Just 10 Photos? Mission Impossible

I was nominated for the 10-day farming/ranching family photo challenge by my friend, Millie. You may have seen it on Facebook. Several of my rural friends have been participating.

The challenge is this: Every day for 10 days, post a photo from a day in the life of farming/ranching that has had an impact on you and post it with zero explanation.

 

No problem, right? I have lots of pictures.

 

Except that is a problem. My blog posts probably average five or six photos per time. My Tuesday post had 13 photos plus a graphic. That's not unusual. Weeding through my thousands (tens of thousands) of farm photos and choosing just 10 is daunting, to say the least. (Nobody said I couldn't cheat just a little bit and create a collage.)

 

And, really? I'm supposed to post photos without commenting on them? That's kind of a tall order for a writer, don't you think?

I never seem to complete these Facebook challenges just as they are presented. (Case in point is the Love Your Spouse Challenge.) I am a rule follower, but I'm not without my stubborn streak. (OK, I've admitted it, so you don't have to poll my parents or Randy, OK?)

 

So, here's my attempt at selecting 10 photos that reflect our life on the County Line. I've tried to provide a representation of seasons, crops and people, but this is one of those times when diversification of crops is not my friend. (I totally left out milo, silage and sudan.)

 

On second thought, here's a baker's dozen. If you want an explanation of anything I've chosen, just ask. Really! By all means, ask!

 

Another part of the challenge is to nominate 10 people to do the challenge. Please view this as your blanket open invitation. (Maybe you'll have better luck following the rules.)

 Well, at least a few of the photos won't have some sort of commentary blanketing them. 

Love Your Spouse Challenge

Eveland-Smith Photography, Hutchinson, KS

I've had two friends - Millie Dearden and Julie Christie -  "tag" me on Facebook to do the Love Your Spouse Challenge. I was slow at tag in grade school. (Any speed genes skipped straight by me and were gifted to my sister, Lisa.) I thought about those unorganized plastic tubs of photos ... and my speed for a newfangled game of tag didn't get much faster.

I told Randy that I couldn't decide whether or not to even do the challenge. (After he stuck out his lip in a fake pout, he told me to do what I wanted. OK, one more reason I love my spouse.) After all, I've declared my appreciation for my spouse via blog posts on our anniversary and on Father's Day - several times. (Click on the links for even more photos.)

But in Frank Sinatra fashion, I'm doing it "My Way." In the challenge, you're supposed to post a photo a day for seven days to your Facebook page. I decided to do all my photos in one blog post. I'm usually a follow-the-rules kind of girl.  Case in point: The black and white engagement photo.

Yes, there was color film back in the olden days when we got engaged. However, the photo I carefully pasted into a wedding scrapbook book was a black and white print. Unlike the majority of the thousands (tens of thousands?) of photos I've taken through the years, this B/W gem didn't end up in a plastic tub, so I could put my hands on it quickly.
 
Back in 1981, couples had to provide a B/W head and shoulders shot for inclusion in the lifestyle section of a newspaper. At that time, I was a reporter at The Hutchinson News, working in the Focus department, the very department that was responsible for writing up engagement announcements and laying them out in the Sunday paper. I followed the guidelines to a "t" and provided just such a photo.

Randy has carried the color version in his billfold for the past 35 years. The bedraggled version is what happens in a billfold picture sleeve - even when you don't carry a billfold every day.

We honestly don't have a lot of photos together. I will pretty much do everything in my power to avoid a camera unless I'm the one holding it. I couldn't find any "together" photos from our honeymoon or our first house.

But I did find this gem from a bridal shower. Sue Thole made the hen and rooster aprons for us. We still have them.

Stan Reimer Photography, Pratt, KS

We used  a portrait from our wedding for our first Christmas card together. Photo Christmas cards are a tradition that we continue today.

Emily Brensing Photography, Stafford, KS

In fact, our 2015 card featured the whole family, which has grown a bit since 1981 to include a daughter, a son, a son-in-law and two granddaughters.
We were both in this photo - complete with my lovely glasses and Randy's lovely mustache. At least I was smiling.) It was taken moments after Jill's birth. 
One of my favorite photos is just after Randy became the father of 2.  He was a good Daddy from the time they were little ...

...  until the time we were celebrating the senior night of our "baby" from his high school football team ...

Photo by Gina Dreher, Gingerroot Studios, Wichita

or dancing with our daughter at her wedding.

This grandparenting job is pretty special, too.  (We need to update this photo. Kinley hasn't changed so much, but Brooke will be a big 2 year old next month.)

Who would have thought - 35 years ago - that we would be taking "selfies" with a phone. This is our latest selfie, taken earlier this month.

I've already shared more than the seven photos. Big surprise, right?!

And maybe this little exercise to Love My Spouse is reflective of the bigger picture after 35 years of marriage. It takes some work. It takes an investment of time and effort. It hasn't always been rosy. Sometimes, it's a mess - just like those tubs of photos. But I am so very thankful to share life on the County Line with this special guy.

Jill's wedding - 2009 - Photo by Gina Dreher

Suits Me to a Tea (Towel)!

I have learned a lot from my Facebook friends. And to think: A year ago, I was sure I would never join the Facebook fray.

For one, both my kids said they wouldn't be my friend. (Nothing like that memo to shoot a Mom's feelings all to heck.)

But then Jill relented. She saw that my brother and my two sisters were on Facebook. She saw the influx of people of "a certain age" clogging up the status updates on her account and declared that she would befriend me after all.

I still wasn't so sure about it. I can find plenty of ways to waste time. I didn't particularly need another way.

But, in the end, I figured, "Oh, why not!?"

I still am not the best Facebook person. I don't cleverly update my Facebook status often. I don't upload all my photos to my wall. Of course, as many photos as I take, that would get mighty annoying to my friends pretty quickly.

But I have reconnected with several people. And I've learned quite a bit (not always the most relevant things, but interesting nonetheless).

You have just witnessed why I am probably not the best Facebook person: It takes me awhile to wind around to the point. I am not known for my short, pithy commentaries on life. Facebook status reports are best reported in a short and sweet manner.

And what, pray tell, does any of this have to do with tea towels?

I know it appears we have arrived at this destination without any connection whatsoever. But, believe it or not, there is a connection.

When I posted my blog about my bread baking disaster, one of my Facebook friends asked why we call tea towels "tea towels."

Good question, but I didn't know the answer. No longer do we run to the cabinet filled with Encyclopedia Britannicas like we had when I was growing up. Instead, we "Google" it.

The name "tea towel" originates from England in the early 19th century. The tea towel was the linen of choice for the ladies of Victorian England. They often personally used tea towels when caring for their tea ware to avoid anything being broken by a careless servant.

(No servants around here, careless or otherwise. I seem to do enough damage on my own, however.)

Tea towels were spread over a tea tray before tea things are put onto it to keep it clean or used to cover warm scones or a tea pot to prevent heat loss. Some people confuse the tea towel with the dish rag. However, a tea towel is kept spotlessly clean, because it is used on freshly washed dishes and as a cover for food.

Embroidered tea towels became popular during the Great Depression and World War II in the United States. During this era, fabric and other supplies were in short supply, so people recycled what they had. Tea towels were frequently made from the muslin sacks that flour came in. To decorate the plain towels, women embroidered them, usually with cute animals performing household chores or fruits and vegetables. Towels with the days of the week embroidered on them were also very popular.

A few weeks ago, my folks gave me some tea towels to give to Jill. They think they were embroidered by my Grandma Leonard, my dad's mom.

Grandma had embroidered them, but my Mom finished the edges.

These tea towels feature the days of the week.

I gave the tea towels to Jill when she and Eric were here a couple of weeks ago.

Here is Jill at about 3 months old with my Dad, Grandma Leonard and me.

I still use the tea towels my mom embroidered and gave to me for a wedding shower gift 29 years ago. But they aren't used for mundane tasks like drying my hands. Rather they are used to dry dishes (if I don't let dishes drip dry) or to cover my bowl when I'm letting bread dough rise.

Tea towels have always been a popular sale item at our church's fall bazaar. But I think most of the people who have been practicing the art of embroidery have passed on. I have a couple stashed in a closet, just in case.

I hope when Jill uses the tea towels her great-grandmother made, she'll feel that connection to the past. (And hopefully, she won't be too mad at me that I never taught her to embroider.)