If you see an Elmo in a tree in Kendallville . . .

At the beginning of August, for my granddaughter’s birthday, I purchased a number of helium balloons – five of which were Elmos. All this time later, only one was left and he had gone to the floor and then out the door to the concrete floor of the garage.

I just couldn’t bear it, so I decided I would get another Elmo and let them both go free to Heaven. And they wound up in a tree. I’m sorry guys; I could just cry.

Sarah Shimp Grismore – October 8, 2015

I’ve been writing about the Apple Festival, but even though it has been around for three decades, this is really the time of the year when Corn School is held in LaGrange County. My mother was born on this day in 1926 and it was during Corn School. Her sister was 18 years older and came home to find her new sibling swaddled up and sleeping on the old Morris chair. I assume they had it pushed up against something so no one would/could sit on her. It was that sister, Lucile Boehmer, whom I would always call “Auntie” who gave Mother the nickname Toots.

Six years ago today, yes on her birthday, she had a CAT scan that revealed what she had been hiding for approximately a year – she was full of cancer. She died nine days later. She died here in this house on a sofa out on the old North Porch; Daddy died in this house in February, 2000 up in the big, big room over the garage with all the windows. And while we’re on this line of memory, Shane died suddenly almost a year ago on the same North Porch.

Mother would have been 89 today. I don’t think she would have been that happy about it – she wasn’t one who could grow old easily. Already by the time she died at age 83, she was worried that she would have a stroke and not be able to take care of herself, let alone use a hammer for some project or keep a real fire going in the cast iron stove in the kitchen.

And Corn School? This is its 110th year. Gee, it would have been around for about two decades when Mother was born. Kind of ironic – I wonder what the Apple Festival will be like in 80 years or so.

Old pictures of Corn School HERE

From old nooks and crannies to different ones

Because The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse is – now, don’t tell anyone on a conscious level – more of a state of mind than an actually stated place, moving should not be that difficult. But, my, a state of mind can get cluttered. Things are all over. Foo of The Foo Bar is having a dreadful time not tripping over boxes I’ve stashed behind her bar.

Of course, if she looked, she might find treasure – I think that’s one of Sarah Grismore’s homemade ice cream recipes in the box below:
recipe tin

And, then, she might even be able to get a little classy with some of books from Sarah’s extensive library:
mother books

Well, this was a fine How do you do

As I noted a couple of posts below, out of sentimentality, and a possible craving for traditional Bayou Billy Cherry Wine, I went to The Apple Festival in Kendallville. My grandson and I and his mother had first gone on a cold and rainy day when he was six, and now all these years later, he had it in his head to get me over there to see the sheep shearing.

I video-ed it on my phone, came home and uploaded it to YouTube and then discovered my granddaughter had logged into YouTube on MY computer and had left herself logged in. All of my uploads wound up in her stash. I know my mouth was in a grim little pucker when I copied all the embedding code to insert into my post; I just let the videos post attached to her email. Because I was PISSED.

Yesterday, she comes to me and says she’s getting emails about sheep shearing and I explained why and if she didn’t like it she could transfer them. Well, she did, but ACK! she did not re-embed them in the post. I have four blank spots down there. That is just soooo cool.

So, of course, it is up to me to fix it, while wearing my scrunchy face of irritation, which is slightly better than the Evil Look of Death.