A lot has happened since my last post. If you aren’t family, you may want to scroll down quickly - past all of the family events - to see the beautiful MISSOURI QUILTS that I saw on my trip!
TRIP TO MISSOURI
If you are family - then you might like to see some highlights of my recent trip to MISSOURI. I got a new camera and lived up to my name of CRAZY PICTURE LADY……enjoy.
My cousin died and I went back to the Midwest to be with my family. While it was a sad occasion, it was also a time to make beautiful new memories and renew my connection with my familial roots.
MY BROTHER, FRED, AND FAMILY - AND AN UP AND COMING PRIEST
I stayed with my brother, Fred, and sister-in-law, Elaine, and my two nephews Eric and Joey. Here they are outside The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in KC where mass was said for nephew, Adam Johnson. It is a beautiful cathedral - with a gold dome - located in downtown K.C. This is a picture of it from a distance - love that dome! Inside the cathedral it is truly breathtakingly beautiful…….I have never seen such wonderful stain glass windows. I wanted to take a picture, but wasn’t sure if that was an acceptable behavior!
This is Adam, with his sister, Lisa, and mom, Diane. Adam left for Italy where he will be studying in the Vatacan to become a priest (over the next five to six years.)
You are seeing this correctly, the FUTURE PRIEST is taking his sister’s PINK SUITCASE with him on a trip to CA to visit the missions there!
FATHER’S DAY
I had the unexpected pleasure of spending Father’s Day with my parents! We celebrated a late Mother’s Day too!
SONY FAMILY PICNIC
And I went to Lake Jacomo for a SONY FAMILY PICNIC….I hadn’t been to this lake since I was a senior in high school celebrating prom night! Elaine and I are enjoying the festivities and good food (Missouri style corn on the cob and fried chicken.)
I will never forget this day because my brother, Fred, accidentally went into the ladies room and when we ran into each other in there he thought that HIS SISTER HAD GONE INTO THE MEN’S ROOM!
Well, as FRED EXPLAINED, at a certain angle and with sun in your eyes, a WOMEN’S sign looks a lot like a MEN’S sign! After this, my brother wore a hat and sun glasses to hide his identity! Why? Because ANOTHER WOMAN ran into Fred in there too and SHE THOUGHT that SHE was in the men’s room and my brother PROMISED not to tell (in sign language.) We laughed a lot about this.
GREEN CITY, MISSOURI
We drove to Green City, MO…..and enjoyed the lucious rolling green pastures along the way to my cousin, Janie’s house. The third picture below of the yard with the DINNER BELL in the foreground is my cousin Janie’s backyard….and the next one is of my cousin Betty’s backyard! These country YARDS go on forever and ever! Quite impressive for a city slicker like me!
And this is my grandma’s old house - it used to be SO BIG!!! 
And this is the old family GREEN CITY METHODIST CHURCH right outside the TOWN SQUARE! I imagine that not too many people have heard of Green City, MO, but it is a charming town that holds many wonderful childhood memories for me - population 668.
This is my cousin Janie standing in front of pictures of her grandangels. We are five months apart in age and she and I used to ride horseback around Green City when we were little. I thought that was so neat! (Our fathers are brothers.)
She is a lot of fun to be with and I discovered that we have a lot in common - for one thing, we both LOVE ankle bracelets!
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Betty is Archie’s wife - and he died only two months after being diagnosed with cancer. She is holding a cast of their clapsed hands that they had made at the county fair last summer - what a treasure that is.
MY WILD HORSEBACK RIDE WITH ARCHIE
I have included a picture of Archie in his younger years - I remember VIVIDLY his taking me on a horseback ride through the pastures to round up the cattle (they lived on a farm and the cows had to be milked.) I - a city girl - was on the horse (bare back) behind Archie - clutching tightly and screaming as we galloped through the fields.
Archie had so much fun making me scream that he added a bit of excitement to the adventure and rather than go through the gates to proceed from one pasture to the next, he simply directed the horse to JUMP THE FENCES. I will never forget this as long as I live - the wind blowing my long blonde hair, the screams never ending, and Archie’s laughter - what fun he was having!
MY AUNTS
I have two aunts in long term care facilities and while they didn’t know me anymore - I knew them, and it was nice for me to get to see them again.
Aunt Lillian….with Fred and me……
and Aunt Madeline…..our family elementary teacher who must have taught most of the cousins and everyone in Green City for their first three grades! Even though she does not recognize us, she is very pleasant and social. Here we are with cousin Ronnie - we celebrated his birthday while I was in town.
VANILLA HOME MADE ICE CREAM
Yes, I really took a picture of my dish of HOME MADE VANILLA ICE CREAM. It is near the top of my list of FAVORITE THINGS. We always ate homemade ice cream when the family got together - in the olden days - and I often DREAM about having it again. It was such fun, as a child, to watch my uncles crank that handle while we waited with anxious anticipation for that ice cream to be ready! It was YUMMY DELICIOUS - then and now!
What a sweet sight, cousin Randy with the ice cream freezer!
KIRKSVILLE, MISSOURI QUILT SHOW
This was a real unexpected treat. I got to see some of my grandmother’s and my aunt’s quilts. I never knew that my aunt made quilts - so this was a lot of fun.
THE HOUSE QUILT
Now this is really exciting. Here are my cousins Shirley and Ricky holding the HOUSE QUILT that my grandmother made Ricky when he graduated from high school! Shirley and Rick hosted the birthday party for Ronnie!
