Thursdays Thoughts on Friday......

Yesterday I finally sat down and opened up my documents to work on my book.

It's been months since I have written a word so I dumped out my bags of old photos and let them take me back in time. I'm actually past the point of these photos. Still, they helped me center myself and pick up where I left off.

I'm back in the fall of 1965.....I get anxious wanting to just get this book written and done.

However, it only gets written word by word, sentence by sentence, one memory floating into the next until I am, indeed, back in 1965 and wading into the holidays. I am 17 years old with a 2 year old daughter and we are doing Halloween for the first time with Summer. My sister, Deanie, is with me and we take Summer out trick or treating and then come back to the house and all three of us sit on the floor and eat candy together.

This whole writing thing is like traveling to another place and time and watch life the way it was then. It's almost like seeing a movie in my mind as I write.

I suppose reading The Time Traveler's Wife is affecting me more than I thought!

I was more than happy to leave my writing when Sherry called me yesterday afternoon to tell me she was doing some tractor work. I dearly love to watch her run that thing!

We have had some really wild winds blowing down here and one of the hen houses was blown over.

I came down as fast as I could get here to watch and document!

She got that one back up with the help of Dean using a big board to pry it up so she could slip the blades under it. Then she went to work moving one of the duck houses over in case they need to use it for some of the baby chicks that have grown too large for the brooder.

I love watching Dean and Sherry work together.

They make a really good team. What one doesn't think of, the other one does.

They were getting everything ready since they were leaving the next morning for a long weekend.

Sherry and I went off to Waco to pick up feed for all the critters while Dean finished up repairing the pens.

They came down this morning to say goodbye.

Roy and Ruth Ann have a brand new RV - one that you drive - and they are taking it and them all to Oklahoma for a wedding. It's really a great opportunity for them all to spend some time together.

I decided to make Louis Dean a good dinner since this was Good Friday.

It's so perfect to use our chicken plates down here.

What Goodwill treasures I get down here generally stay down here.

Some things I find at the Goodwills at home find their way down here, too.

I made a fried chicken dinner.....

complete with candied carrots, mashed potatoes and biscuits.

And gravy but it was the most awful gravy every.

Too greasy and lumpy and I made a big mistake in using the leftover flour/water/egg mixture to thicken it with. It.was.awful.

Changing the subject as fast as I can -

Sherry gave me this bottle of sweetener and it made my tea taste special!

Louis Dean went up and brought Rufus down to spend the day with us.

Blue went with Dean and Sherry but we are keeping Rufus with us.

I worked some more on my book this afternoon and am now at Christmas 1965.

Once I get to 1970 or so - whenever all my siblings are married - I am closing out Part 1 of the book and skipping about 30 years to Part 2. Not sure exactly how I'm going to do that but I am praying God will help me figure it out.

We went down to do the critter chores this evening.

Thumper was the last of the four goats to bring in.

It's nice that it's dark later and we have plenty of daylight to get the critters taken care of.

Dean told me to look through their movie collection and find some things to watch.

I think these all sound like good possibilities.

Louis Dean is playing some music while I finish up this journal entry and then I';; pop us some popcorn and we will give one of those DVDs a try.

I can hear the nightsounds outside the window.

Frogs or peepers or whatever are making a steady background of nature music.

Louis Dean has stopped playing so I guess this is my sign to close up the laptop.

I heard from Dean and Sherry about an hour ago.

They are all safely in the campground and having a good time.

Ruth Ann and Roy were telling us of a funny story about the trip up there.

They are pulling a white pickup behind the motor home and Roy saw a white pickup - just like the one he's pulling - come up beside him. He glanced back and at that moment he could not see HIS truck behind him so for a while second or two - he thought his truck had come loose and was sailing along the highway!! We were all laughing so hard on the phone together!!