Saturday

Saturday was a busy day for all of us. We had invited about a dozen people from the church to come out in the evening to “pick and grin” for Grandma. It took some cleanup and a lot of food preparation to accommodate the hostesses but we were ready when everyone started to show up. One family with young children came to help us feed the calves. It was a first for all of them.

The mommy of the group got waylaid by one of the calves on her way out of the pens where we keep them. The calf got his tongue around her elbow and she got so tickled by the attempt to nurse that all of us got a great laugh out of it. The experience was a little overwhelming for the two year old, but the older girls enjoyed it thoroughly.

The wind had blown in 20 mph gusts throughout the day but in answer to prayers, it dropped to about 5 mph as everyone arrived. We ended up entertaining about fifteen adults and children. Victoria got home about an hour after we started eating but she was in time to get in on most of the music; aside form the time she took the little ones horseback riding. Jazz behaved himself wonderfully.

There were about nine who played instruments off and on. Our pastor shuttled between the fiddle, the mandolin and the guitar. Six or seven others played guitars. One played the banjo and one played the bass violin. They sang for about two hours. It thrilled Grandma. Grandpa enjoyed it too, but it did not seem to move him very much. Everyone that came had a really good time and all of the participants expressed an interest in coming back as often as we would offer.

It was a good use of the front porch on the old farm house. There has not been that much activity on that concrete porch for two decades – according to neighbors. I do not know if there had ever been that much good gospel music ever sung to the ancient oaks in the front yard.

The only regret we have of the evening is that none of the pictures came out as well as I would have liked.