Lamb E Umptum

Monday, October 11, 2010

Well, I have finally joined the 21^st century and started a blog. This will take the place of my family news- letter that I have been e-mailing to everyone. My reasons for a blog are these:

1. I can post photos that will be easier to view for the reader

2. Readers can catch up on Lambson news when they feel like it. I realize that there may be times when reading about our nuts life is just a bit too much.

SO, what have we been doing these past three weeks? Enjoying beautiful autumn weather for one. Although this past week, we have had a spell of Indian summer (or should that be Native-American summer???) Our air conditioner is back on, darn it! But, before last week, it was so chilly some mornings that picking beans was downright miserable because the damp leaves were so cold. With the shorter, cooler days, the beans slowed down a bit but, after last week, they are in full production mode again. I am including a picture of these crazy bean plants. I have liked the pole beans this year because I don’t have to bend down so much to pick and the taller vines keep the beans out of the lawn-clipping mulch I put on the ground for weed control. Nothing is more tedious than cleaning each individual bean of bits of grass before cooking. But, pole beans tend to be more stringy and, finding them amid the leaves and vines is ridiculously difficult. So, next year, I have found some pole bean seeds that are not only string-less but they are purple!!! How great is that?

The week that ended on the 25th of September, I was pretty involved with the stake Relief Society humanitarian project afternoon/dinner/and General Relief Society broadcast. I am happy to report that it was well attended and most of the projects were completed (toy bags, school bags, lap quilts, greeting card packets for soldiers to send to family and friends back home) and the on-going projects (baby hats and coloring quilt squares) moved forward quite a bit. The meal was delicious (rotisserie chicken, herb potatoes, green salad (ordered too much), rolls and fruit cobblers (ordered too little) and the broadcast was fantastic, of course. We had media coverage from two television stations and one newspaper (thanks in part to Steven, Jr. who has connections and is on the stake public affairs committee). Here are some of the sisters making baby hats.....

General Conference weekend was wonderful. We watched it on our computer - typically is not a very comfortable venue. But, we shuffled furniture around and put the dinner table in the living room and moved the two-seater love seat and two upholstered single chairs into the dining room and we had a very nice little set-up.

This past weekend we enjoyed the company of Emily, Joe, and Noah. They arrived Friday night on the Amtrak so Noah could enjoy a real train ride. Noah LOVES trains. The whole time he is here, he wants to go downstairs to play with grandpa Steve’s train set. Steve and I drove down to Jefferson City to pick them up where we also ate a picnic supper in the shadow of the state capital building. We then met Beckie at Schryocks Corn Maze and had a great time with our flashlights wandering around the stalks of corn. Saturday was to be another fun event with the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival but after spending over an hour and a half in our vehicles just trying to get to a place to park (at times, they actually routed the cars through the festival itself, where we were forced to compete for narrow road space with hoards of people, all of whom moved faster on foot than anyone did by car! We were finally directed to park in a corrugated and dusty corn field), we were so frustrated that we had no desire to attend any longer. So, we got back into our vehicles and left. Sad. But, everyone made up for that debacle by going to Harrisburg (opposite direction) to Lonnie Ray’s BBQ for dinner. It is in a little hole in the wall, can only hold about twenty customers, food is served on Styrofoam plates with plastic dinner ware. But, the food is incredible. I didn’t get to go because the latter part of my Saturday was spent going to Cole Camp (about an hour and forty minutes southwest of Columbia) to play quartet music for a Prairie Day event. We literally played on a prairie. It was on a higher elevation so one could look south for miles and miles. We played under a striped tent to a very appreciative audience (most bird watchers and conservationists tend to be a little more educated and cultured) and had a great time. I was gone over six hours but I came home to Lonnie Ray left-overs so I was happy. Mmmmm, ribs are my favorite.

Now it is a new work week. I have a lot of computer work to do – with photos, with a presentation for auxiliary training in two weeks. Until next time…..