Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sisters

This post has been a long time in coming. I apologize for making you wait. I'm sure everyone is anxious to find out about how my meeting my sister for the very first time went. Let me start from the beginning. After two delays and re-routes because of the floods in the Midwest, my sister "D" and her husband "E" arrived here safely by train from Oregon on the evening of Sunday, July 3rd. The train was right on time, in fact it was a few minutes early. You can't even imagine how excited and nervous I was on that day. We has spent the day at my sister-in-law's in the western part of Massachusetts for a family get-together.. The whole day I anticipated the big arrival. It was hard to stay in the moment, as I was constantly thinking about the impending arrival. We headed back just in time to meet the train. We were only there a short time when the train pulled into the station. I saw "E" get off the train first and my sister followed. I knew it was them immediately as they approached me and I started walking  running toward them. "E" had on his comfortable farmer overalls and "D" sported her hand beaded cap, beaded denim jacket and handmade beaded and tooled leather bag with her knitting inside. We hugged and greeted each other, introduced them to my husband and two sons. A little awkward at first, but what happened next helped to break the ice. The luggage....oh, my the luggage. Remember how I told you we spent the day at my SIL's, well we had to bring chairs to the event. I remember distinctly telling my husband that they would have luggage although they did tell me beforehand that they were traveling light. Well, to make a long story short...they had 3 large suitcases, a lap top and a cooler on wheels. We had 4 canvas and 2 old fashioned wooden folding chairs, plus a mid sized cooler in the back of our minivan. Keep in mind my two boys are both way over 6 feet tall. I wish I had my camera....after several tries and fails we eventually were able to get all the doors and back hatch finally closed. I still look back with amazement that we were able to get everything and everyone inside the car. Those boys were so good. Not one complaint. They were squished in the way back with no room for their legs, feet a top baggage. Luckily it wasn't a real long ride home, only about 25 minute. Once we got home, we got them settled. "E" emptied the cooler and presented me with some of his homemade sausages, which he brought all the way from Oregon in their cooler. He brought elk knockwurst, elk kielbasa, venison summer sausage, plus three different flavors of homemade jerky. Then there are the bowls. "E"  brought the bowls that he made from Myrtle wood. Beautiful smooth wooden bowls.Wish you could feel just how smooth they are.
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This one is the "acorn" bowl. He didn't plan on it, but the top fits perfectly and looks just like an acorn. This one is my favorite.



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I have to share some of these with my other sister "K". We forgot to bring them when we met up with her. Looks like we'll have to have another meeting so she can get her bowls. I'm holding them hostage so it won't be another eight years before we see each other again!!

Day 2: We had a nice dinner and then we went back in the car to take a car trip up north to visit my eldest son and his wife. We had a nice ride and "D" and "E" could see some of New England. We had a nice visit. "D" and I knit and talked the whole time in the car. We talked and talked. I don't think I talked that much in a long time. Probably not since my dear mother passed away eleven years ago. The two of us could talk back then. Having "D" here was almost like having my Mom back again. She is old enough to be my mother as her two oldest boys are older than me. With all of the excitement of having them here I really wasn't sleeping well and I ended up with a massive migraine in the middle of the night. I had a really bad reaction to the migraine medicine that I have been taking for years...so bad that I ended up in the ER in the middle of the night. Imagine, having two people that I didn't really know that well sleeping soundly on the hide-a-bed in my living room and slipping out quietly in the middle of the night to go to the hospital! Well, I was there for 12 hours, while they ran all kinds of tests. I had been having some health issues previously and part of my symptoms was due somewhat to that. Overall, everything was checked out and I was released. Thankfully nothing serious was wrong. As you can see Day 3 ended up being a really big bust. They entertained themselves, took walks. "D" knit and I think they just relaxed. I manage to get back home just in time for supper.

Day 4: We visited my Dad. Went out to lunch. We had delicious crab rolls. Then went to the grocery store. I bought swordfish for dinner which was absolutely delicious. We don't have it very often so that was a treat. They had never had it before and they enjoyed it. They stocked up on items to fill their cooler with non perishable food items to take back on the train with them. Buying food on the train is very expensive. This saved them a lot of money bringing as much as they can.They also really enjoyed my grocery store. We have a lot things they don't have in Oregon, so it was rather entertaining for them. They were the best guests...very easy to please :)

Day 5: We met my other sister "K" at the Nautilus sub museum in Groton, CT. It was a half way point for both of us. We had lunch and talked....not much in the way of checking out the museum, but there were plenty of places inside in the AC that we could sit and talk and "E" could wander about while us girls were doing all the talking. It was fitting as our Dad, was retired USN. He never was on a sub, but spent many years on other Navy ships. On the way home we stopped in Mystic CT to take a few photos.IMG_1213IMG_1215
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A historic site was our next stop, the first public library in America. Benjamin Franklin's gift of a set of books is what started the library back in 1790. Here a picture of the book collection that started it all:IMG_1216

Day 6: I had a doctors appointment in the morning, but my husband brought them to a concert at my youngest son's music camp where he had been working as a mentor for the past two weeks. I stopped at the German store on the way home and bought gelbwurst and fresh rye bread for our lunch and some weisswurst for our supper as we were heading to the cape for the weekend.

Day 6: A whirlwind tour of the cape in one day. IMG_1247
We started off the day with an early morning walk on our beach. IMG_1250IMG_1245IMG_1243IMG_1244
It was right after a massive rainstorm and there were lots of shells left on the beach. IMG_1249
Even an unusual folded scallop shell.
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My sister was thrilled with all the scallop shells as she makes angel Christmas ornaments from the shells and sells them in her shop around Christmas time.

It was the first time ever that I could see Nantucket from our beach.
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I'm not sure if it was because it was very early morning or the conditions were just right. Can you see the land way in the distance? Click photo to enlarge.

We packed a picnic lunch and then headed out on a tour of the cape. First we stopped at Chatham Light. IMG_1225
I've always loved seeing the light house and the lovely beach there. IMG_1224
The beach was closed to swimming because of  great white sharks in the area. IMG_1226
Unfortunately the seals attract them, but I must say I got a thrill to be able to see all the seals off the shore. Be sure and click on the photos to enlarge them. They are hard to see, but there are seals on those rocks!
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This was a first for me in all the years (my whole life) that I have been coming to Cape Cod.

After Chatham light we proceeded to check out more of the beaches. IMG_1240
and light houses
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of the Cape National Seashore all the way to Provincetown.

Rose hips, better known as beach plums on Cape Cod.
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For dinner we had lobsters. A real treat for them as they have nothing like the cape lobsters in Oregon. After dinner we visited with my uncle and aunt, my niece and her husband and daughter. It was like a mini family reunion.

Day 7: Time to return home and prepare for their journey back home to Oregon. Once they got everything together, we headed to the cemetery where our father is buried. "D" is a family history expert. Thanks to her I have the results of all of her research on our ancestors from Hungary. We also went back to the house where my mother and father lived on the second floor. My grandparent's lived on the first floor.  It is the first house that I ever lived in and it is the place where my father died. I have fond memories of going down the back stairs to jump in bed with my grandparents. I had not been back there in a very long time. Once again I did not bring my camera. I've decided I need to buy a really small inexpensive digital camera to keep in my purse or pocket.

One last night together. Sad that the time went by so fast, but thrilled to have the gift of meeting my sister and husband. A once in a lifetime gift. Worried about getting them to Providence in time to catch their train we got up extra early the next morning.


Amidst tears and hugs we said our good-bye, but not real good byes because even though we might never again get to see each other in person, we will be calling each other and emailing frequently. Hopefully in the not so distant future we would love to make the trip to Oregon and visit with them. I know I'd love see what their day to day life is like. Off they go......IMG_1268

While they were here, I didn't even get one of my circle squares finished! "D" won the prize for getting the most knitting done. Once again no photos of her knitting, which I reget. She made 2 pairs of beautiful handspun mittens to sell in her shop.  On the train she made a beautiful scarf knit the long way. I have a copy of her catalog if anyone is interested. Let me know in an email and I can forward it on to you. She did give me a pattern for my next project. I'm anxious to get started on it, but I want to finish the circle square blanket first. Since their departure though I have managed to finish seven squares finally. IMG_1286
It's slow going, but I'm plugging along.
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Once I have the squares finished I'll be putting them together using a technique developed by my new friend Anita. Here's a photo of her beautiful finished blanket. Stay tuned for I'll be posting more of the how to's at a later date with her permission of course. Sorry, Anita for the delay as I'm not progressing with the squares as fast as I would have like to.

I'll leave you with a couple of morning glory photos for my DIL "K" :)IMG_1264IMG_1263

Happy Knitting everyone!!

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, what a nice, well, supercharged visit! I'm sure D&E must have a had a wonderful time - even with your ER visit. You sure treated them well. And I love all the pictures of the lighthouses and the beach. I've never seen seals on rocks like that, either. Hey, my dad was in the USN, too. He was a salvage diver, and he and his friends built a mini-submarine. Thanks so much for sharing the visit with us!
    Your circle squares look great! Your knitting puts mine to shame for sure. Have a great weekend!

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  2. Sounds like you had a lovely visit. I hope you get to go to Oregon to visit again sometime.

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  3. I'm glad you had a good time with your sister and her husband. Wow, those bowls are fabulous!

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  4. the bowls are gorgeous. I am so glad to hear that you had a wonderful visit with your sister and her husband. I hope that you are able to get to Oregon to see their day to day too. I can't believe all those shells washed up on shore! We get those scallop ones too.

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  5. What a nice treat to meet and spend such quality time with your sister and her husband!! Family is the best! I sure do hope you make it up to Oregon to see them. We just got back from vacation and I met a cousin of mine and her son - so very nice!

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  6. I have to say I was waiting to hear how the visit went, it sounds like you managed to have a great time despite your health issues(glad you're ok)! Thanks for sharing your story!

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  7. I am SO glad the visit went well. Looks like you had a wonderful time. What beautiful bowls. You obviously have a very talented family!

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  8. That acorn bowl looks like it's perfect to stash an in progress circle square! Thanks for the lovely story and the photos. Would love to visit the cape someday. Photos of Mystic brought back memories of our visit to the seaport 16 years ago when Mike and i were just dating! We overnighted at the "Wayfarer Inn"-wonder if it's still there?

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  9. It was so cool to read about your week. And the photos made it really come alive! Congratulation to you and your family for having the courage to connect.

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  10. What a great story! I'm glad you're okay, and that everything went so well (besides the one day). Lovely pictures too. Take care!

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  11. I have been eagerly awaiting this posting and I thank you so much for sharing this visit. Also the great pictures.

    I knew you would have a good time together, but had no idea how much you would squeeze into the short time your sister would be here.

    Once again, thank you for so generously sharing this wonderful time of two sisters meeting for their first visit together.
    chloe

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  12. Well I really enjoyed this post. It's so rich and you threw in knitting too ! I'm happy you and family had a wonderful time. The bowls are beautiful, the foods sound scrupmtous and the photographs are gorgeous ! Thank you !

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  13. WOW WOW and Wow, So glad it all went so well. I'm thrilled you had such a wonderful and meaningful visit. Great pictures too, I've been to some of those place at The Cape so especially enjoyed seeing your pics.

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  14. What a nice post. You sure showed them a lovely time. Those Myrtle wood bowls are beautiful - I love how the top one is a perfect acorn with the lid. Talented people. You will love Oregon if you get up that way. My brother lives there and it is as lush and green as where you live.
    It's so nice you were able to talk and talk with your sister. Your family sounds a little like mine in that there's a big gap in ages. My younger sister and older sister are 20 years apart...and the older sister's children are my and my younger sister's age. Makes it interesting, eh?

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  15. What fun you must have had! It's always fun and hectic when families get together, isn't it? This visit must have left you with a lot of wonderful memories.

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  16. So glad your visit was such fun. I'm always intrigued by your posts. The finger dexterity for just a single photo of your work is impressive.

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Thank you all for your comments! I really appreciate them. I usually don't follow up with an email, but if you do have a question please make sure you include a way to reach you within your comment so I may answer your question. Thanks and happy knitting :)

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