WEEKEND OF FAIR, FAMILY AND REMEMBERANCE…

First of all, we would like to welcome Debbie from New Mexico to the Cave Dwellings…I didn’t see a website, but I sure am glad you were brave enough to “jump in” and follow a couple crazy Midwesterners…I LOVE your state of New Mexico, by the way…It truly is the “land of enchantment”…thanks for hangin’ out with us…I guarantee you won’t get bored…shocked, yes…but never bored…

This weekend our Indiana Grands showed up to attend our Sandwich Fair.  This is a bitter sweet weekend every year since 9-11-2001…the day after our fair ended that year.  We all have our memories of where we were and what we were doing when our country was attacked.  I was home alone..Dennis was helping a local builder frame up a new home. I happened to be washing windows outside our kitchen when my brother-in-law, who lives 2 blocks down the street, called and told me to turn on the TV.  That was the beginning of a long, tearful day of being glued to the television…and watching the skies.   We had no such thing as a cell phone back then.  Coincidentally, our son Kelly happened to stop by and we watched together as the confusion turned to horror unfolding before our eyes..I was never so glad to  have my son by my side in those terrible moments.  I would have hated to be alone watching such devastation broadcast live in our kitchen.

  And so, as we love and look forward to our yearly Sandwich Fair, we also have cause to reflect on the events that followed it…As I said, a bitter sweet time for one and all

  It was a fun weekend for us though…Chris, John, Aiden and Maddox arrived Friday afternoon to attend the fair.  It had been 10 years since Chris had been there….This is what our house looks like when the grands are here…

 

Chris and John are going to run the Indianapolis Marathon (yes, I did say MARATHON) in November, so they are training for it…Running 16 miles around town Saturday morning..in the fog….

 

 

Here’s my theory…I wouldn’t train…I would just pay my entry fee and show up the day of the run, fall in line and walk the darn thing…carrying a sack of sandwiches and Gatorade..some Twinkies, Hershey’s Kisses and Ho Ho’s for energy..my camera (to document it), band aides…and my cell phone , set to 911…WHY TRAIN??

 

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon, Terrie and her kids showed up (her detective hubby drew extra duty and couldn’t come), and they all walked out to the fairgrounds, 1 block from our house…

..Getting across Center Street was a challenge with 5 kids and 2 stollers…been there, done that..LOTS!

 

THIS PHOTO LEFT WAS TAKEN FROM BIG FLUFFY’S DRIVEWAY (OUR BROTHER-IN-LAW WHO LIVES ACROSS FROM THE FAIRGROUNDS)….THE TRAFFIC WAS BEGINNING TO BACK UP TO OUR HOUSE JUST BEFORE THE TRACTOR PULL….

 

 

 

 

 

I love the way Maddox choses to go “Goth” in his attire..He gets his great sense of fashion from his Mimi>>>(that’s what Chris’s kids call me, and it seems to fit.)

Dennis and I watched Maddox and Aiden so John and Chris could go to the tractor pull Saturday night…Dennis watched from the deck as I did diaper duty…Madds has just been introduced to fruit as part of his diet..and you know what applesauce can to to a kid’s lower intestines!! PHEW!

 

 

 

After the “pull” was over, everyone came back to the Cave Dwellings for a campfire and some libation.  No, that is ONE thing they do NOT have at our fair…a beer tent…So McGuyver and I have our own little “beer deck” for family and friends…and only one block away.

 

 

 

I had prepared some French Bread for a breakfast of baked French Toast this morning…Here is what it looked like before I baked it, on left…Right is all that was left…

So, about 9:30AM, the Wolff mobile was being loaded up , and the Wolff family left for home…

…How did we ever raise 3 kids without all of this equipment???

As I said, a weekend of fair, family and remembrance…

The sun, setting on a tree out in back of our house…

I watched yesterday, when, in Shanksville, PA., they dedicated the Memorial of Flight 93.  President Bush was there,  as was President Clinton and VP Joe Biden…They all spoke beautifully…President Clinton spoke of those brave souls who saved many more lives by fighting the terrorists on board, and prevented a probable attack on Washington D.C . I thought he eloquently quoted Abraham Lincoln when he said this…

..”we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. “