Thrift to Gift

 Hello Friends, during one of our thrift store stops, we found the following pins. Barron is a small city about 4 miles from our village of Cameron. When we saw the pins, my husband said he wanted the Cameron Centennial pin and he thought of our friend Lori when spying the Farm'n Feather Fest pin. But who wears pins these days? So we decided to make the pins into magnets.  

If you have been a long time reader of The River, you will know we are not native to Barron County or Cameron. And the above friend I mentioned helped us learn so much of the "need to know.. to look like you belong here"  Ha Ha!

In all honesty, we did have a lot to learn. One was the name of roads that do not appear on the signage of the road and street. So when someone told us to go down Poor Farm Road .. we had no idea where Poor Farm Road was, because it is not on the map and is not named Poor Farm Road on the sign for the road.

 Lori helped us learn where Poor Farm Road was, Airport Road and Museum Road. She made sure we knew who was related to who.. in case we got carried away talking about people. And thank goodness she did share that wee bit of information with us, because the person we purchased our home from ended up not being so nice. At the same time his sister attended the church we attended, but we did not know he was her brother. 

We are thankful to Lori to have shared some of the inside, need to know, to get around this neck of the woods when we first stared out in these parts.

We were excited to gift Lori with a pin.. now a magnet.. to give her memories of her hometown.. because she has now moved away. I hope she finds a kind neighbor and makes a new friend to help her "fit in" to her new town.

Pins.. made into magnets.

We have lived here for 25 years.. but even with 25 years under our belt, we will never really be natives. Just recently while delivering Meals on Wheels I had a conversation with the participant, it went like this...

Me.. Hello, Meals on Wheels.

Participant.. Thank You. What is your name?

Me.. Carla TePaske

Participant.. Oh goodness, that is not a Cumberland name! (Cumberland is a small city about 30 miles from where I live, that is where I helped deliver Meals on Wheels.)

Me.. No, it is not, and it is even worse, it is not even a Barron County name. I am originally from Phillips, located in Price County.  

Participant.. Alright.. she eyed me suspiciously.

Me.. I have lived here in Barron County going on 25 years. (hoping this would give me a pass.)

Participant.. Alright, you have pretty eyes, so that will do.

  ♥

Carla 

5 Little Hens and it is the Hodgepodge!

 

Hello Friends,

It is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge! 

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun! 

 

 1. July 6th is National Fried Chicken Day...are you a fan?I do like fried chicken! Do you make your own or have a favorite place to buy from? I have a delicious recipe that I have made in the past, but I have not made it in the past year. We usually purchase our chicken already fried. Do you own chickens? We do, we had 5 laying hens, Molly, Dolly, Holly, Polly, and Lolly, sadly Molly passed away three weeks ago. We currently have 4 laying hens. They make us smile. If you are having a bad day, watching chickens will boost your day, I promise. They are so fun. If not chicken what's your favorite fried food? I also like a good fish fry! My husband is a master at making a good fish fry. Yum!

 2.  What's something you're too chicken to try?

Sushi, I have yet to try it. Our son Sam enjoys it. He plans to take us out for dinner at one of his favorite Sushi restaurants.

 3. When did you last find yourself running around like a 'chicken with its head cut off'?

 My husband and I enjoy going to the supermarket together. I try to write out my list according to the store lay out. Well, I did not do a very good job of doing that the last time we visited. So back and forth we went and up and down aisles.

On a side note, while we were shopping at this supermarket we bumped into friends who we had not seen in person recently, we had a quick catch up standing by the cheese. 

 4. Something you've done recently that makes you think 'I'm no spring chicken'?

 

My husband and I recently went on a 14 mile canoe trip. I share about the trip here..

Canoe Trip for Two 

I sat in the above chair, well it was not too easy to get out of after the trip. Ha! I did say, "I am no spring chicken."

 5. 'Winner winner chicken dinner'...tell us about something good that's happened in your life lately.

 We just enjoyed a full two days with family. 

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

During our two full days of family time, we had time to catch up with our National Guard son, who will be deploying in September. He has been busy training and having several briefs regarding the deployment. It was good to get caught up as a family too. 

 

This and That

 

Hello Friends,

Happy July and Happy Birthday to America!

Here is a little bit of This and That from me.

The above photo is The Little Garden That Could one week ago. We have our paths of straw freshly laid.  The garden will be in full bloom very soon. We are lacking rain in my neck of the woods, we have the sprinkler going in the above photo.

 We did receive rain a few days later.. along with hail. Thankfully we did not receive much damage. A few broken blooms and leaves.

Keeping the Flower Shack full of flowers.

 
Our sweet peas have just started to bloom.

 

We went strawberry picking, we froze some, we made jam and we saved a big bowl for fresh eating. Wisconsin strawberries are sweet and juicy.

 

Strawberry Jam

"Kindness begins where necessity leaves off. If your job is to provide supper, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with store - bought components has necessity covered." 

Amor Towles

 We have enjoyed several evening kayaking adventures. The above photo was taken by our friend Bonita during the first sunset of summer.

♥ 

Carla

Before I go.. the following link is for the Rhubarb Ginger Coffee Cake I mentioned in a past blog post. The new recipe was given a thumbs up.

Rhubarb Ginger Coffee Cake