When I got up Saturday morning, I checked the old Facebook page to see if there was any response to my announcement that Nichole & I had arrived in town.
I wasn’t disappointed. And if I was unsure of how we were going to spend the day, I found out pretty quickly with the message from my cousin Dee that there would be doin’s at the family farm later that morning, and we should be there.
It wasn’t a strong-handed “Be there or we’ll send the posse after ya” invitation, more of a “We’ve got vittles, so come on over” type of thing.
I was cool with that.
The farm was bought by my Great-great-grandfather in 1869, and they built this barn 10 years later. It’s built into a hill and the east side is constructed of lime rock dug from beneath the barn site.
For prosperity, my Great-grandfather carved his initials and the date of the construction on the side.
That’s what Norwegian farmers do, dontchaknow.
As with any get-together in our family, there has to be pictures!
Unfortunately, the flash didn’t work on this one, but I love it just the same. Since all of them know they’re going to show up here, I’m gonna name ’em.; they are (L-R) Karen, Julie (Hi Julie! ), Me, Laurie, Dee and Marian.
Beautiful group of women if I do say so myself!
After filling our tummies with excellent food from the lady of the house (Hi Kristie!), I wanted to show Nichole the Old House.
This building was on the property when my Great-great-grandfather bought the place. If the stories are true (and in our family you just never know) it was built around 1860.
You can sure tell that it was built well to last all these years! The only things that look like they were replaced are the front windows. Amazing.
The place is full of antiques like this old pump organ. I remember playing with this thing when I was little. If it worked back then, I’m sure it would work now, but I didn’t dare try.
Too many witnesses.
There were a few family (I’m assuming here) portraits, but notaone of the family could say who they were. I asked my Dad later, but he didn’t have his glasses on so he was no help. I’m gonna put a plea out to my fam to find out, because history should not be lost.
Ever.
Period.
Exclamation point.
The other thing that I loved in this old house (OK, I loved everything) was this old trunk. Again, no one in the group knew what was inside it, so I dared Nichole to open it. So with Julie standing near the door in case she had to make a quick exit from something jumping out of it, Nichole slowly opened the lid.
The only critter in there was a spider who shared the space with a very old cookbook (I WANT! ) and some other miscellaneous items. Being respectful family folk, we didn’t move a thing. Why? We’re just weird that way. Only explanation.
But that doesn’t stop us from being curious.
When I realized that there was a basement to this house, Nichole decided to get even with me and dared me to go down into it.
Yeah, I took her challenge. Sorta.
I went down the stairs, but decided to let my camera do the investigating. Most of the stuff that was down there was originally in the house and didn’t look any worse for wear. Well, except the old stove was a tad rusty. And the fact that everything was well over 100 years old.
And speaking of curiosity, no matter how old you are, you just gotta look.
It was great to go back to the farm that I spent so much of my childhood at. It was also a chance for Nichole to see the place, since she was only a wee one the last time she was there. She heard about some of the history of the place and a few family stories that even I didn’t know about.
I’m not sure when we’ll make it down there again, but at least I got to spend some time with my cousins and aunt, and soak up lots of country atmosphere that I didn’t realize that I missed until I left.
Oh, and family. I always miss them. At least we can still keep in touch through internet technology, but being together… telling stories… laughing… that’s the good stuff right there.
