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Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Fall is my second favorite time of the year (after spring) and I especially love to visit orchards to get fresh picked apples to munch on.  Every year, I like to try to go to a different one and this year it was local. 

My aunt, grandmother and I visited Hinton’s Orchard in Larue County, Kentucky a short time ago and I highly recommend it. 

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Just look at the loaded apple trees that you pass by driving to their store:

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Not only that, but they have pumpkins and gourds for sale:

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When you go in the store, you are bombarded with such good smells…apples, apple cider, baked goods, jams and jellies just to name a few.  They even offer locally grown and processed meats which I love. 

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Hinton’s also has several attractions to keep the little ones entertained as well.  You can take a trip out to their pumpkin patch, walk through their corn maze or take a hayride.  It is all so much fun and I highly recommend stopping by!

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C & I took in the Kentucky State Fair on its last day Sunday before last and had a lot of fun.  The last day is really not the best time to go to see the animals and exhibits, but we had tickets to see comedian Jeff Dunham so that is when we went.  The show was great, but I did miss seeing the animals.

Most of the exhibits were still on display so we walked around for a couple of hours looking at those. I will warn you…this is going to be a photo heavy post. The balloon art was the first thing we saw upon entering and it had a UK/UofL basketball theme.  When we left that night, they were popping all of the balloons.

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We headed to the culinary section first and I found all of my entries in the cases.  There was also some gorgeous decorated cakes as well.

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We both loved the Angry Birds cupcakes.  The modeling work was spot-on!

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There are always beautiful award winning quilts and woodworking on display as well.

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Finally…the photography.  This was the winner in the category that I entered which was color nature photography.

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Here I am with my entry of a wild Tom turkey in front of an old house in a field.

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C found a new toy, but he didn’t get to bring it home.

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The midway was still in full swing as we were leaving the Jeff Dunham show so I pulled over to get a few shots of the lit rides.  The lights were so pretty!

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C & I had a fun time at the Kentucky State Fair and will hopefully be back next year!

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I want to apologize for my lacking of blogging lately.  Thankfully I had several recipes and book beginnings posts already scheduled or this would have been one quiet speck on the internet.  Cue crickets chirping here.  My life was turned upside down on October 22nd when my father was involved in a very serious car accident.

He had to be flown to a Level 1 trauma hospital two hours away and was there for five weeks. His lungs were so damaged that he had to be on a ventilator for three weeks.  He had a skull fracture, nine broken ribs, broken sternum, five cracked vertebrae, broken left femur, broken left ulna, and a broken right wrist. The doctors kept him sedated for four weeks to let all of the injuries heal as much as possible.  I have never experienced anything like this in my life.  I had dealt with my mom’s illness and death, but I had never watched someone heal from trauma and injuries like this.  It is a very slow process.

I also know that none of us could have gotten through this without God and Jesus on our side.  I lost track of the number of times that I went to Him begging for help and healing and He came through every single time.  I am so glad that my family and I are Christians and have that healing power to call on in times of need.  If you don’t know Christ and have God in your heart, seek Him now!  He can bring such peace and comfort to you in times of stress and heartache.

Since I am an only child and my mom is deceased, I am the next of kin.  In those five weeks, I came home three days and spent one night in my own bed.  Please don’t pity me…I did it because I wanted to, but I am so glad that we are closer to home.  Dad is now in a rehab facility about an hour away from us and he will be there for several more weeks. 

Because of this, there has been absolutely NO cooking going on here.  My nanny cooked us a small Thanksgiving dinner and it was the first home-cooking we had since the accident.  It was so good!  I so missed being able to cook for the holiday and I probably won’t be doing too much for Christmas either.

C & I are back at work and going to see Dad every evening that we can.  Thankfully, Dad’s girlfriend, E, lives in the same town as the rehab center so she can go by every day.  That sure takes a load off of me.  Hopefully, he will be home in a couple of months and be completely independent.  They just have to wait for all of the broken bones to heal before they can do the intense physical therapy he will need. 

So please bear with me and come back often.  I promise to get back on the bandwagon as soon as I am able.  I so miss the cooking,photography. and writing. 

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My grandmother, “Nanny”, and my Aunt M are usually not big travellers, but when Nanny saw a commercial for Huber’s Orchard and Winery in Starlight, Indiana, she was hooked and really wanted to visit.  I had a Thursday off from work in early October so we went to see it.  When I went online to find directions, I discovered that there is actually two different businesses, Huber’s Orchard and Winery along with Joe Huber’s Family Farm and Restaurant.  They are just a mile apart so it makes it easy to visit both in the same day.

We took I-65 up to Louisville and then took I-64 over to New Albany, Indiana and followed the directions from there.  The drive was very pretty and we were all surprised at the long and winding road you take to get there.  Thankfully, there are plenty of signs along the way so you know you are still on the right path.  We arrived at the Huber’s Orchard and Winery first and the views there are gorgeous.

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Huber’s raises all sorts of crops to try to have year ‘round interest so we passed Christmas trees…

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and vineyards…

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before getting to the actual location, which was spectacular!  Here are several photos of the different ponds, animals and decorations along their drive to the store.

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When we parked and walked up to the store, there is a talking tree that lets you know about the day’s specials and what is available.

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There were pumpkins, gourds and Indian corn galore.  I could have spent a fortune, but I just had to pick a few and make myself walk away.  I loved the way they used the old vehicles to display the pumpkins.

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While we were walking around admiring the outdoor scenery, there was this delicious smell wafting through the air.  After entering their store, we knew why…there is a full bakery loaded with cookies and candy and breads and dumplings.  Oh, my, I wish I could bottle that smell.  It was heavenly!  We all purchased a few things here.  I bought a few cookies and gala apples while Nanny chose a couple of sweet bread loaves and fudge.

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Next, we drove up the road to Joe Huber’s Family Farm and Restaurant.  This was a really neat place, too, and kids would love it!  They have lots of activities like a corn maze and tractor rides along the farm.

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There is a store located here as well and I purchased some Cherry BBQ sauce that was really good.  I had been told that the food at the restaurant is delicious, but we didn’t take the time to eat here.  Their fall decorations were beautiful and they had a few small gardens to tour as well.

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Sorry, I know this a long post, but there was so much to see at these two locations!  Finally, here is a self-portrait of the three of us at Huber’s Orchard and Winery and, FINALLY, my little display using the pumpkins I bought there.  If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it.

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Furry family members…

Ellie

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Eenie

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Roy

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Day Trip to the Orchard

I took off work today to spend the day with my aunt, M, and Nanny.  We went to Bowling Green, KY to Jackson’s Orchard.  None of us had ever been there but had always heard good things about it.  It is only about 5 miles out of BG, but it feels like you are worlds away from the city.  If you are looking for fresh produce in the South-central Kentucky area, I highly recommend Jackson’s.  Take a look at what I purchased today…

“Jonathan” apples

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“Incredible” sweet corn

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Pears-not sure of the variety

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I can’t wait to try this BBQ sauce on some shredded pork this weekend, and a few of the apples are destined for an Apple Dapple Cake recipe that I found here.

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Weekly Supper Menu

I am finally finding a new routine after the major life changes in the last couple of months.  My menu planning had suffered greatly and I missed it.  The pre-planning made cooking and grocery shopping so much easier, so it is time to get back on track.  A couple of nights a week, I am trying to cook dishes that I can share with my dad and relatives to take a little of the load off of them as well. 

Thursdays have turned in to slow-cooker days.  I fill up my slow-cooker at home and take it to work with me.  We finally have a small kitchen in our new building so there is a place to plug in the cooker and let it simmer all day long.  It makes the office smell SO GOOD!  My co-worker teased me last week that she was going to start filming a television cooking show there every Thursday!

Here is this week’s plan:

Sunday: Supper at Nanny’s-I am contributing roasted potatoes and strawberry dessert pizza

Monday: Supper at C’s parents next door-I am contributing strawberry pizza again.

Tuesday: Grilled hot dogs and oven-baked French fries

Wednesday: Homemade sloppy Joes

Thursday: Slow cooker BBQ pork chop meal

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Tacos

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Almost-Wordless Wednesday

In my Nanny’s garden…

 

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In Memory

I must apologize for my lack of posts lately.  Sure, I have my weekly recipe, but most of these were pre-written and scheduled months ago thanks to Windows Live Writer “set publish date”.  My middle of the week updates and menu planning have be neglected the last couple of months because my life has turned upside down.

My mom, my best friend, B, passed away two weeks ago today, and this has been the hardest thing with which I have ever dealt.  Mom was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in February, 2007.  She went through surgery, multiple kinds of chemo, and 25 radiation treatments in two years time.  Last spring, everything was great.  Her CA-125 was very low which was very good.  (This is a specific cancer antigen the doctors test for when someone has ovarian cancer.) 

We had the best spring and summer together.  Mom ran a small garden center, and on my days off from my job I would go with her to the wholesale nurseries.  It was so much fun!  We laughed and talked and just enjoyed each other!  This past November, Mom caught H1N1 flu and it knocked her for a loop.  In December, her blood numbers had risen, but it was still below normal which was good.  She began having severe back pain and everyone thought she had just hurt her back.  X-rays showed she had three compression vertebrae fractures and they were causing her pain.  We found out later that these fractures were caused from the radiation she had had two years ago.

When she went for a checkup at her oncologist’s office in February, he immediately admitted her into the hospital for pain control and to find out exactly what was wrong.  There was a lot wrong.  Her kidneys were not functioning normally and she had multiple tumors.  The cancer had also spread to her bones.  When the doctor said that treatment was not an option, I felt like the world had stopped.  I knew there was a good chance that the cancer would return, but I thought we would have more time than this.

She went home under hospice care (which is wonderful, by the way) for five weeks.  On Sunday, March 28th, her pain and breathing were so bad that we called the ambulance and had her taken to the local hospital.  She was there for exactly a week with me, my wonderful husband C, and my Dad, R, by her side.  The pain had gotten so bad that she had to be on such strong medicine.  She couldn’t speak and was sedated most of the time.  I remember sitting in her room at three o’clock in the morning and just wishing she could talk to me just one more time!  I miss her voice so badly!

We are all dealing with this loss as best we can.  I did not have a big immediate family to begin with, and Mom was the center of it.  I miss you so much, Mom!!

roger,betty,mona3

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Happy Father’s Day!

Today is Father’s Day and C & I want to wish our dads a very, very HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!  We hope you enjoy the day and know we love you both very much!

Here is a quick blast from the past:

 

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Scout Chad w Dad

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