgiving.)

Since Man and I married we have what we consider to be a traditional Thanksgiving.  It consists of a menu that reads something like this: turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, some vegie, mashed potatoes, gravy (which Man's mother made for years, cause, mmmm, I never mastered gravy), pumpkin pies with whipping cream (our favorite, well my favorite, is heavy cream whipped with a touch of sugar and even better is whipped with a touch of German vanilla sugar).

(Side note/memory:  We also had (ewww) canned cranberry sauce because Man's mother loved it, and because it was "traditional" in her mind.  She was the only one that ate it.  I cannot tell you how many partial cans of cranberry sauce were later dumped in the garbage.)

We have been know to have deviled eggs, cucumber sandwiches, homemade soup, and other delicacies.  Up until the last few years Thanksgiving days were were spent cooking, with wonderful family times.  Sons, with their gals, the grandtwins, Man's mother, even extended family and friends, all were invited, all shared a fabulous meal.  After the meal, more visiting, story telling, teasing, and now and then a game:


Above, our 3 sons and the grandtwins, seriously playing, seriously!

The last few years Man and I have departed SE Michigan before Thanksgiving.  This year we decided to enjoy a traditional meal before said departure.  We celebrated on November 13th.  It was still an old fashioned Thanksgiving with all the traditional foods, except the pumpkin pie morfed into a pumpkin cheesecake that was outta this world yummy.

So, our Old Fashioned Thanksgiving is more like a "traditional" Thanksgiving, good food, prayers and thanks for all that we are thankful for, sometimes friends, always family, usually turkey, but, sometimes something new as well.  So, we are traditional with a twist, or as shown above, sometimes, with a "pop", and that pumpkin cheese cake, mmmmm, YUM!!




*  Two years ago I wrote about my connection to Cap't. Myles Standish, in a post titled "Thanksgiving, A New Appreciation Gained by Family Research".    And, last year I spent a very special Thanksgiving near the burial place of my g g grandfather Zachariah Z. Trumbo.   Both special posts remembering my ancestors, that's old fashioned right?? I thought so.

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

THE Trip, Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone Montana

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

After a month and a day in Salt Lake City we have to move on, we either have to get off the lot we have occupied for this month by moving to another lot in the park or move on down the hard road.  It rained all night, HARD, it was still raining when I woke. Man slept in, I fussed with some stashing and packing until he got up. We debated back and forth several times, should we stay, should we leave, what to do? Finally the decision was made, hit the road, the decision was helped along with the fact that the pouring rain slowed down to a drizzle. So, we packed up, hooked up and off we went. It did rain a bit during the day's drive, hard a few times, large rain drops that "plopped" even at 55 MPH.


We headed out of Salt Lake via 80 and 15.   I-15 north is the road of the day, followed it all the way to Idaho Falls, Idaho where we stayed for one evening.  Miles driven, 223.

Below:  Welcome to Idaho, still spritzing a bit.


It is June 20th and there are spring flowers on the hill sides:


Not the red beauty we have inhaled for weeks and weeks in southern Utah, now we have GREEN, stunning shades of green (oh, and a bit of white clouds and snow on those mountains way off in the distance.)


The next morning we hook back up, the site we were in was too unlevel, and we had to unhook the night before.  We drove 110 miles from Idaho Falls to West Yellowstone, route 20 out of Idaho Falls.

The lilacs below were in the campground in Idaho Falls, they had quite a few planted.  In full bloom, they were such a delight.


More roadside flowers.  There was no place to pull over to determine what these were, believe they may have been growing in or at least standing in water, appeared to be a bulb like flower, but, alas, I will never know for sure.  What I do know, is they were beautiful.


Hard to take, right??  Nope, breathtaking, but not hard to take!  I was enjoying.  Lots!  If you look closely, right about the middle of the photo below, there is a white bird, guessing it was an egret.


Montana, we have arrived!


We had managed to snag 3 nights at our campground, and before we registered Man converted those to a week!  WAHHOOOOOO.  We shoehorned Tana into the campsite, parking Big Butt in a really tiny campsite across the road with the blessing of the campground owner.  Snug as a few bugs and all that stuff.  It was cool in West Yellowstone, there was still snow in Big Butt's parking spot.  OK, not a lot of snow, but, there it was!  It was gone by the next afternoon.


And, here is a prized photo, our Tana, errr, Montana, parked in Montana.  Sorry, I get silly like that at times.


Since our drive had only been 110 miles and we had arrived fairly early in the day, and since we only had 7 nights to pack in as much sightseeing as we could at Yellowstone National Park, we took off for the park as soon as we settled in.  We had a good 6 hours before dark, and we were going to go check things out and get a feel for the area.

Off to the park we went - - - 



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Monday, November 28, 2011

THE Trip, A Treat, The Morman Tabernacle Choir Performs

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

As many visitors to Salt Lake City are aware there are daily organ recitals in the Tabernacle.  One day Man met Becky (Kinexxions) and I and we attended one of the recitals. It was, of course, fascinating, and beautiful.


I zoomed with the Sony and got this photo of the organ, truly a beautiful piece of art and sound:


The last day I researched at the Family History Center, June 16, 2011, the choir had a special performance, a dress rehearsal for their Summer Tour of 2011, which covered eight days with performances in Norfolk, Virginia; Washington D.C.; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chautauqua, New York; and Toronto, Canada.  An interesting little tidbit I found while researching this post was that it took 3 chartered planes, 11 buses, 4 semi trucks full of luggage, and 4 semi trucks that carry equipment, risers, the organ and wardrobe to accommodate the choir, orchestra and all the support staff.

Man and I decided we would try to attend the dress rehearsal, which was free.  F*R*E*E.  Love that word.  We had heard that one ticket for the Summer Tour started at $80.00.  No matter what those tickets cost we were going to get to hear the choir for F*R*E*E, if we could get in line and procure seats.

I had Sony with me and took a few photos, but, honestly, I am not sure I was supposed to, so, I think I will enjoy those photos in the privacy of my own home.  Sorry.

Man and I got into line after a nice dinner and even though there were a few sprinkles, we did not get wet, we visited with some nice folks in line with us and we got into the Tabernacle for the concert.

It was totally F*A*B!!!!

It was a wonderful end to my month of research in Salt Lake City at the research mecca, the Family History Center.



*The disclaimers:  All references to the choir, the Tabernacle, the Family History Center, and any other references I might have mentioned here, are protected by the rights of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I was simply a visitor who enjoyed the choir, the buildings, the library, the research.  Thank you.
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Sunday, November 27, 2011

THE Trip, Park City Utah

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The second day trip that Man and I and Becky (Kinexxions) took while we were staying (researching at the mecca) in Salt Lake City was to Park City Utah, WAYYYY up in Park City Utah, elevation between 6900 and 10,000 feet per several Wikipedia articles.  You might remember the name Park City as a 2002 Winter Olympics Venue Host City.  Our day trip was on June 1, 2011.




First call of duty when we arrived in Park City was lunch.  We ate on the outskirts of town and then downtown we went, where we found these "shoe trees".  According to a RoadsideAmerica.com reader, the tree(s) have been there well over 20 years and part of the page reads:  "A tree decorated with shoes, hanging by their laces, tossed by who knows."  According to a recent news article from the Salt Lake Tribune (online), me thinks that more than a few locals feel very emotional about the shoe trees on both sides of the argument, ugly vs the spirit of PC.


There was more than folk art in Park City, there were flowers and sculpture too.




Below, look closer at that bear's arms, a couple of butterflies have come to visit.


After our stroll around downtown Park City taking in the beautiful spring bulbs and the eclectic sculptures and some great stores we climbed back into Big Butt and went further up into the hills.  The higher we went in elevation the more snow we found, LOTS more snow.

Below, almost looks like a glacier doesn't it??



Below, look at that deep snow on those roofs!  They had up to 4 times the normal snow fall the winter before and they were skiing around the Salt Lake City area well into July.


8454 feet, another glacier, errr, more deep snow, and the end of the road.


For Becky's take on our day trip to Park City Utah, visit her post.  She was very taken with the Moose, and has some special photos of the bear statue as well.  You'll see.


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Saturday, November 26, 2011

THE Trip, Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake, Utah

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

During our month in Salt Lake City, Man and I and Becky (of Kinexxions) took two day trips.  Our first day off from research was spent at Antelope Island State Park and the Great Salt Lake.  We took this trip on May 25, 2011.


You reach the island by driving north out of Salt Lake City on I 15.  About 25 miles (give or take) from our campground we turned west on SR108, West Antelope Drive.  SR 108 is also shown on my map as 127 and eventually as you get to the lake it turns into the Davis County Causeway.  The causeway is about 6.6 miles long.

You know, sometimes Mother Nature and her brats toss you a surprise.  We got one on our trip to Antelope Island in the shape of snarly nasty BUGSSSS, gnats and  midges.   Yes, they are as nasty as they sound.  Can we all chant, EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.    There were thousands of these ickies, driving through the masses and clouds of them was a hazard.  Here is what they look like all smushed onto the side view mirror of Big Butt.


It took Man hours of scrubbing to get these things off Big Butt, they were everywhere, the windshield, the grill, the headlights.    And, the gnats bite, and they decided that Becky tasted super fab, she had red welts for days afterwards.

We made a stop at the Visitors Center, which had very nice displays and some stunning art work.  We ran back to Big Butt (those stinking bitin' gnats were still chasing us) and started out to discover the island, driving (with the windows open for the most part).

No matter what the conditions, there are always some visitors that just have to go in the water.  Between the bugs and the coolish temps, I did not even contemplate this as a possible activity.


The mountains with snow at the end of May always draw my attention, and this time I got a bit of a reflection of the mountains in the Great Salt Lake.


The island is also the home of the Fielding Garr Ranch.  We spent a hour or so just wandering around, taking photos, taking in the barns, work areas, farm equipment, buildings, furniture as well as the beautiful flowers. (The bugs were tolerable at the Ranch, we have no idea why.)


Below, I particularly like the horseshoe handles.


Below, where some of the ranch hands slept.



Below, a food storage building.


Inside the family home.  I have a hope chest that is similar to this one, although mine is not nearly as large.



The island is home to a small bison herd, but, I failed to get one good photo of a buffalo.  My opportunity to photograph them would come in a few weeks when we toured Yellowstone National Park.  There are also pronghorn (antelope) on the island, we saw just a few, they were hiding somewhere.



* Part of my procedure when organizing a post of this type is to look at all the photos of the day and jot down my favorites to share.  When I did that this time and then went to Becky's post from that day I realized that she and I think very much alike when it comes to taking photos and which ones we like enough to process and share.  So, please go visit her post on the day trip to Antelope Island.  Pretty much every photo she has there, I have a duplicate of in my collection, or a variation of it.   I have almost exact duplicates of the first, third, fourth and fifth ones on her post, in fact my versions of those photos were on my list to show you.  So, I picked other photos, gladly.
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Friday, November 25, 2011

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

To all my readers, followers, friends, family,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING



From Carol and Man




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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Wordy Wednesday, Blast From the Past Photo Negatives

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Discovered during a scanning event, tucked into a photo book belonging to Man's cousin.


A closer view of those negatives:


No names, no dates, just 15 photos captured and stored away.  They will probably stay just this way until no one else cares enough to save them.  We are the caretakers now, Man's cousin had no children, there is no one else.




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